The Third and the Mortal were a Norwegian experimental metal band, founded in the city of Trondheim, Norway, in 1990, by Rune Hoemsnes, Geir Nilssen and Trond Engum. The band started out as a melodic death metal band with singer Terje Buaas, shifting to doom metal, mixing distorted guitars and heavy drumming with clean guitars and vocals from Kari Rueslåtten. The band went on to experiment with genres such as progressive rock, jazz, ambient, folk and electronica.