Phenomena

From ExoticA

Phenomena (PHA, 1988-)

Phenomena was formed around 1988 by Avalon (Mattias Berntsson from Katrineholm, Sweden), who later left the scene. A successor of the group Crack Force Five, they were a Swedish-only crew, stressing friendship as an important reason for this rule. Years later, of course, Andromeda would do the same thing. A pure demo group, they are perhaps the ones that made the best trackmo of all times; the fantastic "Enigma" [03/91]. While Scoopex' "Mental Hangover" [04/90] was the first trackmo, "Enigma" was the one that truly defined the standards of the genre. Unfortunately, after topping the charts for ages, Azatoth lost his initiative to code.

Coder Celebrandil was one of the last great innovators if the scene, among other things, introducing raytracing to demos in 1988. He also invented the much-used effects glenz vector and spacecut vector. Today he is working designing ICs for Stockholm-based firm Mentor Graphics, though he's still coding on his spare time - though sadly on the PC. Mr.Gurk was the author of one of the most-loved utils for the coder of the early days; the sinus-generator Cosaque (version 1.1 30.08.1989).

Another of their coders, Vogue, would later move to the PC scene, where he joined a group called Triton, helped code their legendary pc demos "Crystal Dream" [07/92] and "Crystal Dream II" [05/93], before he and Mr.H committed the music tracker program known as "FastTracker ][" [94]. He is now busy co-writing the game "Into the Shadows".

Members

Sweden
Aqua (swap trade, ex Active, new ca 07/90)
Aramon (new ca 07/90)
Armsmaster (swap, '91)
Azatoth (Olle Lindroth, code, inactive, 11/90-93)
Celebrandil (Mårten Johansson, code, ex Fairlight, new '90, left scene '91)
Color (Robert Andersson, gfx, ex Dual Crew, new 12/90-92)
Core (code, '91)
Danko (Tomas Danko Jr., music, 04/90)
Dream Warrior (code, ex Triangle, 03/90-91)
Firefox (Jimmy Fredriksson, music, 03/90-92)
Jas (Jacob Ström, code, ex Rebels)
Karon (trade, new 04/91-early '92)
Mace (code, ex Dual Crew, new 12/90)
Madster (gfx, '91)
Mantronix (Martin Wall, music, ex Razor 1911, new mid '91-'92)
Mr.Gurk (Gunnar, code, ex Triangle, 08/89-'91)
Paralysis (swap, '91)
Syncro (code, ex Science 451, new mid '90)
The Punisher (swap, new mid '90)
Tip (Robert Ling, music, ex Dual Crew, new 12/90-92)
Twins (code music, 04/90-91)

Group History

1988
Swedish coder and cracker DiMarz left the group for Razor 1911.
1990
After Uno's contribution to the Scoopex demo "Chromium" [11/90] in November, he (gfx), Photon (code), Judas and Invid all joined Scoopex a month later, in December.
1993
Swedish coder Odeon (ex Majic 12) left to form the new Razor 1911.
Unsorted
Swedish graphician Terminator (03/90-04/91) joined The Silents. Terminator worked on several classic Phenomena releases, including "Music Dream II" [91] and "Enigma" [03/91].
Swedish coder Antiaction (ex Vortex 42) joined Defjam.

Releases

See Phenomena/Reviews for personal reviews for these releases.

Innerspace (Demo)

Joyride (pre 1992, .07, ECS File)

Lost In Space (pre 1989, .11)

Music Dream I (ECS Trackloaded Musicdisk)

Heads Intro (1988/89?, ECS Intro)

Credits
Code
Cobra
Gfx
Crome, Freedom
Music
Crome

Who Cares (1989, mid, ECS File)

Credits
Code
Mr. Gurk
Gfx
Eagle
Music
Firefox

Bikie (1989, late?)

Credits
Code
Mr.Gurk
Gfx
n/a
Music
n/a

Megademo (ECS Megademo)

Credits
Code
n/a
Gfx
n/a
Music
"Its No Secret", "Lets Party", "Like The Wind", "Megademo Tune v2" and "Never Ending Love" by Firefox

Spectre-Northstar Party Demo (1989, 05.11, ECS File)

Credits
Code
U.F.A.
Music
Firefox

Jocke Intro (1989/90?, ECS Intro)

Credits
Code
Jocke
Gfx
Terminator
Music

Firefox

420 Bobs (1990?, ECS File)

Credits
Code
Mr.Gurk
Gfx
Eagle, Sensei/Censor Design
Music
Firefox

Ice Cold Coke (1990, .04, ECS File)

Credits
Code
Mr.Gurk
Gfx
Twins
Music
Danko

Vectormania (1990, 03.11, ECS File)

Credits
Code
Azatoth
Gfx
Uno
Music
Firefox
Info
Winner of the Amiga Halloween Conference '90 demo competition! Azatoth's debut demo. According to himself, very inspired by Red Sector Inc's "Cebit 90" (1990). Of course, his next demo was to be the landmark "Enigma" (1991).

Fructail (1990, 09.12, ECS File)

Animotion (1990, 28.12, ECS File)

Credits
code
Celebrandil
gfx
Havok/ex-Ecstasy (logo)
music
Tip and Mantronix/Razor 1911 (NoisePacker 2.x format).
Info
Winner of Dexion X-Mas Conference '90 demo competion!

Obvious Disaster (1990, 29.12, ECS File)

Credits
code
Mace
gfx
Color, Mace
music
Tip
Info
Released at the Dexion X-Mas Conference '90. Needs KillAGA.

Corkscrew (1991?, ECS File)

Credits
Code
Photon
Gfx
Terminator
Music
Firefox

Crystal Symphonies (1991, ECS Trackloaded Musicdisk)

Credits
Code
Jas
Gfx
Uno/Scoopex
Music
Tip & Mantronix
Info
Cooperation with Scoopex and Rebels.

Music Dream II (1991, ECS Trackloaded Musicdisk)

Credits
Code
Twins
Gfx
Uno, Twins, Firefox, Terminator
Music
Tip, Firefox
Info
Tunes are packed with Twins' utility NoisePacker 2.x, and are among others "Chinese Dream" (cooperation introtune), Macrocosm (firefox), "Mega_End" (cooperation endtune).

ECES '91 Invitation (1991, ECS File)

Interspace (1991, .03, ECS Disk)

Credits
Code
4042
Gfx
The Sarge
Music
"Interspace_Intro" and "The End" by Firefox, Mantronix/Razor 1911, Tip

Enigma (1991, 30.03, ECS Trackmo)

Credits
code
Azatoth
gfx
Uno, Terminator (message font), Imbecille/? (uncredited)
music
"Musiklinjen" by Firefox & Tip
Info
Winner of demo competition at the Anarchy Easter Party '91!

Crystal Symphonies II (1992, ECS Trackloaded Musicdisk)

Credits
code
Jas
gfx
Color
music
Tip and Mantronix