Insomnium | |
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 Insomnium performing at Party.San 2017 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Joensuu, Finland |
| Genres | Melodic death metal |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Labels | |
| Members |
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| Past members |
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| Website | www |
Insomnium is a Finnish melodic death metal band formed in Joensuu in 1997. The sound and lyrical themes of their music portray darkness, sorrow, loss, pain, and nature. Their music includes elements of progressive metal, black metal, folk metal, doom metal, and metalcore.
On 9 September 2011, Insomnium released the music video "Through the Shadows" from their 2011 album, One for Sorrow . [1]
In November 2011, Insomnium embarked on their first headlining European tour with support from Before the Dawn and MyGRAIN. [2] During April, 2012 Insomnium returned to tour the U.K. as the main support act for British gothic metal band, Paradise Lost. Vreid was also present on the tour as a supporting opening act.
On 19 September 2013, Insomnium released "Ephemeral", a single from their foreshadowed 2014 album, Shadows of the Dying Sun , via Century Media Records. It is the first track to feature new guitarist, Markus Vanhala (Omnium Gatherum), who replaced Ville Vänni in 2011. [3]
On 29 April 2014, Insomnium released their sixth studio album, Shadows of the Dying Sun . On 30 April 2014 they made a guest appearance on Epica's CD release show at 013 in the Netherlands.
On 19 May 2016, Insomnium announced their seventh studio album, Winter's Gate to be released on 23 September. It is a concept album consisting of a single epic 40-minute track, and it is said to be about "a group of Vikings who set out to find a fabled island west of Ireland, despite the treacherous winter drawing near." [4] This album was based on the short story by Niilo, "Winter's Gate", or "Talven Portti" in the original Finnish. This story won or was nominated for many Finnish awards. [5]
In 2019, they announced their eighth album, Heart Like a Grave , would be released on 4 October 2019. With the album announcement they also confirmed that the guitarist Jani Liimatainen had joined the band as a full-time member, as he had occasionally filled in for Ville Friman on tours since 2015. [6]
Insomnium released a new EP, titled Argent Moon, on 17 September 2021. [7] Simultaneously, they talked about plans for the ninth studio album to be released in 2022. [8] In 2022, they announced their ninth album, Anno 1696 , would be released on 24 February 2023. Like Winter's Gate, the album is based on a short story by Niilo. [9]
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FIN [11] | AUT [12] | BEL (FL) [13] | BEL (WA) [14] | FRA [15] | GER [16] | JPN [17] | SWI [18] | ||||||
| In the Halls of Awaiting |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| Since the Day It All Came Down |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| Above the Weeping World |
| 9 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| Across the Dark |
| 5 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| One for Sorrow |
| 6 | — | — | — | — | 95 | — | — | ||||
| Shadows of the Dying Sun |
| 2 | 38 | — | — | 178 | 18 | 287 | 23 | ||||
| Winter's Gate |
| 1 | 27 | 124 | 92 | 184 | 19 | — | 17 | ||||
| Heart Like a Grave |
| 1 | — | 154 | 115 | 178 [19] | 10 | — | 15 | ||||
| Anno 1696 |
| 1 [20] | 15 | 165 | — | — | 5 | — | 10 | ||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart. | |||||||||||||
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| "Where the Last Wave Broke" |
|
| "Weather the Storm" [21] |
|
| "Ephemeral" [22] |
|
| "While We Sleep" [23] |
|
| "The Conjurer" [24] |
|
| "The Reticent" [25] |
|
| "Song of the Dusk" [26] |
|
Sonata Arctica is a Finnish power metal band from the town of Kemi, Finland. Created as a hard rock band named Tricky Beans, they later changed to Tricky Means and finally to Sonata Arctica, when they shifted to power metal. The current lineup consists of drummer Tommy Portimo, lead singer Tony Kakko, keyboardist Henrik Klingenberg, guitarist Elias Viljanen and bassist Pasi Kauppinen. All the musicians of the band's history except Portimo also acted as backing vocalists.
Dan-Erland Swanö, also known as Dan "The Man" Swanö, is a Swedish musician and record producer who is currently the vocalist, guitarist, ex-bassist and ex-drummer for the band Nightingale, lately vocalist, keyboardist and drummer for the band Witherscape, as well as the owner of Unisound, but he achieved fame as the vocalist and songwriter of progressive death metal band Edge of Sanity.
In Flames is a Swedish heavy metal band, formed by guitarist Jesper Strömblad in Gothenburg in 1990. Their lineup has changed several times, with vocalist Anders Fridén and guitarist Björn Gelotte being the only consistent members since 1995. Alongside At the Gates and Dark Tranquillity, In Flames has pioneered the genres known as Swedish death metal and melodic death metal, and as of 2008, has sold over two million records worldwide.
Omnium Gatherum is a six-piece melodic death metal band from Finland, founded in the autumn of 1996. Although the band mainly follows the path of the melodic death metal genre, much of their work shows strong influences from progressive metal, especially their later albums. Their music is influenced by Gothenburg-style bands such as At the Gates, In Flames, Dissection, Dark Tranquillity, but also Iron Maiden, Death, Anathema and Megadeth among others.
Jani Allan Kristian Liimatainen is a Finnish guitarist. He came to prominence as the guitarist for the power metal band Sonata Arctica between 1996 and 2007, and has since played in and founded bands such as Cain's Offering and The Dark Element. Liimatainen's playing style is well known for his meticulous and fast soloing and riffs.
Unia, released on 25 May 2007, is the fifth full-length studio album by the power metal band Sonata Arctica, following the album Reckoning Night. The first single from the album was "Paid in Full", released on 27 April 2007. This is also the last album that features guitarist Jani Liimatainen, who was later replaced by Elias Viljanen after the album was released.
Cain's Offering is a Finnish power metal supergroup formed in 2008.
Across the Dark is the fourth studio album by Finnish melodic death metal band Insomnium. It was released on 7 September 2009 on Candlelight Records. The album features Jules Näveri from Profane Omen and Enemy of the Sun as guest vocalist and Aleksi Munter from Swallow the Sun as guest keyboardist. The album was chosen as "Album of the month September, 2009" by German online magazine Metal 1.
Ville Vänni is a Finnish musician. He was one of the guitarists of the melodic death metal band Insomnium.
One for Sorrow is the fifth studio album by Finnish melodic death metal band Insomnium. It was released on October 12, 2011 in Finland, October 17, 2011 throughout the rest of Europe, and October 18, 2011 in the USA, on Century Media Records. It is the band's first release on the Century Media label.
Blackoustic is a collaborative acoustic album by Stratovarius and Cain's Offering vocalist Timo Kotipelto and ex-Sonata Arctica and Cain's Offering guitarist Jani Liimatainen. The album was released on October 19, 2012, and entered the Finnish charts at #13 the first week. The album is self-financed. While initially only sold during performances, the album was eventually released through the Earmusic label, which had released the prior Stratovarius albums since Polaris.
Don't Say a Word is a song by Finnish metal band Sonata Arctica. It was released simultaneously as both a single and as the band's fourth EP released on 30 August 2004 through the label Nuclear Blast.
Shadows of the Dying Sun is the sixth studio album by Finnish melodic death metal band Insomnium. It was released in North America on April 29, 2014 via Century Media Records, and on April 25 in Finland, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, the rest of Europe, as well as Australia and New Zealand on April 28. It is their first album with new guitarist Markus Vanhala after previous long-time guitarist Ville Vänni departed in 2011.
Stormcrow is the second studio album by Finnish power metal supergroup Cain's Offering, released on 19 May 2015. It is their first album with keyboardist Jens Johansson and bassist Jonas Kuhlberg. The first song to be made available was the title-track, streamed from 22 April on. Eight days later, the band streamed "The Best of Times".
Winter's Gate is the seventh studio album by Finnish melodic death metal band Insomnium. It was released worldwide on September 23, 2016 via Century Media Records. It is a concept album said to be about "a group of Vikings who set out to find a fabled island west of Ireland, despite the treacherous winter drawing near."
The Dark Element is the debut studio album by the Finnish heavy metal band of the same name. It was released on November 10, 2017, through Frontiers Records.
The Dark Element is a Swedish symphonic metal band formed by former Nightwish vocalist Anette Olzon and former Sonata Arctica guitarist Jani Liimatainen.
Oceans of Slumber is an American heavy metal band from Houston, Texas, formed in 2011.
Heart Like a Grave is the eighth studio album by Finnish melodic death metal band Insomnium, released on 4 October 2019 via Century Media. It is the first album to feature guitarist Jani Liimatainen. Loudwire named it one of the 50 best metal albums of 2019.
Anno 1696 is the ninth studio album by Finnish melodic death metal band Insomnium, released on 24 February 2023 via Century Media. Insomnium began working on the album shortly before the release of Argent Moon, in 2021, with the album originally planned to be released in 2022. Like their 2016 album Winter's Gate, the album is based on a short story by vocalist/bassist Niilo Sevänen, first hinted on October 24, 2022, less than two weeks before the album's official announcement. It is the final release to feature guitarist Jani Liimatainen.
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