Kraanium is a Norwegian brutal death metal band. The group was founded in 2001 by the twin brothers Martin and Mats Funderud. Having played previously in hardcore and black metal projects together, the brothers seeked out for a heavier project. Their original idea for a band name was "Cranium", but having seen that this band name was used several times before, they desired to innovate the word and spelling for it. The word "kranium" is Norwegian for "skull" and is pronounced the exact same as "cranium" in English.