Biographies

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


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Samsas Traum (GER)


Samsas Traum is an Avantgarde band from Germany, fronted by Alexander Kaschte. Their music consists of elements of Industrial, black metal, Gothic and neoclassical music.
Samsas Traum started in 1996 when Alexander released his first solo tape. Three years later this project became a group of three, and their official debut "Die Liebe Gottes - Eine märchenhafte black metal Operette" [Trans.: "The Love of God - a black metal fairytale Opera"] divided the scene: Some people said that ST is the best Newcomer of the year, other people rather started to hate them, at least also because of some provocative statements by Alexander Kaschte.
The follow-up appeared in 2000 with "O Luna mein" [Trans.: "O, Luna mine"]; a musically matured and varied album of more polished arrangements, balanced instrumentation and beautiful choir-parts. In this time Alexander went on to create his darker alter-ego Weena Morloch, which was more noise music based, and included samples from horror movies.
Many more Samsas Traum albums have been released each year, with more Industrial/Classical arrangements. The two new albums, which will be released in November 2007 are are also heading new and old ways: While the first Album is going to be a Black Metal-Epos ("Heiliges Herz - Das Schwert deiner Sonne"), the other one will be an acoustic and very personal one (Wenn schwarzer Regen..)

The limited first edition of "Heiliges Herz" comes in a special book format and a slipcase with silver foil embossing. The 44 booklet pages are bound in linen and made of a special paper with a lacquer print and contain lyrics, liner notes, many photos illustrations exclusively done for the album. Add to that a bonus CD which contains remixes by Pain, Wumpscut, PAL, L'Ame Immortelle, In Strict Confidence and Ingo Römling. Also included are unreleased songs and material from Alexander Kaschte's archives.

Members
Alexander Kaschte - Vocals, programming
Andrew Ongley - Guitar
Paul Wilkinson - Guitar
Michael Beck - Drums
Tilman Wolff-Moore - Bass

Former Members:
Daniel Schroeder - Bass Clarinet/Saxophone
Choir:
Alisa Kaschte
Annabelle Kaschte
Simone Stahl
Eva Stahl
Karsten Sommer
Johannes Welsch
Lena Graulich
Lydia Budnick

Discography:
1996: Kazanian "Die Drei Mütter" / Samsas Traum "Nostalgische Atavismen" (Demo tape)
1996: Homerecordings (Second Demo)
1998: Elite (Third Demo)
1998: Einblick in ein elitäres Debüt-Album (Fourth Demo)
1999: Re-Release of Kazanian "Die Drei Mütter" / Samsas Traum "Nostalgische Atavismen"
1999: Die Liebe Gottes - Eine märchenhafte black metal-Operette (Trinity)
2000: Oh Luna Mein (Trisol)
2001: Utopia (Trisol)
2001: Nostalgia (Trisol; old Album with Demo Material)
2002: Ipsissima Verba (Trisol; EP)
2003: Tineoidea oder: Die Folgen einer Nacht - Eine Gothicoper in Blut-Moll (Trisol; includes Bonus-CD)
2003: Arachnoidea oder: Von Babalon, Scheiterhaufen und Zerstörungswut (Trisol; Remix Album of "Tineoidea", with Bonus CD)
2004: Endstation.Eden (Trisol; Single/Best of - comes with Bonus-CD)
2004: a.Ura und das Schnecken.Haus (Trisol; DoCD)
2005: Einer gegen Alle (Trisol; DoDVD & DoCD)
2005: Einer gegen Alle (Trisol; Promo-Single)
2005: "Die Liebe Gottes", "Oh Luna Mein", "Utopia" and"Tineoidea" (DoCDs)
2007: Heiliges Herz - Das Schwert Deiner Sonne (Trisol; DoCD)
2007: Wenn schwarzer Regen (Trisol; DoCD)

Official website: http://www.samsas-traum.info/

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Sinamore (FIN)

Sinamore is a Finnish gothic metal band from Hamina formed by Mikko Heikkilä, Jarno Uski and Miika Hostikkain 1998. They produced and released their first demo "My Grace" in 2000 as "Halflife", additional demotapes followed ("Agony", "She and the Devil").

In spring 2002 Tommi Muhli played the second guitar and the band shortened their name into "H/L". The first demotape as a quartett was called "Sleeping Away", the fifth one was released in 2004 as "Follow into the Cry" under the producer Teemu Aalto. A smaller japanese label was interested but in cause of problems with the contract, it has been terminated. The band changed their name into "Sinamore".

Sinamore released their first album "A New Day" in January 2006. One year later their next album came out, called "Seven Sins A Second".

Current Members
Mikko Heikkilä - Vocals, guitar
Jarno Uski - Bass
Tommi Muhli - Guitar
Miika Hostikka - Drums

Discography
Demos
2000 My Grace
2001 Agony
2001 She and the Devil
2003 Sleeping Away
2004 Follow into the Cry

Albums
2006 A New Day
2007 Seven Sins A Second

Videos
2006 "Darkness of Day"
2006 "Fallen"


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

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Sonata Arctica (FIN)

Sonata Arctica is a Finnish power metal band from the town of Kemi, originally assembled in 1996. Their later albums (particularly Unia) are also often cited as part of the progressive metal genre.
The band was founded by Tony Kakko, Jani Liimatainen, Marko Paasikoski, Tommy Portimo and Pentti Peura in Kemi in 1996. Originally named Tricky Beans, they played hard rock rather than the power metal with which they grew to fame. During their early career, they recorded three demos which were never sent to any recording label — Friend 'till the End, Agre Pamppers and PeaceMaker.

In 1997 the band changed their name to Tricky Means, and from that point until 1999 their style was thoroughly worked upon and ultimately was drastically changed, acquiring strong emphasis on the keyboard melodies and relying on an easily distinguishable rhythm line maintained both by the bass and the guitar. Vocalist Tony Kakko developed a clean singing style which relies both on falsetto and tenor voices and second guitarist Marko Paasikoski left the band. Tony has stated that the change of sound was influenced by fellow Finnish power metal band Stratovarius.

In 1999, the band recorded a demo entitled FullMoon in Kemi's Tico Tico Studios, which was their first real metal recording. The line-up consisted of vocalist and keyboardist Tony Kakko, guitarist Jani Liimatainen, bassist Janne Kivilahti and drummer Tommy Portimo. The demo was sent to Spinefarm Records by a friend of the band and a recording deal soon followed, during which the band changed its name to Sonata Arctica.

Later that year, Sonata Arctica's first single — entitled UnOpened — was released in Finland. It entered the Finnish Top 20 sales chart on the week of its release and, soon enough, the band had closed deals with labels from around the world, prior to the release of their debut album. The debut Ecliptica arrived by the end of 1999 and had a worldwide release, obtaining rave critics from the specialized press.

Tony Kakko then decided to focus on singing and began looking for a new keyboard player for Sonata Arctica; Mikko Härkin (ex-Kenziner) was eventually invited to fill the position.

In the beginning of 2000, Sonata Arctica was chosen to support the well known power metal band Stratovarius throughout their European tour. Marko Paasikoski returned to the band to play bass in the wake of Janne Kivilahti's departure after the tour.

>From late 2000 to late 2001, the band worked on composing and recording their next album — Silence — which was released in June of 2001. An extensive tour followed, which included concerts throughout Europe (together with Gamma Ray) and Japan. In 2002 Sonata Arctica made its first incursion to America, putting on shows in Brazil and Chile. According to some of the musicians from the band, it was one of their best tours to date — the other being the Japanese tour from 2003. A live album entitled Songs of Silence was also released that year, consisting of gigs from their tour in Japan.

By the end of 2002, Mikko Härkin left the band due to personal reasons. Their third album — Winterheart's Guild — was recorded with the help of the seasoned keyboard player Jens Johansson from Stratovarius, who recorded the keyboard solos, while Kakko took care of the basics. The album was released in 2003.

In the search for another keyboardist, the band received many applications and two of them were invited for auditions. Since they were well aware of the candidates' ability, the band decided to pick the new member based on personality. To this end they spent a night drinking with each of the potentials in order to find out which one would fit best into the band's personality and mentality. Henrik Klingenberg was eventually chosen and joined the band in time to take part in the tour that followed the release of Winterheart's Guild. Most of the concerts on the tour were sold out.

With the end of their contract with Spinefarm Records, the band received invitations from most European recording labels, and eventually opted for Nuclear Blast.

In early 2004, the band was chosen as the opener for Iron Maiden's Japanese tour. Additionally, Tommy Portimo became a father; his wife gave birth to a baby girl in March.

Reckoning Night was recorded in three months and released in October. Both the single and the EP of this release remained on the top of the Finnish charts simultaneously for over six weeks. A promotional tour was to follow, but Sonata Arctica was invited by the popular Nightwish to join their European tour, and thus made a change of plans. The concerts that followed were played for audiences of over ten thousand people.

In early 2005, Nightwish invited the band to open the concerts of their North American tour. This tour eventually got cancelled, but the members of Sonata Arctica opted to still make a short tour, playing concerts in Canada and in the USA.

The band then released a live CD and DVD entitled For the Sake of Revenge, which was recorded in Tokyo in February of 2005 and released in 2006. Then, Spinefarm Records released a compilation album in order to get the most out of their contract with the band, since Sonata Arctica changed their recording label. The compilation is entitled The End of This Chapter and was released in Japan in August 2005 and in Europe on May 2006.

A computer video game is also planned based on Sonata Arctica characters and music. The name of the game will be Winterheart's Guild, like their album. The game will be developed by Zelian Games, and will be an Action-RPG in a style between Fallout and Diablo. Further details or a release date are not yet available, but a demo was shown at the Leipzig video game conference in 2006, featuring Henrik Klingenberg as the playable character.

As of December 2006, the band began recording their fifth studio album, Unia. The album was released May 25, 2007. The album's first single, "Paid In Full", was released April 27, 2007. Interestingly, the cover for "Unia" features a barely perceptible image of a person's hair and eyes looking out through a crack in the background in the lower right-hand corner. It is likely an allusion to the person in the song "Caleb" on "Unia".

The band was headlining ProgPower USA VIII in October 2007.

On March 2, 2007, guitarist Jani Liimatainen posted on the band's website that he will not be playing the shows during the band's Finnish Spring tour. This is in due to the fact that he must perform his "civic duties" for his country. His replacement for the Spring dates was Elias Viljanen (http://www.eliasviljanen.com/).

On August 6, 2007, the band officially confirmed on their web page, that Jani was asked to leave the band because of his failure to fullfill his civil duties in Finland. From August 6 on, Elias Viljanen is officially a member of Sonata Arctica.

Sonata Arctica will be doing their first shows in Mexico, Mexico city which is September 7th, Monterrey, September 8th and Guadalajara, September 9th.
Sonata Arctica will tour with Nightwish again in Fall 2008 across North America and Canada.



 Members

Current
Tony Kakko – (1996–present) vocals & keyboard on Ecliptica, Winterheart's Guild and Unia
Elias Viljanen – (2007–present) guitar
Marko Paasikoski – (2000–present) bass (formerly guitar)
Tommy Portimo – (1996–present) drums
Henrik Klingenberg – (2003–present) keyboards

Former
Pentti Peura – (1996–1999) bass
Janne Kivilahti – (1999–2000) bass
Mikko Härkin – (2000–2002) keyboards
Jani Liimatainen – (1996–2007) guitar

 Guest musicians
Raisa Aine – Flute in "Letter to Dana"
Nik Van-Eckmann – Spoken passages in Silence and Reckoning Night
Mika Niilonen – Spoken passages in Silence
Mikko Karmila – Piano in Silence
Timo Kotipelto – Sings in "False News Travel Fast" [2]
Renay Gonzalez – Female passage in "The End of This Chapter"
Jens Johansson – Keyboard solos for four songs in the album Winterheart's Guild
Peter Engberg – Various stringed instruments on several tracks of Unia
Elias Viljanen – Guitar for several European shows in 2007

 Discography

Studio Albums and EPs
Album Cover Date of Release Title Label
 1999 Ecliptica Spinefarm Records
 2000 Successor (EP) Spinefarm Records
 2001 Silence Spinefarm Records
 2001 Orientation (EP) Spinefarm Records
 2003 Winterheart's Guild Spinefarm Records
 2003 Takatalvi (EP) Spinefarm Records
 2004 Don't Say a Word (EP) Nuclear Blast
 2004 Reckoning Night Nuclear Blast
 2007 Unia Nuclear Blast


Live Albums and Compilations
Album Cover Date of Release Title Label
 2002 Songs of Silence (Live album) Spinefarm Records
 2005 The End of This Chapter (Compilation) Spinefarm Records
 2006 For the Sake of Revenge (Live album and DVD) Nuclear Blast/Spinefarm Records
 2006 The Collection 1999-2006 (Compilation) Spinefarm Records


Singles
UnOpened (1999)
Wolf & Raven (2001)
Last Drop Falls (2001)
Victoria's Secret (2003)
Broken (2003)
Don't Say a Word (2004)
Shamandalie (2004)
Replica 2006 (2006)
Paid in Full (2007)

Demos
Friend 'till the End (1996)
Agre Pamppers (1996)
PeaceMaker (1997)
FullMoon (1999)

 Cover songs
Black Diamond - Stratovarius (live, short clip in Stratovarius - Infinite Visions VHS/DVD)
Fade to Black - Metallica (Victoria's Secret, Takatalvi)
Wind Beneath My Wings - Bette Midler (Orientation)
Die With Your Boots On - Iron Maiden (Last Drop Falls, Orientation)
World in My Eyes - Depeche Mode (Don't Say a Word)
Two Minds, One Soul - Vanishing Point (Don't Say a Word)
Still Loving You - Scorpions (Takatalvi)
I Want Out - Helloween (Takatalvi)
Out in the Fields - Gary Moore (Paid in Full, Unia)
Silent Jealousy - X Japan (live)
Crash & Burn - Yngwie Malmsteen (live)
Excuse Me While I Kill Myself - Sentenced (live)
I Was Made for Lovin' You - KISS (live)
Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple (live)
Gaston y'a l'téléfon qui son - Nino Ferrer (live)
One - Metallica (live)
We Will Rock You - Queen (live)

Videography
Wolf & Raven
Don't Say a Word
Paid in Full


Official website: http://www.sonataarctica.info/

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Sonic Roots (FIN)


Sonic Roots comes from Helsinki, Finland and plays soulful hard rock in the vein of Danzig, The Cult, Black Sabbath, The Doors, Alice In Chains, Black Label Society, Hanoi Rocks, Guns N'Roses, Audioslave, Soundgarden, Kiss, The Rolling Stones, Ramones and AC/DC.

Its members past recording activities include albums by bands such as Spiha, Gandalf and Chaosbreed.

Sonic Roots was formed in August 2005 when drummer Björn Again Electric got a call from Spiha-singer Henry Lee Roots to help out with a project he had going on with guitarist Sonic Warland and bassist T. Bound. Shortly thereafter T. Bound was replaced by Stacey Goddard as Sonic Roots found its current form in January 2006.

After doing a few shows in their hometown getting a great response, the band entered Kamikaze Studios, Helsinki for two days in March 2006 to record a four song demo-ep entitled Firstborn Child. The end result can be heard on this very page.

In May 2006 Sonic Roots flew on a mini-tour to Germany, where the band did four shows getting very positive reactions along the way. The foursome ended its trek with a raging performance at legendary and infamous rock club Wild At Heart in Berlin, getting an enormous response from fans who had never heard let seen the band in action before. Since then the band has performed around twenty shows in their hometown area with similar reactions.

Already creating a stir in their hometown's live circuit, Sonic Roots plays anywhere and everywhere for people who are into some kick-ass rock'n roll and into having a real good time, because the band wants to rock you LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER!!

The foursome is getting back to the studio in January 2007 to record its' first full-length album and spread its sonic mayhem even further to all fans of soulful hard rock around the globe. A video clip is also under production. Expect a single or two being released before the album see the light of day. This album is planned to released in fall 2008.

Prior to releasing the album the band plans on playing as many shows around the globe as possible. A tour in Germany is already under works and there have been talks about Sonic Roots supporting a well-known Swedish band on their Finnish tour in the near future. Rest assured, the Sonic madness has just begun... And remember where you heard it first.

(Biography updated 27.05.2008, source: http://www.myspace.com/sonicrootsband)

Members
* Henry Lee Roots - vocals
* Sonic Warland - guitars
* Björn Again Electric - drums
* Jarski Littbarski (aka Stacey Goddard) - bass


Official website: http://www.myspace.com/sonicrootsband

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Stam1na (FIN)

Stam1na (pronounced as Stamina) is a Finnish heavy metal musical group native of Lemi, South Karelia. Their music is perhaps best described as progressive metal with some thrash, death and alternative influences, and is sung in Finnish.

The band originally started as a three-piece in 1996, but it was only after several demo recordings that they got signed late in 2004 by Sakara Records, a label founded and headed by the fellow South Karelian band Mokoma.

The founding trio Antti Hyyrynen on vocals and guitar, Pekka Olkkonen on lead guitar and Teppo Velin on drums are all still members of the band, and the lineup was completed in November 2005 by bassist Kai-Pekka Kangasmäki who had been performing with the band as a session musician the whole year.

The band chose to use a '1' in their name to represent the 'I' in the word 'Stamina' to make them more distinct, primarily making the band easier to find in search engines.

Stam1na's self-titled debut album, released on March 2, 2005, reached #13 on the Finnish album charts. Their second album, Uudet kymmenen käskyä, was released on May 10, 2006 and did even better on the charts, reaching #3 on its first week. Stam1na's new single Likainen Parketti, that was released on September 27, 2006, went straight to 1# position on its first week.

 Lineup

Discography

 Albums

Singles

 Music Videos

DVDs


Label(s):  Sakara Records


Official website: http://www.stam1na.com

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Sturm und Drang (FIN)

Sturm Und Drang are a five-member heavy metal band with power metal and hard rock influences from Vaasa, Finland.

The band started in 2004 when André Linman and Henrik Kurkiala were on their way home from a Judas Priest concert. The name for the band was suggested by Henrik's father. Shortly afterwards Jesper Welroos and Calle Fahllund joined the band, and they had their first practice in Calle's basement. A few weeks later they performed in their first concert. Later they realized that they needed one more guitar player, and Alexander Ivars became their fifth member. The band got more gigs and played at Stafettkarnevalen 2004 in Vaasa, also making a cover of Dio's Rainbow In The Dark. In 2007, they already played as the headline on Stafettkarnevalen.

André, Jesper, Calle, Alexander and Henrik belong to the minority of Swedish-speaking Finns. When their first album was published in 2007, the boys were only 15-16 years old. Sturm Und Drang is considered one of Finland's most promising new hard rock bands

Record deal

In 2005 they made the demo Rising Son which they sent to Helsinki Music Company. The boss for HMC, Asko Kallonen, who had not taken them seriously, changed opinion after hearing them play live with the Swedish garage rock band The Hellacopters. He gave the band their record deal, and shortly afterwards they started to record their first album, Learning To Rock. In 2007 they also got a new record company, GUN Records, which will release their debut album in the whole of Europe except for Scandinavia.

After the 30 May release of their album in Finland, Learning to Rock climbed to number three on the official chart of record sales in Finland .

Members


André Linman (Guitar, Vocals)
Jesper Welroos (Keyboard)
Calle Fahllund (Drums)
Alexander Ivars (Guitar)
Henrik Kurkiala (Bass, Background vocal)


Discography

Album

Singles
 
Label(s): HMC - Helsinki Music Company || GUN Records


Official Website: http://www.sturmunddrang.fi

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Sunrise Avenue (FIN)
Sunrise Avenue is a Finnish rock quintet. Their style varies from hard, dynamic rock songs (e.g. "Forever Yours") to melodic rock ballads like "Heal Me".
The Band
Samu Haber (*2 April 1976 in Helsinki)
- songwriter, lead vocals, guitar
Janne Kärkkäinen (*27 November 1976 in Vantaa)
- guitar, backing vocals
Raul Ruutu (*28 August 1975 in Vantaa)
- bass guitar, backing vocals
Jukka Backlund (*30 December 1982 in Helsinki)
- keyboard, producing (since 2005)
Sami Osala (*10 March 1980 in Seinäjoki)
- drums (since 2005)

History
Sunrise Avenue was formed in Helsinki in 2002. From then on they haven't let the chances slip to play live and thus have been able to set up in business as a liveband in many clubs all over Finland.

Samu Haber started the band together with guitarist Janne Kärkkäinen in 2002. Bass player Raul Ruutu joined the band soon after, and Sami Osala came on as the drummer in the fall of 2005. He was recruited by Killer Aspect's Teijo Jämsä, who plays drums on several of the album's tracks.

After being rejected by 102 producers, up-and-coming producer Jukka Backlund got interested while seeing the band perform live in December 2004. Together with him they decided to record an album without having a record contract.

In the summer of 2005 they were signed to Bonnier Amigo Music Group (responsible for the Finnish market), some time later to EMI.

Having released the first singles "All Because of You" and "Romeo" during the beginning of 2006, Sunrise Avenue published their "On the Way to Wonderland"- album in Finland in May. The third single, "Fairytale Gone Bad", was published on 23 August and reached the 5th place in the Finnish music charts. This single reached also 7th place on Polish Singles Chart.

In Germany the album was released two weeks after the single "Fairytale Gone Bad" (25 August 2006). In the same time the band played their first gigs in Germany - in Cologne's Underground Club on 23 August and at The Dome (Germany's biggest musical tv-event) on 25 August.

On 20 October 2006, Sunrise Avenue received Platinum status with their debut album "On the Way to Wonderland" in Finland. The album became Gold in Sweden and Germany also. Moreover, on 19 January 2007, the band won four categories at NRJ Radio Awards (the biggest Nordic radio gala) for the best Finnish newcomer, the best Finnish song (Fairytale Gone Bad), the best Finnish album (On The Way To Wonderland) and the best Nordic artist.

On 20 January 2007, they sang "Fairytale Gone Bad" in St.Jakob Halle, Basel, Switzerland, escorting Nikolay Valuev to the ring, where he defended his boxing WC title against Jameel McCline.

On April 2007 , the hit single "Fairytale Gone Bad" went Gold in Germany after selling more than 150.000 units (April 17th 181.826 Units total). The single reached Gold status in Sweden also, selling more than 30,000 copies.
On August 2007, Janne Kärkkäinen left the band because of personal reasons and musical differences with the band. Shortly he was replaced by Riku Rajamaa. On 28 September 2007, the DVD "Live In Wonderland" was released. The material almost orriginated in Cologne's E-Werk. Besides the concerts, this DVD includes also some specials. The second album is planned for 2008.

 Discography:

Singles:
All Because of You (2006)
Romeo (2006)
Fairytale Gone Bad (2006)
Forever Yours (2007)
Diamonds (2007)
Heal Me (2007)

Albums:
On the Way to Wonderland (2006)


Official Website: http://www.sunriseave.com

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