Finnish Metal

I think I'm qualified to answer this

My personal music taste ain't as metal oriented as it used to be, but like Finnish "mainstream" heavy bands like Sentenced, Nightwish and Children of Bodom, and then there's of course the one and only nuclear metal band Impaled Nazarene.

I used to listen Stratovarius when I was younger too, and Sinergy is the latest of large metal bands here. Sentenced is my current favourite though, as they are from my home town and have bit more sophisticated feel which I enjoy.

Interesting enough, in Finland rock and metal have always been mainstream kind of music - nowadays Finnish heavy bands top the charts with their new albums more often than not, which is quite interestin as Finland has nothing like MTV or huge radiostations directing the trends towards heavier music. One of the latest products of Finnish rockscene is Lordi, which takes Rob Zombie -like looks and combines it with Kiss-like stage show.

 

A thread of Finnish metal on TB?!?

Hey, you guys should have mentioned HIM (or HER as they should be called in US , are they metal?) The lead singer Ville Valo is an excellent bass player who was very much into jazz when he was younger. He can still play Donna Lee. And he writes his tunes using bass.

 

I´m also from Finland but I´m really not THAT much into Finnish metal, Stratovarius really kicks ass but other "mainstream" metal bands like Tsal mentioned(Sentenced, Nightwish etc.) good also.

It´s true that metal has always been somewhat mainstream music here, maybe it´s this famous melancholic Finnish character or something? Anyway, I myself play in a metal band and it´s good from my point of view to do it in a place like Finland where metal is a big thing, easier to get gigs and so on than it might be in some other place...Well I mean I haven´t played metal anywhere else so I don´t know for sure but I´d imagine so

 

Must be the long, dark winternights with nothing to do but to drink or to woodshed - and with Finnish alcohol taxation, you are broke sooner than later

TRU - Naw, HIM (or HER) is considered pop here, not that it prevents them being a popular band. I must hand it to Ville Valo that he and his manager are guys with brains as he can write catchy hard rock and still top the charts. But of course it's how you market the thing, the same manager was behind Hanoi Rocks' success couple decades ago.

 

I like the Leningrad Cowboys.

 

Well good for you, Bob! Here in Finland, we actually love our more, should we say.. exotic bands - especially if they are able to put up a good show! I saw these guys live at local baseball stadium couple years ago where they sold around 20,000 tickets.

 

Hei Tony,

Well, they and Laika and the Cosmonauts are the only Finnish bands—that I know of—whose recordings (or movies) I have, although they're not metal. I have an affinity for low-key oddball stuff, I guess.

Thanks for the photo! It's cool to see that they're still around.

 

Stratovarius!!!!!!!
..wow sucha great band!
ive been trying to master some of there songs on guitar (ive only got 3 down)(stratosphere)(forver)(what can i say??)... they are a really.. well damn good band. Kinda remind me of dream theater a bit. well except faster and alot better and more listenable in my opinion.!
I dont know if blind guardian counts but do they???!?
Also i seccond Impaled Nazerene and Children of Bodom. Good stuff.
What about Demons and Wizzards? its a BG/Iced Earth colab i think.... its pretty good!

 

Hmm, well I've just got into HIM, they're the only Finnish band I've heard of though, maybe I should start listening to more of them!

 

My two eurothoughts:

Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica and most other Finnish "powermetal" bands - usually boring, monotonic, drums heavily trigged and they often sound like my old Alesis SR-16, but with nice bits and pieces here and there (unlike my Alesis...)

Nightwish - stylish, lush vocals, every album has been a leap from the previous ones in terms of songwriting, playing and vocals

Sentenced - this is true finnish metal. Dark humour everywhere with lots of hooks and "nice" vocal melodies

69 Eyes - swapped from glamrock to gothic rock a la Sisters of Mercy / Type O Negative. Nothing original here but the drummer knows how to spin his sticks

H.I.M. - great version of Chris Isaacs "Wicked Game". Last two albums had some good bits but "Greates Lovesongs vol 666" is a good one

Lordi - Great to see a visual hard rock band in the style of Kiss! And their hit "Would You love a Monsterman" does work for me

Lullacry - wait till you hear their new one! I had a sneak preview in the studio last weekend and these guys (and a gal) rock! The bass sound in the new LP is so sweet (and so is she)

Also check out: Amorphis, Suburban Tribe, Mannhai, Waltari, Kyyria, Tunnelvision, Children of Bodom and about 300 others...

...it might be worth checking out what we have to offer in metal if you like crunching guitars and thunderous drums and you're sick and tired of all the MTV Creed, Nickelback, Hoobastank, Puddle of Mud, etc. style of "metal". Then again - you might think all the bands we've listed here are total rubbish and I've just wasted half an hour of my precious time. You be the judge.

 

Promise not to laugh?


Nightwish...

 

I saw stratovarius three years ago when they came to chile.... i'm not into that kind of metal anymore thought...

 

okk, how can you not be into that metal anymore? if you liked it once, wouldn't you always like it?

stratovarius is finnish? i thought they were swedish. oh well.

i like sonata arcitca's early work. very technical. now they bore me. H.I.M.'s Greatest Love Songs is GREAT...very evil though. lol

And Amporhis work up to and including Elegy is fantastic.

Is Tiamat finnish or norwegian? love them too.

 

Acacia: I'm more into jazz/fusion,some funky tunes, and a bit of progmetal like coprofago (www.coprofago.com), meshuggah(destroy erase improve) and spiral architect.

Those are the things that i enjoy the most.

I still like some stratovarius songs(a few of them... )i was a big fan. but it was too much, i have lots of friend that knows how to play all their songs on the guitar, and i played with them a lot. I also have seen here playing helloween, hammerfall and iron maiden, (and steve vai(ou! this is not metal))... they are not finnish thought

 

pollybass: uhmm.... me not english speaking person... me speaks spanish, see i live in Chile in south america..... i'll have to look into my dictionary.

i though-t(what the hell) that when someone writes "thought" at the end of a phrase it was supposed to mean... (damn how can i say this.... f*****g english.... see!!!, this is what happens when i write in english....) can't understand what you're saying.... but who cares... (ME!!, what the hell... now i'm confused.... sometimes my english sucks a lot...) thought(???)...
.....

 

I forgot to mention Babylon Whores earlier, they are in their very own category though. Sort of like Pink Floyd goes death rock - one critic said their song 'Radio Werewolf' is what Danzig's 'Black Summer' could had been. Very "intelligent" kind of stuff to my ears.

King Fear is a good album, and I think they have new album out by now.

Acacia, I woulden't be saying that in front of Finnish metal fan(atic)s if I were you

I agree with Mara's opinion, US-metal seems to be more primal kind with simple riffs, where in Europe metal is more sophisticated artform. And I love the stuff Lordi is putting out: simple, catchy metal and rock with very theatric stage show.

 

Children of Bodom is by far one of my favorite bands.

-Max