Finntroll

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Finntroll

Background information
Origin Finland
Genre(s) Folk metal
Black metal
Humppa[1]
Years active 1997–present
Label(s) Spinefarm Records
Website www.finntroll.net
Members
Mathias Lillmåns
Samuli Ponsimaa
Mikael Karlbom
Sami Uusitalo
Samu Ruotsalainen
Henri Sorvali

Finntroll is a folk metal band from Finland. They combine elements of extreme metal with Finnish polka, called humppa. Finntroll's lyrics are in Swedish, one of Finland's two national languages, because "Swedish just sounds damn trollish", according to the band's first vocalist, Katla (whose native language is Swedish). Finntroll means "Troll from Finland."

Contents

[edit] History

Finntroll was founded in 1997, by Teemu "Somnium" Raimoranta (guitarist of Impaled Nazarene) and vocalist Jan "Katla" Jämsen. Their first demo, Rivfader, was recorded about a year later, in 1998. After the demo recording, drummer Samu Ruotsalainen (from Barathrum, Shape of Despair and Rapture), guitarist Samuli Ponsimaa, keyboardist Henri Sorvali (from Moonsorrow) and bassist Sami Uusitalo joined the band. The record label Spinefarm got interested in the band then, and made a contract, yielding the album Midnattens Widunder (English: The Monstrosity of Midnight) (1999) as a result. Their music was initially meant to be patriotic.

Finntroll during concert on Masters of Rock 2007 festival.
Finntroll during concert on Masters of Rock 2007 festival.

The next step for Finntroll was the album Jaktens Tid (English: The time of the Hunt), which was released in 2001. This album managed to climb to rank 20 of the Finnish album charts, exceeding expectation of band and publisher alike. The following wave of popularity attracted the attention of Century Media, which began promoting Finntroll for the rest of the world. The following summer, the band had their first time playing on open air festivals in Finland and other countries.

The year after the release of the album Jaktens Tid proved to be a misfortune for Finntroll: some tours had to be cancelled, and in the aftermath of his problems, vocalist Jämsen had to retire from the band due to a viral-based tumor in his vocal cords which could not be removed surgically; he retired after the release of the album Visor om Slutet (English: Songs about the End).

Said album was recorded in early January 2003, in a forest cabin near Helsinki. It was an "acoustical experiment", where Jämsen and the new vocalist Tapio Wilska (of Sethian and Lyijykomppania) shared the singing duties among them. The album was released as a mid-price album and held rank on the Finnish midprice chart for several weeks.

Shortly before the release of Visor om Slutet, Raimoranta died by falling off a bridge in Hakaniemi, Helsinki after having consumed too much alcohol, according to the official story. Mika Luttinen from Impaled Nazarene) said that it wasn't an accident, but suicide[citation needed]. Finntroll didn't dissolve after losing one of their founding members, but decided to go on, touring for two weeks in Europe, supported by the group Katatonia. The guitarist Mikael Karlbom was hired as a replacement for Raimoranta.

In 2004, the band released an EP, Trollhammaren (English: The Troll Hammer), and an album called Nattfödd (English: Nightborn).

In early 2006, the band embarked on their first North American tour, along with the influential black/thrash metal band Sodom.

On January 29th, 2006, Tapio Wilska, vocalist of the band since 2003, was fired from the band. In a statement issued on the band's website, Wilska states that he would like to keep the reason for his dismissal private.

A new album, titled Ur Jordens Djup (English: From the Depths of the Earth), was released March, 2007. This fifth album put more emphasis on epic keyboard riffs with very loud but melodic guitar and downplayed some of the polka elements. Former vocalist Katla was brought in to write the lyrics for this album.

[edit] Line-up

[edit] Former members

  • Tapio Wilska – Vocals (2002–2006, left the band due to private reasons)
  • Jan "Katla" Jämsen – Vocals (1997–2001, retired due to a throat tumor which made him unable to sing)
  • Teemu "Somnium" Raimoranta – Guitar (1997–2003, died 2003 in a supposed alcohol-related falling accident, though Mika Luttinen, vocalist from Impaled Nazarene, has gone on the record saying that his death was a suicide, and that he only had the equivalent of three beers in his system at the time of death)
  • Tomi Ullgren – Guitar (1997–1998)

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] EPs

[edit] Demos

  • Rivfader (1998) (Rivfader)

[edit] Videos

  • "Bastuvisan" (1998)
  • "Jaktens Tid" (live, 2001)
  • "Skogens Hämnd" (2001)
  • "Födosagan" (live, 2002)
  • "Trollhammaren" (2004)
  • "Nedgång" (2007)

[edit] Trivia

  • The animated, heavy metal show Metalocalypse, originally on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim line-up, featured a supermarket called Fintroll's in its premier episode and in the episode Dethfashion. The show yet again referenced the band in the episode "Dethtroll", in which Dethklok summons Mustakrakish, the lake Troll.
  • The song "Eliytres" and "Grottans Barn" feature in Bam's Unholy Union.
  • There are no founding members left in the band as of 2003, with the death of Somnium.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Finntroll @ Rockdetector
  2. ^ Encyclopaedia Metallum- Finntroll

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
v • d • e
Finntroll
Mathias Lillmåns | Samuli Ponsimaa | Mikael Karlbom | Sami Uusitalo | Samu Ruotsalainen | Henri Sorvali
Former members
Tapio Wilska | Jan Jämsen | Teemu Raimoranta | Tomi Ullgren
Albums
EPs
Demos
Rivfader