Amorphis is a Finnish heavy metal band founded by Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari, and Esa Holopainen in 1990. Initially, the band was a death metal act, but on later albums they evolved into playing other genres, including progressive metal and folk metal. They frequently use the Kalevala, the epic poem of Finland, as a source for their lyrics.
Something Wild is the debut studio album by Finnish melodic death metal band Children of Bodom, released in 1997 in Finland, and in 1998 worldwide. Upon release, the album was met with universal acclaim. In 2020, it was named one of the 20 best metal albums of 1997 by Metal Hammer magazine.
Ensiferum is a Finnish folk metal band from Helsinki. The members of the band label themselves as "melodic folk metal".
Into Glory Ride is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Manowar and the first to feature drummer Scott Columbus. The album's title is a reference to the title track from the band's previous album Battle Hymns. After 'Into Glory Ride' released, Manowar became one of the most influential bands to the development of this "epic" style of heavy metal and had a critical influence on the genre.
Tomi Juhani Joutsen is a Finnish musician, best known as the vocalist/frontman of the heavy metal band Amorphis (2005–),. He is also a member of Corpse Molester Cult (2008-), as a guitarist and backing vocalist, and Hallatar (2017-), as a vocalist. He is the former lead vocalist of Käsi / Funeral Jacket (1995-1999) and Nevergreen / Sinisthra (2002-2008), as well as the former drummer of The Candles Burning Blue and Feelings.
Spiritual Black Dimensions is the fourth studio album by Norwegian symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir. It was released in 1999 by Nuclear Blast Records. A deluxe edition was released in 2004 with bonus material. There is also a digipak edition of this album which contains no bonus tracks. The digipak has reflective/holographic cover art. This release featured keyboardist Mustis and the clean vocals of ICS Vortex, as well as the departure of long-time drummer Tjodalv, guitarist Astennu, and bassist Nagash.
Elegy is the third studio album by Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis. It is their first to feature a majority of clean vocals, sung by new vocalist Pasi Koskinen. This also marks the first album with drummer Pekka Kasari who replaced Jan Rechberger and the only album with keyboardist Kim Rantala. The music and lyrics are inspired by the traditional Finnish ballads and poems compiled in the Kanteletar by Elias Lönnrot in 1840.
Esa Holopainen is a Finnish musician, currently the main songwriter, occasional lyricist, founding member and lead guitarist of the Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis. He is one out the two longest standing members of the band and one of the four original members in the band.
The Eternal are an Australian gothic/doom metal band formed in 2003 by Mark Kelson on guitar, lead vocals and keyboards. They are known for playing dark, melodic, doom metal with eastern and gothic influences.
Tomi Samuel Koivusaari is the current rhythm guitarist and former vocalist of the Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis. He started playing at the age of 12, his first band was Violent Solution formed in 1987, with him on guitars and vocals, Esa Holopainen on guitars and Jan Rechberger on drums. The band played thrash metal, recorded a demo and an EP. He also formed a death/doom band called Abhorrence in 1989, and recorded a demo and an EP. Both bands broke up in 1990, but Tomi was not a member of Violent Solution since he formed Abhorrence.
Far from the Sun is the sixth studio album by Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis.
Privilege of Evil is the first EP by Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis released in 1993. It is a collection of demo material from Amorphis' early career recorded in Timo Tolkki's (Stratovarius) TTT Studio in 1991. At that time only two of these songs were picked for the band's first 7" single, but the full session was released two years later on this EP. On the EP's reissue by Relapse Records, the band became upset to hear that their early material was released. The material on this EP was originally meant to be for a split album with Incantation, which never materialized. Incantation's half of the split would only be released individually sixteen years later as the Blasphemous Cremation EP.
Black Winter Day is a split EP by Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis with Dutch death metal band Gorefest, released in 1995. The track "Black Winter Day" is one of the band's best-known songs and continues to be a crowd favourite in live performances to this very day.
Mannhai is a Finnish stoner rock band from Helsinki. The band was formed in late 1999 by bass player Olli-Pekka "Oppu" Laine and guitarist Ilkka "Ile" Laaksomaa. Soon they were accompanied by a young drummer, Mikko "Junior" Pietinen, and the following year by lead singer Jani "Joãnitor" Muurinen.
Skyforger is the ninth studio album by Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis. Like the previous album, the lyrics to Skyforger are English translations of Finnish poems based on the Kalevala and written by Pekka Kainulainen. Unlike the two previous albums, it is based on different parts of several episodes, but all told from a single character's point of view. In this sense it is a return to Tales from the Thousand Lakes which told stories from different parts of the Kalevala. The last two albums focused on Kullervo and Lemminkäinen, respectively, and this one focuses on Ilmarinen.
Magic & Mayhem – Tales from the Early Years is the third compilation album by Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis, released on 15 September 2010, in Finland. It's a collection of re-recorded and partially re-arranged songs from their first three studio albums. In addition, the limited edition includes a cover of The Doors song "Light My Fire" as a bonus.
Under the Red Cloud is the twelfth studio album by Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis, released worldwide on 4 September 2015 through Nuclear Blast. The album was produced by Jens Bogren, who was described as "just the right person" by keyboardist Santeri Kallio. This would be the band's last album with longtime bassist Niklas Etelävuori who left in 2017.
The Forest Seasons is the third studio album by Finnish melodic death metal band Wintersun. It was released on July 21, 2017 via Nuclear Blast. The band cited Antonio Vivaldi's violin concerto The Four Seasons as an inspiration for the album title.
Vardøger was a Christian extreme metal band from Hamar, Norway. Formed in 1994 under the name Hidden Paradise, the members of the band at the time were all involved in other musical projects and so treated Hidden Paradise as a side project. Several songs were written between 1995 and 1997, almost enough for an entire album, and the band changed its name to Vardøger, but the group disbanded before an album could be released. In 2000, the band contributed the symphonic black metal song "Footprints of Thunder" to the compilation album In the Shadow of Death: A Scandinavian Extreme Music Compilation.
Whitefrozen is the 2003 debut EP by the Norwegian unblack and Viking metal band Vardøger. Vardøger formed in 1994, under the name Hidden Paradise, as a side project of its constituent musicians.
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