ontol was formed in 1987 after the dissolution of the noise band elemental phantastix. The membership changed often from album to album, with members leaving and returning.

Experimenting with different recording techniques, ontol's sound and style often varied greatly in the earlier days, but in later years became more focused on ambient landscapes.

ontol dissolved in 1999 during a 3 year project in which they were attempting to produce a trilogy called "This Is Not Music", with each volume containing different styles. Some of the works they had done to that point were compiled in 1999 onto an 18-track release called "Species Specific" (which was initially the subtitle of the 2nd volume of the trilogy). Species was shortened into a 12-track re-release in 2002.

ontol reformed in 2003 and released "phonography" in 2004, but has not released any material since.

You can visit ontol's myspace.com page as well.

ontol discography:

1987: Unaltered Return
1989: The Coloring Book (unavailable EP)
1990: Eric's Bracelets (live)
1990: photocopies
1991: ontology 101
1993: BoB
1994: Last
1995: Prayer for Endtimes (EP)
1999: Species Specific
1999: Rest (by J Helms, spoken word album, backgrounds by ontol)
1999: The Stars, Like Dust (EP)
2001: Isolated (EP)
2002: Seconds
2004: phonography