Excruciate was a Swedish death metal band that formed in Stockholm as a trio in 1988 by Johan Melander together with Per Ax and Henrik "Hempa" Brynolfsson who had just left Carbonized after just four or five rehearsals. In 1990 they recorded their first official demo. The band split up in 1993 after having released their one and only full-length album. In 2001 Henrik Brynolfsson tried to reform the band but after two rehearsals and a recording of a 3 track promo-CD, he felt that he wanted to work with people that are more creative according to himself. Brynolfsson met up with drummer Martin Karlsson (Sin, Stairland) and they started up the project Mykorrhiza.