CJ Grimmark is a Swedish guitarist. He has appeared with several influential bands including Narnia, Saviour Machine, Jerusalem, Tourniquet, Rob Rock, and Michael Sweet. He also has been a special guest guitarist on fellow Narnia bandmate Christian Liljegren‘s side projects like Divinefire, Audiovision, The Waymaker, and Flagship. In 2007, he recorded his debut solo album titled Grimmark, where he also handles the lead vocals. Grimmark’s style of playing, especially on Narnia’s earlier work, is often compared to the neo-classical metal stylings of Yngwie Malmsteen.
Grimmark is the main composer in Narnia, and also songwriter. Grimmark is also given credits as a producer on several of Narnia’s albums.
Grimmark has become a highly acclaimed guitarist in the hard rock music genre as more people are exposed to his solid technical abilities, which can be exemplified by the fact that he is credited for playing every instrument on Narnia’s first album, Awakening, and his unique approach towards incorporating a neo-classical sound into his music.
In 2017, the Grimmark-family moved to Norway. When settled there, he started to rebuild his studio, with focus on production, mix- and mastering-services. Since then he has mastered albums for several artists, like Christian Liljegren, Viva featuring members of Jerusalem, Narnia and XT, Martin Simson’s Destroyer of Death featuring Rob Rock, Jorn Lande and Anders Johansson.
“Christmas + Instrumentals & Hymns” is his debut Christmas album. The album will be released in 2022 and features also the renowned musicians Anders Johansson (ex-Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force, ex-Hammerfall, ex-Manowar, Tungsten, etc.), Anders Mossberg (Jerusalem), Andreas “Habo” Johansson (Narnia, Avatarium, Royal Hunt and Anders Köllerfors (Anette Olzon, Allen/Olzon, Magnus Karlsson’s Free Fall, All For The King, etc.). The album will be released on Jonatan Samuelsson‘s (his fellow Narnia bandmate) label JONO Music, with worldwide distribution via Sound Pollution Distribution.
PRESS RELEASE: NARNIA TO RELEASE TENTH STUDIO ALBUM Stockholm, Sweden. September 27th, 2024 Since their return about a decade ago, Narnia has released three studio albums, a live album and a compilation album, as well as touring and playing festivals in Europe and...
‘Silver Screen’ and ‘Don’t Look Back’, the debut singles from today’s 50-year-old Jonatan Samuelsson and his AOR project “Jono” are released today, September 2, 2024 Jono is the AOR-solo project of Jonatan...
Selected
Soli Deo Gloria
Compilation Album
(2021)
“For those who have not yet discovered these masters of melodic hard rock, this is an excellent introduction. But a warning must be issued: It can become addictive!”
Sweden Rock Magazine, Sweden
(85/100)
BURRN! Magazine, Japan
“The band’s repertoire can just as easily attract the attention of fans of melodic Heavy and Power (with some epic touches), as well as of Hard licked, why not AOR”
Metal Integral, France
From Darkness to Light
Album
(2019)
Sverigetopplistan (The Swedish national record chart), week 32
#1 Vinyl #3 Hard Rock #3 Physical Album #17 Album
#1 POSITION in Sweden Rock Magazine’s “The Jury”. (4 reviewers on 9 international releases.)
“After all these years, Narnia really has nothing to prove. But they do it anyway.”
Sweden Rock Magazine, Sweden
We Still Believe – Made in Brazil
Live Album
(2018)
“It was worth every second”
Metal Na Lata, Brazil
“‘We Still Believe’ is in short a fantastically good record and without a doubt one of the best live records ever released!” Noizegate Music, Sweden
“(Narnia) … went the extra mile to provide the listener with a true live experience”
Angelic Warlord, USA
“This is definitely a must-have for power metal fans of all breeds”
The Pure Metal Fan, USA
“Narnia shows on numerous occasions being virtuous live”
viriAOR , Spain
“We Still Believe: Made In Brazil is a solid showing of all the band’s individual talents and their ability to bring the message of faith to their fans”
Hardrock Haven , USA
Narnia
Album
(2016/2017)
“Narnia The Lion roars again!”
Metal Na Lata, Brazil
“It’s all killer with no filler”
Dangerdog, USA
“This is arguably the BEST Narnia album to date.”
The Pure Metal Fan, USA
“Thanks for coming back, Narnia!”
Sweden Rock Magazine, Sweden
“Pleasant surprises”
FFM-Rock, Germany
“Love to press the repeat button”
Rock it, Germany
“They continue to ram it home with force”
The Metal Resource – Mauce, The Netherlands
“(Narnia) … truly kick started as they re-visit their melodic roots, but with an updated sound.”
Ravenheart Music, England
“A strong new life mark”
CrossFire, Germany
High resolution press photos & images
High resolution images
MANAGEMENT, PRESS, BOOKING:
Jonatan Samuelsson
jonatan@jonomedia.se
grimmark@jonomusic.com
Yngwie J Malmsteen, Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck, etc.
