After performing a few gigs as God Seed, vocalist Gaahl left the band in July 2009[1] and it was put on hold.

Gaahl and King had joined Gorgoroth in 1998 and 1999 respectively, performing on the albums Incipit Satan (2000), Twilight of the Idols (2003), and Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam (2006).

Following the conclusion of the Gorgoroth dispute in March 2009, when the court recognised Infernus as the legitimate owner of the band name, Gaahl and King assumed the name God Seed.

[5] However, in December 2008 when interviewed by Faceculture, Gaahl implied that he had not yet worked on lyrics and vocal arrangements and intended to do so somepoint after the completion of the European tour with Cradle of Filth while they were still using the Gorgoroth name.

[7] The Norwegian news outlet Nettavisen reported that he had been spending the winter there to help Dan De Vero record his debut album, although the veracity of this story has been in question especially since a day after publication the article was revised with almost all references to Gaahl removed.

At the With Full Force festival in the beginning of July 2009 Gaahl revealed to Rock Hard that he had quit God Seed, citing his lack of enthusiasm.

[7][11][12] King later clarified that Gaahl had in fact chosen to retire from metal music, with King eventually forming Ov Hell with Shagrath of Dimmu Borgir and reincorporating the music which was intended to be on the God Seed debut album into his new band, with lyrics written by Shagrath.