Finntroll

Finntroll

http://www.finntroll.net
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Biography

Formed in Helsinki 1997 by two blokes Teemi 'Somnium' Raimoranta (ex The Serpent and Impaled Nazarene) and Katla (J.Jämsen), who were jamming during a drinking 'sesh' with a keyboard, they sorted out a tune they liked, humppa style (Finnish polka music). Taking it into the studio they added heavy guitars, 'brutal' vocals and drum machines, this became their demo 'Rivfader' released in January 1998. Spinefarm took an interest and after the boys had recruited a full band (B. Dominator - drums, Skrymer - guitars, Trollhorn (Moonsorrow) - keyboards and Tundra - bass) they signed a record deal. Shortly after they released their debut album 'Midnattens Widunder', 9 tracks of black folk trollish metal, the strangest thing is they sing in Swedish despite all being Finnish. They hit Walltone studio for their next album and this time recording was much smoother as they overcame problems that had perplexed them before and headed more in the direction they wanted to go. 'Jaktens Tid' managed to hit no.20 in the Finnish album charts surpassing all expectations of the band and the record label. This prompted Century Media to license the album to the rest of the world.

2002 came and the band hit the summer festivals, most notable being the Wacken Open Air, where they were asked to perform twice. A European tour was planned for that Autumn but the band never made it out there as Katla hit vocal problems. He was told to rest but after multiple operations it was clear his voice was not going to return to full strength and he had to step down from the lead role. During this time various people filled in for him including Tommy Åberg from Bloodshed, Pete Eskelinen of Rapture and Mika Luttinen of Impaled Nazarene. Their third album, well E.P., hit the shelves at this period of time, a change in tact as it was acoustic/experimental style, 'Visor Om Slutet'. Tapio Wilska took the full time role of vocalist. Disaster struck just before the E.P was released. Somnium one of the founders of the band died aged 25 after falling from Helisinki's Pitkäsilta Bridge onto ice below while under the influence of alcohol. The band deliberated for ages wether or not to continue and agreed to continue in honour of Somnium's memory.

The band finally hit Europe as a support act to Katatonia with Mikael Karlbom taking over Somnium's place as he had been close to the band for years. The fourth album was recorded at Walltone studios 'Nattfödd' and was released at the same time as an E.P. 'Trollhammaren'. Finntroll finally got their own headline tour with Ensiferum and The Wake as support.

They plan their next full album somewhere between 2005-2105.

Current line-up:
Beast Dominator (Samu Ruotsalainen) - drums
Tundra (Sami Uusitalo) - bass
Skrymer (Samuli Ponsimaa) - guitar
Trollhorn (Henri Sorvali) - keyboards
Routa (Mikael Karlbom) - guitar
Tapio Wilska - vocals read less

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