Norther (band)

Norther
Norther Wacken Open Air 2007
Background information
Also known as	Requiem (1996–2000) Decayed (2000)
Origin	Espoo, Finland
Genres	Melodic death metal power metal
Years active	1996 (1996)–2012 (2012)
Labels	Century Media, Marquee Avalon, Spinefarm

Norther was a Finnish melodic death metal band from Espoo that was formed in 1996 and broke up in 2012. They released six studio albums.

History

Norther formed under the name Requiem (Lindroos, Korpas, Hallio) in 1996 after various early stage band formations. The band's debut effort was the album Dreams of Endless War, released through Spinefarm Records in 2002. It entered the Finnish charts at number 17. At the time, Norther was playing shows only in and around the Helsinki area. That changed when the album Mirror of Madness came out in early 2003 (entering the Finnish charts at number 11). The group toured with Dimmu Borgir and Hypocrisy in late 2003.

In early 2004, Norther released its third full-length album, Death Unlimited, which reached 17 on the Finnish charts. Norther played several shows in 2005 and then recorded an EP, Solution 7 (recorded at Astia Studio). It placed at number 5 on the Finnish charts. Norther added Kristian Ranta's vocals afterward.

In the summer of 2005, Norther entered Studio Fredman in Gothenburg to record their fourth full-length-album, Till Death Unites Us, with producers Fredrik Nordström and Patrick J. Sten. Soon after, Toni Hallio left the band to pursue other interests; Heikki Saari replaced him on drums. After its release in January 2006, Till Death Unites Us placed at number six on the Finnish album charts. Later the same year, the band composed the theme song, "Frozen Angel", for a major Finnish feature film, V2: Dead Angel, produced by Solarfilms, Inc. The band is also featured in the film. In February 2007, Norther released a new EP, No Way Back, released only in Finland and Japan. The record hit number one in the Finnish charts. Later that year, they released Amoral & Drone and supported it with a European tour. Their fifth full-length album, N, was released in February 2008.

Petri Lindroos quit as lead vocalist in February 2009 and was replaced by Aleksi Sihvonen (ex-Imperanon) in April of that year. To mark his debut, the band released an alternate version of the song "Frozen Angel" from their previous album with Sihvonen on vocals. Their sixth studio album, Circle Regenerated, was released on 19 April 2011.

The band made their final appearance at the Brutal Assault festival in the Czech Republic on 10 August 2012.

Band members

Final lineup

• Kristian Ranta – guitars (2000–2012), clean vocals (2004–2012)
• Tuomas Planman – keyboards, synthesizers, electronics (2000–2012)
• Jukka Koskinen – bass (2000–2012)
• Heikki Saari – drums (2005–2012)
• Aleksi Sihvonen – harsh vocals (2009–2012)
• Daniel Freyberg – guitars, backing vocals (2009–2012)

Former members

• Petri Lindroos – harsh vocals, guitars (1996–2009)
• Toni Hallio – drums (1996–2005)
• Roni Korpas – guitars (1996–1999)
• Tuomas "Stubu" – bass (1996–1997)
• Joakim Ekroos – keyboards (2000)
• Sebastian "Knight" Ekroos – bass (2000)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

• Dreams of Endless War (2002)
• Mirror of Madness (2003)
• Death Unlimited (2004)
• Till Death Unites Us (2006)
• N (2008)
• Circle Regenerated (2011)

Demos and EPs

• Warlord (demo) (2000)
• Solution 7 (2005)
• No Way Back (2007)

Singles

• "Released" (2002)
• "Unleash Hell" (2003)
• "Spreading Death" (2004)
• "Spreading Death" (DVD, 2004)
• "Scream" (2006)
• "Frozen Angel" (online single, 2009)
• "Break Myself Away" (online single, 2010)

Videography

Video	Album	Length
"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 / N	4:07
"We Rock"	N	3:57

External links

• Norther discography at MusicBrainz
• Norther at AllMusic