Norther 702045 221000376 2008-06-22T16:24:27Z Majin19 7354154 /* Biography */ {{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians --> | Name = Norther | Img = Norther Live.jpg | Img_capt = Norther performing live at [[Wacken]] | Img_size = 250x380 | Landscape = no | Background = group_or_band | Alias = | Origin = [[Espoo]], [[Finland]] | Genre = [[Melodic death metal]] | Years_active = 1996–present | Label = [[Century Media Records|Century Media]]<br /> Marquee Avalon<br /> [[Spinefarm Records|Spinefarm]] | Associated_acts = [[Ensiferum]]<br />[[Wintersun]]<br />[[Children of Bodom]] | URL = [http://www.norther.net www.norther.net] | Current_members = [[Petri Lindroos]]<br />[[Kristian Ranta]]<br />[[Heikki Saari]]<br />[[Jukka Koskinen]]<br />[[Tuomas Planman]] | Past_members = [[Toni Hallio]]<br />[[Tuomas 'Stubu']]<br />[[Roni Korpas]]<br />[[Sebastian Knight]]<br />[[Joakim Ekroos]] }} '''Norther''' is a [[melodic death metal]] band from [[Espoo]] and [[Helsinki]], [[Finland]] whose style incorporates elements of [[heavy metal]] and [[power metal]]. Many critics often compare Norther's sound (particularly of their first album) to that of [[Children of Bodom]]. ==Biography== The band began in early 1996 under the name of ''Requiem'', and was assembled by guitarist Petri Lindroos and drummer Toni Hallio, accompanied by two other musicians. In the beginning, the band suffered from the lack of a proper rehearsal place, but in late 1997, guitarist [[Alexander Kuoppala]] (ex-Children of Bodom) found a suitable place for them to practice at [[Lepakko]]; around this time the band decided to change their name from ''Requiem'' to ''Decayed''. Their luck was short-lived, however, as their new rehearsal place was soon to be demolished. The musicians who played with Lindroos and Hallio soon lost their motivation and quit Requiem. After a few months, the band managed to find another rehearsal place, and began looking for members to complete their line-up. After quite a few auditions, they were unable to find musicians that they deemed fit to play with them, and thus went on a hiatus, which lasted until the beginning of 2000, when they met guitarist [[Kristian Ranta]]. The band became active once more, and with the help of two guys who were friends of Ranta - Sebastian Knight and Joakim Ekroos - the band recorded their first [[demo (music)|demo]] in November 2000 entitled [[Warlord (demo)|Warlord]], for the first time using the name "Norther". A promising demo led them to signing a deal with [[Spinefarm Records]].<ref>[http://www.rockdetector.com/officialbio,31712.sm Rockdetector - Norther]</ref> Due to internal problems, Ekroos and Knight left the band; this lead Norther into finding its first stable formation when bassist Jukka Koskinen and keyboardist Tuomas Planman joined the band. When the album ''[[Dreams of Endless War]]'' was recorded and released in 2002, Norther received a positive response from the specialized press and began playing gigs in the [[Helsinki]] area. Following this, the band maintained a prolific release schedule, releasing the albums ''[[Mirror of Madness]]'' (2003), ''[[Death Unlimited]]'' (2004), ''[[Till Death Unites Us]]'' (2006), and ''[[N (album)|N]]'' (2008) as well as the [[Single (music)|singles]] ''[[Released (Norther single)|Released]]'' (2002), ''[[Unleash Hell]]'' (2003), ''[[Spreading Death#Spreading Death CD single|Spreading Death]]'' (2003), and ''[[Scream (Norther song)|Scream]]'' (2006), the Mini-DVD single ''[[Spreading Death]]'', and the EPs ''[[Solution 7]]'' (2005), and ''[[No Way Back (Norther EP)|No Way Back]]'' (2007). In October of 2005, drummer Toni Hallio left the band, leaving guitarist/vocalist Lindroos as the only remaining original member. Hallio was replaced by Heikki Saari, drummer of [[Virtuocity]]. Norther entered Astia Studios in Lappeenranta, Finland in August/September to record their next full length album.<ref>[http://www.metalunderground.com/bands/details.cfm?bandid=806 Metal Bands - Norther ( Metal Underground . com )<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The follow-up to 2006's "Till Death Unites Us" will be produced by Anssi Kippo. The album, ''N'', was released on February 13, 2008. On November 21, 2007, Norther announced they had signed a new record deal with [[Century Media Records]], while Marquee Avalon will distribute albums in Japan.<ref>http://www.norther.net/en/news/default.html</ref> The video for "We Rock" produced by Tunne Productions of Helsinki was released and is available for viewing.<ref>[http://www.komodorock.com/latest-news/latest-news/norther-release-video-for-we-rock-200802094142/ Video for "We Rock" from new album "N" Released] Feb 9. 2008</ref> Norther has so far played tours with Dimmu Borgir, Finntroll, Amoral and Turisas. ==Other notes== Petri is also a part time guitarist/vocalist of [[folk metal]] band [[Ensiferum]], taking the place of former vocalist [[Jari Mäenpää]] who left to work on [[Wintersun]]. Jukka Koskinen is also the bass player of Finnish Metal band [[Wintersun]]. ==Band line-up== ===Current members=== * [[Petri Lindroos]] − [[singer|vocals]], [[Electric guitar|guitar]] (1996−present) * [[Kristian Ranta]] − [[Electric guitar|guitar]], [[clean vocals]] (2000−present) * [[Heikki Saari]] − [[Drum kit|drums]] (2005−present) * [[Jukka Koskinen]] − [[Bass guitar|bass]] (2000−present) * [[Tuomas Planman]] − [[Electronic keyboard|keyboards]], [[synthesizer]]s (2000−present) ===Former members=== * [[Toni Hallio]] − drums (1996−2005) * Tuomas (Stubu) − bass (1996−1997) * Roni Korpas − guitar (1996−1999) * Sebastian Knight − keyboard (2000) * Joakim Ekroos − bass (2000) ==Discography== ===Studio albums=== * ''[[Dreams of Endless War]]'' (2002) * ''[[Mirror of Madness]]'' (2003) * ''[[Death Unlimited]]'' (2004) * ''[[Till Death Unites Us]]'' (2006) * ''[[N (album)|N]]'' (2008) ===Demos and EPs=== * ''[[Warlord (demo)|Warlord]]'' (2000) * ''[[Solution 7]]'' (2005) * ''[[No Way Back (Norther EP)|No Way Back]]'' (2007) ===Singles=== * ''[[Released (single)|Released]]'' (2002) * ''[[Unleash Hell (single)|Unleash Hell]]'' (2003) * ''[[Spreading Death#Spreading Death CD single|Spreading Death]]'' (2004) * ''[[Spreading Death]]'' (DVD) (2004) * ''[[Scream (single)|Scream]]'' (2006) ==Videography== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Video ! Album ! Length |- | [[Released (song)|Released]] | [[Dreams of Endless War]] | 4:12 |- | Mirror of Madness | [[Mirror of Madness]] | 4:32 |- | Death Unlimited | [[Death Unlimited]] | 4:55 |- | Frozen Angel | [[No Way Back (Norther EP)|No Way Back]] | 4:07 |- | We Rock | [[N (album)|N]] | 3:57 |} ==Covers== * "[[Youth Gone Wild]]" ([[Skid Row (heavy metal band)|Skid Row]]) − found on ''Dreams of Endless War'', ''Released'' (CD single) and ''Warlord'' (Demo) * "[[The Final Countdown (song)|Final Countdown]]" ([[Europe (band)|Europe]]) − found on ''Dreams of Endless War'' * "Smash" ([[The Offspring]]) − found on ''Mirror of Madness'' and ''Unleash Hell'' (CD single) * "Tornado of Souls" ([[Megadeth]]) − found on ''Death Unlimited'' and ''Spreading Death'' (CD single) * "[[Sabotage (song)|Sabotage]]" ([[Beastie Boys]]) − found on ''N'' (Japanese version) ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== * [http://norther.net Norther's official website] * [http://norther.ru Russian Norther's site] * [http://norther-bg.net Bulgarian Norther website] * [http://myspace.com/norther Norther] at [[MySpace]] * [http://norther-band.com/ Norther Finnish Fansite] * {{musicbrainz artist|id=313a0007-b9d3-4036-921a-ce311f9795ad|name=Norther}} * {{last.fm|Norther}} * {{discogs artist|artist=Norther|name=Norther}} * [http://www.djpdjp.nl/news.php?extend.535 An interview with Jukka and Petri @ ME Metalhour] <br /> {{Norther}} [[Category:Finnish heavy metal musical groups]] [[Category:Melodic death metal musical groups]] [[Category:Musical groups established in 1996]] [[Category:Century Media Records artists]] [[da:Norther]] [[de:Norther]] [[es:Norther]] [[fr:Norther]] [[it:Norther]] [[he:נורת'ר]] [[nl:Norther]] [[ja:ノーサー]] [[no:Norther]] [[pl:Norther]] [[pt:Norther]] [[ro:Norther]] [[ru:Norther]] [[fi:Norther]] [[sv:Norther]] [[tr:Norther]]