Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a thick, monumental sound characterized by distorted guitars, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats and loudness.
Glam metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that features pop-influenced hooks and guitar riffs, upbeat rock anthems, and slow power ballads. It borrows heavily from the fashion and image of 1970s glam rock.
A metal umlaut is a diacritic that is sometimes used gratuitously or decoratively over letters in the names of mainly hard rock or heavy metal bands—for example, those of Blue Öyster Cult, Queensrÿche, Motörhead, the Accüsed, Mötley Crüe and the parody bands Spın̈al Tap, Green Jellÿ and Moxy Früvous.
The music of Finland can be roughly divided into folk music, classical and contemporary art music, and contemporary popular music.
Impaled Nazarene is a Finnish extreme metal band that started as black metal but have incorporated elements of grindcore, thrash metal and death metal, and have grown more towards hardcore punk.
Ensiferum is a Finnish folk metal band from Helsinki. The members of the band label themselves as "melodic folk metal."
Waltari is a Finnish band from Helsinki combining alternative metal, progressive metal, death metal, hard rock, heavy metal, hip hop, industrial, pop, punk, symphonic metal, techno and thrash metal styles.
Beherit is a Finnish black metal band from Rovaniemi. The band was formed in 1989 by Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance, Black Jesus and Sodomatic Slaughter, with the purpose of performing "the most primitive, savage, hell-obsessed black metal imaginable". "Beherit" is the Syriac word for Satan. Through the uncommercial nature of their music, visuals, and live performances, the band quickly attracted a cult following. Besides the "raw" sound, the band's music is noted for its avant-garde side and emphasis on atmosphere. Beherit are now regarded as a pioneer in their genre.
Lordi is a Finnish rock band, formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter, and costume maker, Mr Lordi. Influenced by hard rock and heavy metal music, Lordi are known for wearing monster masks and using horror elements with pyrotechnics during concerts and music videos. The band rose to fame in 2002 with their hit single "Would You Love a Monsterman?", and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with their song "Hard Rock Hallelujah".
Kimmo Pohjonen is a Finnish accordionist who is known for his avant-garde and experimental work with his custom-made electrified and modified instrument. He has released nine albums of his work and has toured Europe extensively, as well as performances in Japan and some in North America. He records and performs both solo and in collaboration with musicians and other artists, including the Kronos Quartet, and percussionist Pat Mastelotto and guitarist Trey Gunn of King Crimson. Pohjonen still lives in Finland when not on the road. He has performed with one of his daughters, Saana, who plays the drums.
Jari Mäenpää is a Finnish heavy metal multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. He is the founder of Wintersun for which he records all instruments except the drums. Before forming Wintersun, Mäenpää was best known for his role in the folk metal band Ensiferum, which he joined in 1996 after leaving his prior band named Immemorial. Wintersun was initially planned as a parallel project alongside Ensiferum, but in January, 2004 he was forced to leave Ensiferum due to clashes between their touring schedule and the studio recording time he had booked for Wintersun.
Tomi Petteri Putaansuu, known professionally as Mr Lordi, is a Finnish musician, businessman, special effect make-up artist, songwriter, painter, comics artist and graphic designer. He is best known as the lead vocalist of rock band Lordi. In the band he is responsible for songwriting and creating all the masks, costumes, graphics and stage props.
The Ultimate Incantation is the debut album by Polish death metal band Vader. It was released in 1992 by Earache Records. A music video was shot for the song "Dark Age", which was directed by Kimmo Kuusniemi and Tanja Katinka. The cover art was drawn by Dan Seagrave. The album was originally recorded at Sunlight Studio with Thomas Skogsberg, but neither the record label or Vader was pleased with the outcome and decided to use another studio because of technical issues. The new studio that they recorded at was Rhythm Studios in England with producer Paul Johnson. Piotr "Peter" Wiwczarek commented on Decibel magazine about recording album at Sunlight Studios, saying:
[...]It was rather an opportunity to record our debut album at the famous Sunlight. We knew many fabulous LPs [had been] recorded in this studio, so the whole of Vader was more than happy. [...] There was no real acoustic drum kit in the studio. Not one of us was expecting or had worked before on such equipment. We had nothing to say, but had to keep recording on what we had available. We owned no professional equipment yet. [...] We had to use rented stuff and what was provided to play in the studio. My guitar was maybe good enough for live performances, but far from being studio-ready. Doc brought some cymbals and pedals and that was it. [...] All we had in-studio were electronic drum pads and a combo amp for guitar. Vader was all about blastbeats… and that electronic drum kit was not made for that.
Fourth Dimension is the fourth studio album by power metal band Stratovarius, released on 11 April 1995 through Noise Records. The album is the band's first to feature vocalist Timo Kotipelto as well as the last with keyboardist Antti Ikonen and drummer Tuomo Lassila, thus being the last Stratovarius album to date featuring an all-Finnish line-up. Founding member and guitarist Timo Tolkki, who had served as the band's vocalist for their first three albums, still provided background vocals on Fourth Dimension before handing over lead singing duties to Kotipelto for all subsequent albums. The track "030366" is likely a reference to Tolkki's birthday of 3 March 1966.
Trench Road is a 2004 Finnish drama film directed by Veikko Aaltonen. Based on the Nordic Council's Literature Prize-winning novel Juoksuhaudantie by Kari Hotakainen, the film is about a man who tries to get his wife and daughter back by buying a house.
Moottörin Jyrinä is a children's heavy metal band from Helsinki, Finland.
Tikkurilan Soittokunta is a concert band in Vantaa, Finland. It was founded in 1945 and registered as an independent non-profit society 'Tikkurilan musiikkiyhdistys' in 1947. Current name has been used since 1972. The wind band is also known with the name TixiBand, especially in the occasions performing lighter genres of music. The name of the band is originating from the city hall district of Vantaa, Tikkurila, which is often called locally with the shorter nickname 'Tiksi'.
Kimmo Sakari Blom was a Finnish singer and stage artist, known for his work in several rock and metal bands such as Urban Tale, Boys of the Band, and Heartplay. From 2004, he performed in the Finnish Christmas metal project Raskasta Joulua and from 2018, he was the lead vocalist of melodic metal band Leverage. He has also provided backing vocals for metal bands such as Stratovarius, Thunderstone, Kiuas, Ari Koivunen, Timo Tolkki's Avalon, and Twilight Guardians.
Raskasta Joulua is a music project from Finland in which diverse artists have recorded traditional Christmas carols and Christmas hits in a heavy metal style. "Raskasta joulua" is a term in Finnish which means "heavy Christmas" in English. The concept was founded by guitarist Erkka Korhonen in 2004. Many notable Finnish metal vocalists have appeared on Raskasta Joulua albums and tours, including Marko Hietala, Jarkko Ahola, Ari Koivunen, Juha-Pekka Leppaluoto and Tony Kakko.
