Tomasz “Orion” Wróblewski is the bassist for Polish death metal group Behemoth, leads the black metal group Vesania, and plays bass for Black River.
Tomasz "Orion" Wróblewski is a Polish composer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, and bass guitarist for the death-metal group Behemoth.
Orion was born in Warsaw in 1980, and went on to graduate from Warsaw University. In 1997 he founded the black-metal group Vesania with drummer Dariusz Brzozowski (now in Dimmu Borgir), composing, singing, writing lyrics and playing electric guitar. Vesania still remains Wróblewski’s "mother-band". From 2002 to 2006, he played bass for Neolithic, appearing on My Beautiful Enemy and the mini-album Team 666.
Since 2003, Orion has been the bassist for the death-metal band Behemoth. The group’s Demigod and Apostasy albums were both nominated for the Fryderyk Award (the most important prize in Polish phonographic industry). Apostasy also appeared on Billboard charts in the U.S. Some of the most significant honors Wróblewski and Behemoth have received have been the UK Metal Hammer Golden Gods (Best Underground Band) award, and the Terrorizer Magazine award for Best Live Band. Behemoth has toured extensively worldwide, appearing on the Ozzfest Tour, Invaluable Darkness Tour, Mayhem Tour and others, with bands like: Slayer, Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson, Danzig, Machine Head, King Diamond and Dimmu Borgir. So far Orion has performed about 600 shows with Behemoth, recorded three studio albums, a live album, live DVD, a few EPs and other releases.
In 2008, with ex-members of Neolithic, Wróblewski founded the band Black River, as bassist. The debut Black River album was also nominated for the Fryderyk Prize in the "Metal Album of the Year" category. The band is now in the studio recording their second album, Black'n'Roll.
Behemoth’s next album, Evangelion, will be released in August 2009 through Metal Blade in U.S. and Nuclear Blast in Europe. Wróblewski used Markbass gear for the recording and is happily using Markbass gear on stage.
"I think I've tested most of the brands and different gear, both in the studio and onstage," says Orion. "Markbass gear simply stands out. It's super-easy to use, and responds to whatever you ask of it. If you want it to just sound transparent, you got it. If you need some extra punch and monstrous bottom end, you got it. If you need crystal clarity or smooth sound –you got it! As easy as it sounds. What I do with this gear is extreme metal music–and it perfectly fits the expectations of a bassist who is in need of house-crushing sound. And don’t be misled by the Markbass gear's light weight–its sound is heavy as hell!"
photo: Natalia Die Hexe