Biographies

Introducing you to our bands -including full biographies, band members and discographies


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After Forever (NED)

After Forever is a symphonic metal band from the Netherlands, which relies on the use of both soprano vocals and death grunts. Their music is also influenced by classical music.
After Forever was originally assembled in 1995 under the name Apocalypse, playing music most oriented towards death metal. With the joining of vocalist Floor Jansen in 1997, their style shifted slightly again this time to a more gothic metal sound in order to give emphasis to her voice. Their line-up at this point comprised Floor Jansen, Mark Jansen, Sander Gommans, Luuk van Gerven, Jack Driessen and Joep Beckers.

In 1999 the band begun composing songs of their own and recorded two demos - entitled Ephemeral and Wings of Illusion - which eventually drew the attention of the Transmission Records label, with whom the band signed a contract.

Their debut album Prison of Desire was recorded in 2000, featuring the guest appearance of Sharon den Adel. The album obtained impressive success in Europe. In the end of that year, drummer André Borgman and keyboardist Lando van Gils joined the band, replacing Joep Beckers and Jack Driessen.

In 2001 the album Decipher was released. Floor Jansen was invited to guest sing in Ayreon, one of Arjen Anthony Lucassen's projects. In 2002 Mark Jansen quit After Forever and subsequently assembled the band Epica, being replaced by Bas Maas. In 2003 After Forever released the EP and DVD Exordium.

In 2004, the concept album Invisible Circles was released. It reached 26th place in the Dutch Top 100 musical chart. Lando van Gils also left the band and was replaced by Joost van den Broek in the same year.

In early September 2005, the band released their fourth album Remagine This album is available in two versions, a SACD with three bonus songs and as a ‘Special Edition’ with a DVD. The DVD contains a photo gallery and a 'making of' documentary.

On March 3, 2006, the band left the Transmission Records label, due to the scarce promotion that the label was providing. Following this, Transmission Records released the Mea Culpa compilation. By October of the same year After Forever had signed to Nuclear Blast Records.

In the end of 2006 the band recorded their 1st album on the Nuclear Blast label, self titled After Forever, it features guest appearances from Annihilator guitarist Jeff Waters and Doro Pesch. Videos of the recording sessions are available for download on the band website. The album was released in April 2007.


    Line-up



 Former members

    Discography


Albums

Other releases
Official website: http://www.afterforever.com

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Amorphis (FIN)


Amorphis is a Finnish metal band started by Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari and Esa Holopainen in 1990. Initially, the band was a straightfoward death metal act, but in later albums they evolved into playing other types of genres.

Amorphis are well known for their use of the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, as a source for their lyrics.
In 1989, Jan Rechberger and Esa Holopainen played in a speed metal band Violent Solution, which Tomi Koivusaari had left the previous year to form up the death metal band Abhorrence. Violent Solution slowly withered away as the musicians involved became interested in other things and styles of music. At this point, Jan Rechberger and Esa Holopainen had the idea of putting together a death metal band. In early 1990, Tomi Koivusaari was asked to be the vocalist and Oppu Laine to be their bassist.

During that time the band asked Tomi to pick up the slot of rhythm guitarist as well as singing, which led to the band dumping all original compositions and starting all over again. With the band starting to move along, Tomi's other band (Abhorrence) split up and he found himself with much more time to put into Amorphis.

Amorphis in 1992 with Jukka Kolehmainen of Abhorrence. Shortly after the band had recorded their first studio demo tape, Tomi got a letter from Relapse Records offering Abhorrence a recording contract. Since Abhorrence was no longer active, they quickly sent their own demo in the return mail and eventually got signed to a recording deal. The deal would later almost destroy the band, due to a very long commitment and poor artist relations. Soon after getting signed they quickly released their death metal debut, The Karelian Isthmus and later released the Privilege of Evil EP. The EP featured Abhorrence's original vocalist, Jukka Kolehmainen, as a vocalist on the Abhorrence cover song "Vulgar Necrolatry".

In 1994, Amorphis released their second studio album, Tales from the Thousand Lakes, a concept album based on the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. This 1994 release, while still strongly rooted in death metal, is considered to be the first significant step toward a new direction as melodic clean vocals were added, provided by Ville Tuomi.

The success of Tales from the Thousand Lakes was immediate and overwhelming. The ensuing tours and tough schedules, however, took their toll, and Kasper (keyboards) soon decided to leave the band. A successor was found in Kim Rantala. Jan was replaced by Pekka Kasari (ex-Stone), and just before recording their third album, Amorphis recruited a sixth member, singer Pasi Koskinen. The third album, Elegy was released in 1996. Lyrics were again adapted from Finnish mythology, in this case, the Kanteletar, a collection of ancient folk poetry. Pasi and Tomi shared the vocals on a roughly equal basis, with Pasi's role restricted to the clean parts.

After about one and a half years of extensive touring following the release of Elegy, the band members opted for a time-out to recharge and think about new material. Their next offering, 1999's Tuonela was a mellow guitar album, although toward the end of the studio sessions, Santeri Kallio of Kyyria was brought in to add some keyboard tracks to the songs. New instruments were introduced (Tomi playing sitar in the song "Greed", Sakari Kukko saxophonist/flautist also provided some foreign spices) and the death growls were now almost totally abandoned, as all vocals were performed by Pasi.

The new millennium was greeted with the tenth-anniversary compilation Story and another line-up change. Following the breakup of Kyyria, Santeri had already joined Amorphis as a full-time member when bassist Oppu felt he could no longer commit himself to the band. He was succeeded by another ex-Kyyria member, Niclas Etelävuori, who came in just in time for Amorphis' third U.S. tour.

Am Universum, released in 2001, retained the moody atmosphere of Tuonela but introduced more varied soundscapes and a much wider dynamic range. More space was given to keyboards and saxophone work, the latter again contributed by Sakari Kukko. It was a more experimental album, and arguably Amorphis' most psychedelic to date. In 2002 the band was asked for a contribution to the soundtrack for the movie Menolippu Mombasaan. The commissioned piece was a cover version of a 1976 Finnish pop hit, "Kuusamo", which was given the full Amorphis treatment and remains the band's only song in their native tongue to this day.


T. Joutsen, J. Rechberger, E. Holopainen, N. Etelävuori and S. Kallio at Tuska Open Air Metal Festival 2006 Amorphis' longstanding relationship with Relapse Records ended with Am Universum. In 2003, Relapse released the retrospective Chapters, which included a DVD featuring the band's videos from "Black Winter Day" to "Alone". Far from the Sun was produced by the band itself, which had been rejoined by original drummer Jan Rechberger after Pekka Kasari had quit to concentrate on family duties. Compared to Am Universum, Far From The Sun turned out heavier, more straightforward and also once again more folk-oriented. The album would have been accompanied by a North American tour in 2004 but it was ultimately canceled for reasons beyond the control of the band, yet the prospect of it gave Pasi, father of two small children and involved in numerous other musical projects, the reason he had been looking for to leave the band after nine years.

Amorphis found his replacement, Tomi Joutsen (Sinisthra), through word of mouth. With Tomi the band did successful US-tour and started to focus on new material. The group then recorded and released Eclipse, the band's seventh album.

The eighth album "Silent Waters" was released on September 3, 2007.

    Members

Current members
Tomi Joutsen – vocals
Esa Holopainen – guitar
Tomi Koivusaari – guitar
Niclas Etelävuori – bass
Santeri Kallio – keyboards
Jan Rechberger – drums

Former members
Pasi Koskinen – vocals (1996–2004)
Olli-Pekka Laine – bass (1992–1999)
Pekka Kasari – drums (1996–2002)
Kim Rantala – keyboards (1994–1998)
Kasper Mårtenson – keyboards (1993–1994)


    Discography

Albums
 The Karelian Isthmus November 10, 1992
 Tales from the Thousand Lakes July 12, 1994
 Elegy May 14, 1996
 Tuonela March 29, 1999
 Am Universum April 3, 2001
 Far from the Sun May 26, 2003
 Eclipse February 15, 2006
 Silent Waters August 29 (Finland), 31 (Worldwide), 2007


Singles and EPs
 Disment of Soul (1991)
 Amorphis (1991)
 Privilege of Evil (1993)
 Black Winter Day (1995)
 My Kantele (1997)
 Divinity (1999)
 Alone (2001)
 Day of Your Beliefs (2003)
 Evil Inside (2003)
 House of Sleep (2005)
 The Smoke (2006)
 Silent Water (2007)

Compilations
 Story - 10th Anniversary (2000)
 Chapters (CD and DVD, 2003)


Official website: http://www.amorphis.net

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Apocalyptica (FIN)

Apocalyptica is a Finnish musical group consisting of three, formerly four, classically trained cellists and, since 2005, a drummer. All three cellists are graduates of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland.
Apocalyptica was formed in 1993 when four cellists, Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen, Max Lilja, and Antero Manninen gathered to play Metallica covers at the Teatro Heavy Metal Club. Among the audience was Kari Hynninen, who worked for the independent label Zen Garden Records. After listening to Apocalyptica's set, Kari Hynninen signed them on the spot to Zen Garden Records.

In 1996, Apocalyptica released their debut studio album, Plays Metallica by Four Cellos, which consisted solely of Metallica covers played on cellos. In 1998, Apocalyptica released their second studio album, Inquisition Symphony, which was produced by Hiili Hiilesma. Inquisition Symphony once again contained covers of Metallica, but also contained covers of Faith No More, Sepultura, and Pantera. For this album the band also decided to include three original songs written by Eicca Toppinen.

Perttu Kivilaakso live 2005In 1999, Antero Manninen left the group, and was replaced by Perttu Kivilaakso. In 2000, Apocalyptica released their third studio album, Cult, which now featured 10 original songs, and only 3 covers. In 2002, Max Lilja left the group and joined Hevein, leaving Apocalyptica with only three members.

In 2003, Apocalyptica released their fourth studio album, Reflections, which consisted for the first time of all original songs. Reflections featured a more experimental sound, instead of the previous acoustic style arrangements found on Inquisition Symphony and Cult. Dave Lombardo from Slayer played drums on five songs from Reflections.

In 2005, Apocalyptica released their fifth studio album, Apocalyptica, which featured Mikko Sirén on drums, who would be, as of December that year, introduced as an official bandmember. This album featured a number of guest musicians including Ville Valo of HIM, Lauri Ylönen, and once again Dave Lombardo. They also recorded the Intro for Bullet For My Valentines album The Poison

Apocalyptica released their sixth studio album, Worlds Collide, on September 17, 2007. Till Lindemann of Rammstein is among the guest singers. He will be taking on David Bowie's song "Heroes", which was also released in German as "Helden". Till will be singing the German version, making his song the only German-language song on Worlds Collide and the second in the band's history.


    Members


Current members

Eicca Toppinen – Cello (1996–present)
Paavo Lötjönen – Cello (1996–present)
Perttu Kivilaakso – Cello (1999–present)
Mikko Sirén – Drums (2005–present)


Former members

Antero Manninen – Cello (1996–1999, occasionally plays live)
Max Lilja – Cello (1996–2002)


Sessional Members

Dave Lombardo of Slayer - Drums (2003 - 2004)


Guest musicians

Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace ("I Don't Care")
Corey Taylor of Stone Sour/Slipknot ("I'm not Jesus")[2]
Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil ("SOS (Anything But Love)")[3]
Dave Lombardo of Slayer ("Last Hope," "Betrayal/Forgiveness")
Emmanuelle Monet of Dolly ("En Vie")
Lauri Ylönen of The Rasmus ("Life Burns!", "Bittersweet")
Linda Sundblad formerly of Lambretta ("Faraway Vol.2")
Marta Jandová of Die Happy ("Wie Weit/How Far")
Mats Levén of Therion, Krux ("SOS", "I don't care")
Matt Tuck of Bullet for My Valentine ("Repressed")
Matthias Sayer of Farmer Boys ("Hope Vol.2")
Max Cavalera of Soulfly, ex-Sepultura ("Repressed")
Nina Hagen ("Seemann")
Sandra Nasic of Guano Apes ("Path Vol.2")
Till Lindemann of Rammstein ("Helden")
Tomoyasu Hotei ("Grace")
Ville Valo of HIM ("Bittersweet")


Discography

 Apocalyptica audio samples

"Misconstruction" (info)
"Farewell" (info)
1996 - Plays Metallica by Four Cellos
1998 - Inquisition Symphony
2000 - Cult
2002 - Best of Apocalyptica (Japan only)
2003 - Reflections
2005 - Apocalyptica
2006 - Amplified - A Decade of Reinventing the Cello
2007 - Worlds Collide

Covered artists
Apocalyptica have covered songs by the following artists:

Metallica
Edvard Grieg
Pantera
Rammstein
Sepultura
Slayer
Faith No More
David Bowie


Trivia

 Three songs from the album Plays Metallica by Four Cellos, "Enter Sandman", "Wherever I May Roam" and "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", appeared in the soundtrack to the 1998 movie Your Friends & Neighbors.
The song "Hope Vol.2" served as the title song for the 2001 movie Vidocq.
The song "Bittersweet" serves as the theme music for the video game The Settlers: Heritage of the Kings.
The song "Life Burns" is part of the soundtrack for the video game Burnout Revenge.
Apocalyptica recorded the main theme for the sport drama movie Shadowboxing.
Kivilaakso recorded the main themes of the video game Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne.
Their cover of Metallica's "Master of Puppets" appeared in the 2004 Metallica film Some Kind of Monster.
During concerts Antero Manninen sometimes supports the group as fourth cellist.
So far they have sold two million albums worldwide, played in more than 30 countries, played with Rammstein on the Reise, Reise tour, and supported Metallica twice.
Apocalyptica played during the counting of votes in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki.
Apocalyptica were featured briefly in the OOMPH! filmclip, Die Schlinge playing their cellos as the members of OOMPH! played their instruments (and sang) on a set of gallows in accordance to the song title.
In the Eurovision Dance Contest 2007 in London, Finland's representatives, dancers Jussi Väänänen and Katja Koukkula, had chosen Apocalyptica's Metallica cover of the song The Unforgiven as the background music of one of their numbers. The couple won the competition.


Official website: http://www.apocalyptica.com

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