Finntroll is an extreme metal & folk metal band from Finland. They combine elements of black metal, death metal, and folk 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 first language is Swedish). Finntroll means "Troll from Finland."

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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 "Trollhorn" 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 as a result.



The next step for Finntroll was the album Jaktens tid , 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 .

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. Finntroll didn't dissolve after losing the last founding member still in the band ^[1], 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 , and an album called Nattfödd .

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

On January 29th, 2006, Tapio Wilska, vocalist of the band since 2002, 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 , 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.

The band has recorded a live performance for its upcoming first live DVD. A release date is yet to be confirmed. They are also preparing their sixth album, which is yet to be titled, and Katla is again writing the lyrics. There is a studio diary being kept by Trollhorn which can be found . On August 25th, Trollhorn uploaded a from his cell phone of a song from the new album being mixed. The new album might be released with the song titles mixed up, so fans can guess which songs are which and why, at the release of the album: "And just for the fun, I´m using these working titles of the songs so you guys can guess then which are which (and most importantly, “why”) when the album comes out. ;) Actually, it would be very cool to arrange a quiz at the launch of the new album (ofc we´d translate them from Finnish to English in case needed): “Here are the working titles of the songs, please put them in the correct order to match the real names and give your best shot why the working titles have been named as what they are. Best matches and/ or explanations win a signed copy of the new album”." ^[2]

Members

Role	Year
	1997–1998	1998–2002	2002–2003	2003-2006	2006-2009
Vocals	Katla		Tapio Wilska		Vreth
Guitar	Somnium			Routa
Guitar	None	Skrymer
Bass	None	Tundra
Drums	machine	Beast Dominator
Keyboards	Katla	Trollhorn

Current Members

• Mathias "Vreth" Lillmåns – vocals (2006–present)
• Samuli "Skrymer" Ponsimaa – guitar (1998–present)
• Mikael "Routa" Karlbom – guitar (2003–present)
• Sami "Tundra" Uusitalo – bass (1998–present)
• Samu "Beast Dominator" Ruotsalainen – drums (1998–present)
• Henri "Trollhorn" Sorvali – keyboards (1998–present)

With:

• Jan "Katla" Jämsen – lyrics (1997-present)

Session Members

• Aleksi Virta - Keyboards

Former members

• Tomi Ulgren – guitar (briefly 1997-1998)
• Jan "Katla" Jämsen – vocals and lyrics (1997-2002)
• Pete Eskelinen – vocals (briefly in 2002)
• Teemu "Somnium" Raimoranta – guitar (1997–2003) (deceased)
• Tapio Wilska – vocals (2002–2006)

Discography

Studio albums

• Midnattens widunder (1999)
• Jaktens tid (2001)
• Visor om slutet (2003)
• Nattfödd (2004)
• Ur jordens djup (2007)
• TBA (2009)

EPs

• Trollhammaren (2004)

Demos

• "Rivfader" (1998)

Videos

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

References

1. Encyclopaedia Metallum- Finntroll
2. http://www.moonsorrow.com/henu/TEMP/studio/ARE%20WE%20THERE%20YET.htm