Turku is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately 202,000, while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 311,000. It is the 6th most populous municipality in Finland, and the third most populous urban area in the country after Helsinki and Tampere.
Silja Line is a Finnish shipping company and cruiseferry brand owned and operated by the Estonian shipping company AS Tallink Grupp, for car, cargo and passenger traffic between Finland and Sweden.
Tomas Lindberg, also known as "Tompa" and "Goatspell", is a Swedish vocalist who has fronted many death metal bands, most notably At the Gates. He has been active as a musician and composer since the late 1980s. He also teaches social studies.
Swedish death metal is a death metal music scene developed in Sweden. Many Swedish death metal bands are associated with the melodic death metal movement, thus giving Swedish death metal a different sound from other variations of death metal. Unlike American death metal groups, the first Swedish bands were rooted in hardcore punk. Gothenburg has a large melodic death metal scene while Stockholm is known for its more raw death metal scene.
The Haunted is a Swedish heavy metal band from Gothenburg, formed in 1996. The original members were Anders and Jonas Björler, Peter Dolving, Adrian Erlandsson and Patrik Jensen. Both of the Björler brothers and Erlandsson were members of the seminal melodic death metal band At the Gates, a pioneering force in the Swedish death metal scene.
Hanoi Rocks were a Finnish rock band formed in 1979. They were the first Finnish band to chart in the UK and they were also popular in Japan. By 1984, the band was considered to be on the verge of an international breakthrough when they released their first major label album for CBS and headed for their first US tour. The tour was however cut short when their drummer Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley died in a drunk driving incident with Vince Neil behind the wheel in December 1984. The band never recovered from the loss and announced their split in June 1985. After their initial break-up, lead singer Michael Monroe became the first Finnish artist to chart on the American Billboard 200 in 1989. Monroe and original lead guitarist Andy McCoy reunited in 2001 with a new lineup that lasted until 2009. Although musically closer to traditional rock n' roll and punk, Hanoi Rocks has been cited as a major influence in the glam metal genre for bands such as Guns N' Roses, Skid Row and Poison.
At the Gates is a Swedish death metal band from Gothenburg, formed in 1990. The band was a major progenitor of Gothenburg-style melodic death metal alongside In Flames and Dark Tranquillity. Prior to their first disbandment in 1996, At the Gates released four albums, ending with and including Slaughter of the Soul (1995), which has been seen as a landmark in the mid-1990s Swedish death metal scene as well as being a major inspiration for many metalcore bands. After reuniting for a one-off tour in 2008, the band reformed once again in 2011, and they have since released three more albums: At War with Reality (2014), To Drink from the Night Itself (2018) and The Nightmare of Being (2021).
Slaughter of the Soul is the fourth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band At the Gates, released on 14 November 1995 by Earache Records. It was their last album before their eleven-year breakup from 1996 to 2007. Slaughter of the Soul is considered a landmark in melodic death metal and played a major role in popularizing the Gothenburg scene, alongside The Jester Race by In Flames and The Gallery by Dark Tranquillity. The album was recorded and mixed in Studio Fredman, early 1995.
Beherit is a Finnish black metal band from Rovaniemi. The band was formed in 1989 by Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance, Jari Vaarala and Sodomatic Slaughter, with the purpose of performing "the most primitive, savage, hell-obsessed black metal imaginable". "Beherit" is claimed to be the Syriac word for Satan, but this word does not exist in the language and the claim is falsehood. 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.
Andy LaRocque is a Swedish guitarist, songwriter and record producer, best known as a member of the heavy metal band King Diamond since 1985.
Adrian Paul Erlandsson is a Swedish heavy metal drummer who is a member of At the Gates, the Haunted, and Nemhain (2006–present).
Anders Björler is a Swedish musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist in the metal bands The Haunted and At the Gates, alongside his bass-playing twin brother Jonas Björler.
Jonas Fredrik Björler is a Swedish musician and the bass player of the melodic death metal bands At the Gates and The Haunted. He was formerly in the bands Demolition, Infestation and Terror.
Matti Antero Kristian Fagerholm, better known by his stage name Michael Monroe, is a Finnish rock musician who rose to fame as the vocalist and saxophonist for the glam punk band Hanoi Rocks, and has served as the frontman for all-star side projects, such as Demolition 23 and Jerusalem Slim.
Studio Fredman is a well-known recording studio in Gothenburg, Sweden, owned and operated by producer Fredrik Nordström.
Xysma is a Finnish rock band that was founded in 1988 in Naantali, a small town near Turku. The band split up in 1998, but reunited in 2006 for a memorial gig, and reunited again in 2011.
Martin Larsson is a Swedish heavy metal guitarist. He initially played in The House of Usher from 1990 to 1993. After the band split up, he joined At the Gates, and was their guitarist until they broke up in 1996, and again when they reunited in 2007.
Alf Svensson is a Swedish heavy metal guitarist. He initially played in Oral from 1984 to 1989. He temporarily entered Grotesque and Liers in Wait before joining At the Gates in 1990. He was their guitarist until 1993, in 1994, he reformed Oral to record an EP. He then formed Oxiplegatz, and went on to release three albums under this name. He currently works as art director in First Planet Company.
At War with Reality is the fifth studio album and major label debut by Swedish melodic death metal band At the Gates, released on 28 October 2014. It is the band's first album since Slaughter of the Soul (1995), marking the longest gap between two studio albums in their career. It is a concept album based on the literary genre of magic realism.
Evocation is a Swedish death metal band from Borås.
