Lithuania - Just a handful of bands

If Estonia and Latvia were poor Metal landscapes, Lithuania is even poorer, just a handful of noticeable bands, only known inside the country or in the vicinities.

Starting with Obtest, a Pagan Black Metal band, with a respectable and long career.



Dissimulation is a Trash Black Metal band with a very stable line-up. Actually the sound isn't completely uninteresting.



Folkodia is the new hot stuff from Lithuanian Viking Folk Metal. Founded 3 years ago, they have already three full lengths released.



Ossastorium is a Technical Death Metal band that still has to prove that they can build a career past their first full length.

Latvia - Skyforger leads the way

In Latvia the scenery is almost the same as in Estonia, just a bigger inclination to Death/Doom sounds, instead of just Black Metal, and, of course, Skyforger.

They play Folk Black Metal since 1995, but with enough talent to jump Latvian borders and have a real international career. They probably are the most well known band from the countries that belonged to the ex-USSR, outside those countries.



Other interesting band is Frailty that play Death Doom Metal. The band was founded in 2003 and had a few line-up adjustements until 2008, when they released their first full length, which were followed by two EPs in the last two years. A band waiting to be discovered by Death Doom Metal fans.



Another relatively interesting band is Neglected Fields, which play Technical Death Metal.



After those, only Black Metal is left, of which Dark Domination is just an example.

Estonia - Pagan Black Metal and not much more

Coming from Finland, and given the proximity of the two countries, it's a real shock to discover the scarcity of Metal bands in the country. Also, finding a band singing in English is very hard, and that is probably another reason for their underdeveloped Metal scene.

All the bands created before 1995 relate to Industrial music, like No-Big-Silence, that play Industrial Death Metal, which is culturally related to their heritage as a province of the old USSR, a communist dictatorial country.



From 1995 on, there are several bands of Pagan Black Metal, the most noticeable of them are Tharaphita.



Also Urt, founded just six years ago and already with five full lengths released.



But, for me, the best Estonian band is Metsatöll. They play Heavy Folk Metal and I believe them to be the only ones capable of having a real international career, if they started to sing in English.

Finland (part 5/5) - More sounds from Finland

It's time for the usual wrap up post, where I talk about the bands that didn't fit in any of the previous posts.
This post also ends the part of this European tour where we travelled through the Nordic landscapes, rich in Metal bands and musicians. We now enter in the much more arid landscapes of Eastern Europe. No more five parts chronicles will await you until the end of our journey.

But let’s go on with the music, and starting with a personal favourite of mine, Amorphis.
Amorphis started as Melodic Death Metal band, in 1990 and in 1994 they release a true MeloDeath masterpiece, Tales of the Thousand Lakes, which served as an inspiration to several Extreme Power and Melodic Death bands from Finland and abroad. In 1997 they dropped the harsh vocals and changed their sound to something lighter, more like a modern Heavy Metal. Their first releases were not great, but in 2005 they hire a new singer, Tomi Joutsen, and their subsequent releases have an improved quality, not very far from their Melodic Death days.
I think some of the songs of their recent works are really great (Silent Waters and House of Sleep pop to my mind) but I couldn't resist to add here a video from their old days, my favourite, Black Winter Days.



It's a rare thing in Finland, but there are bands playing Gothenburg Metal there. The best one I heard is Insomnium, they play great music and the voice of their singer, Niilo Sevänen, is awesome.



Another Gothenburg band, but more heavy than Insomnium, is Mors Principium Est. They were founded in 1999 and have release three full lengths.



I couldn't end the Finnish chronicle without talking about Apocalyptica, one of those bands that have a music genre of their own. I listen to them since their first release, Plays Metallica by Four Cellos, and just saw them live two months ago, it's brilliant!

Finland (part 4/5) - Suomi, the Finnish Metal

Like the Swedish have the Gothenburg Metal, the Finnish also have a Metal genre created in their country, the Suomi, but, in the case of Finland, it's not as important as the Gothemburg is in Sweden.

As you already know, I'm lousy at describing music styles, so the best way is to talk about some great Metal bands that play Suomi, and let you jump to your own conclusions.

The most popular Suomi band in activity is one of the few bands that has jumped out of the Metal croud onto the mainstream audience. In fact, they are often accused of not really being Metal. It's the band HIM.



They started under the name Mary-Ann, playing a different style, but in 1999 they changed the name to To/Die/For and started playing Suomi Metal.



For My Pain is the side project from Nightwish keyboardist and main songwritter Tuomas Holopainen, with ex and current members from Eternal Tears Of Sorrow and the vocals of Juha Kylmänen. They are toghether since 1999 and have release just one (but a very good one) album.



Lullacry is one of the rare Suomi bands with a female singer. They haven't released new material since 2005, but they are returning in 2010, with new songs and looking for a record label to support them.



Other great Suomi Metal bands include Entwine and Charon.

Finland (part 3/5) - Death has to have Melody

Melodic Death Metal, or MeloDeath, as it is also known, is the kind of Death Metal that you can find in Finland.

Six high quality full lengths released in the last ten years, are the curriculum of the almost twenty years career of the band Kalmah.



With a touch of Doom, Swallow The Sun, have released four full lengths in a ten years career.



Before the Dawn, the band founded by Tuomas Saukkonen in 1999 has released five full lengths and three EPs.



Keeping the same line-up since 1998, when the band was founded, a rare proof of stability, Noumena has produced a very coherent set of releases.

Finland (part 2/5) - For "Folkaholics"

There are lots of great Folk Metal bands in Finland, be it Extreme, Viking, Battle, Symphonic or, well, plain.

This tour through Europe made me realise how little did I knew about some Metal genres, even one of my favourites, Folk Metal. For instance, I had never listened to the most popular Finnish Extreme Folk Metal band, Ensiferum. That can be considered a musical felony.



Finntroll is another Extreme Folk Metal band from Finland. The band has seven elements, with two guitar players, a keyboardist and another element that plays both guitar and keyboards, besides the usual vocalist, bassist and drummer, of course.



The Viking Folk band, Moonsorrow, have released 5 albums in their 15 years of career.



Kivimetsän Druidi is a Symphonic Folk Metal band that alternate their songs lyrics between English and Suomi. They were formed in 2002 and have just released their second full length.



Another great Folk Metal bands from Finland: Korpiklaani, Turisas and Battlelore.

Finland (part 1/5) - So much Power...

I think this is the most difficult set of posts I had to write. Not because there wasn't enough good music, but because there was such an amount of great bands, that picking the ones whose videos would be included was a very hard task.

Starting right here in the Power Metal department, I had four video slots and after cutting off six great bands, I still had five... I had to exclude one more. I chose to exclude Wintersun, because, in fact they only have one album released, back in 2004, (a fantastic album, by the way), and because they have been continuously postponing the release of their second album.

So, without further due, let's talk about the glorious four Power Metal top bands from Finland, none of which should be a novelty for any fan of the genre.

Let's start with some Extreme Power Metal, by Children Of Bodom.



Followed by the beautiful Symphonic Power Metal compositions of Tuomas Holopainen for his band, Nightwish.



Next in line is the band of charismatic front-man Tony Kakko, Sonata Arctica. It's a very suited name for a band that plays such beautiful Power Metal, with a scent of snow and winter.



And to wrap it up, we have the veterans of Finnish Power Metal, Stratovarius. Maybe they are not the kings anymore, but we must respect a band with a career of more than 25 years, with 12 full lengths released, and that have composed dozens of Power Metal hymns, like the one in this video, maybe my favourite Stratovarius song, from the 1998 album Destiny.



Besides these gods of Power Metal, you won't be disappointed if you check out other great Finnish Metal bands such as Norther, Eternal Tears Of Sorrow, Sinergy, Tarot, Warmen or Cain's Offering.

Sweden (part 5/5) - Other Swedish sounds

This is the final chapter of the chronicle about Swedish Metal. As usual, without a specific genre, just a collection of bands that simply couldn't be left out of any chronicle about this country's Metal scene.

Therion is a Symphonic Metal band, with a rather unique sound, mixing a lot of classical elements in their songs, operatic voices and even have made versions of famous opera themes.



Sabaton is a Heavy Power Metal band, but with a different scent to it, which made them more suitable to be included in this part of the chronicle, instead of the part about Power Metal. Their songs relate to war like themes, but relate also to modern warfare, which is not common, and are full of energy. This is another band that I never heard previously to this chronicle and that goes straight to my gallery of favourite bands.



Once in a while, in these chronicles, I find something completely unique and unseen. This is one of those moments again.
The Diablo Swing Orchestra is classified as Symphonic Avantgarde Metal but in fact is a mix of Jazz with a 40s Swing Orchestra and Metal sounds.



I was introduced to Viking Metal through the music of Thyrfing, a Viking Black Metal band. The video is from their second album Valdr Galga, to be their best work to date.



Other great Viking Black Metal band is Månegarm.

Sweden (part 4/5) - The Power in the Swedish Metal

Power Metal is another genre with strong bands in Sweden (what genre isn't?!?!), always with different influences that make those bands have a distinctive sound, and a damn good one too.

Starting with Hammerfall, that play the classic Power Metal . They're a bit cheesy in their lonesome biker style, but I like their music anyway. Here's one of the songs that every lonesome biker must listen: Renegade.



Evergrey, on the other hand, has nothing cheesy about them. They play a very modern Dark Power Metal. Didn't knew them and I'm glad that now I do.



Falconer has a very distinctive sound, partly due to their Folk Power Metal , partly due to the unique voice and singing style of their vocalist Mathias Blad.



Finally, Dragonland is an Epic Symphonic Power Metal band. Strong keyboard sounds, epic riffs, catchy chorus, all the stuff that the fans love in Power Metal.



Other interesting Power Metal bands from Sweden worth looking at are Lost Horizon, Dream Evil and Skyfire.

Sweden (part 3/5) - 4 different Gothic sounds

In this third part of the Swedish chronicle, I'll talk about the country's Gothic bands.
Unlike other countries where Gothic is a synonym of female singer, here the Gothic Metal is always added with another style influence, as we can see in our usual four band/video post for today.

First in line is Katatonia. With their roots in the Black/Death Doom Metal, they have jumped to Alternative Gothic Metal, keeping the same success than before.



Following, comes one of my favourite Doom bands, Draconian. As you may have guessed, their music is classified as Gothic Doom Metal. The following video is one of the most beautiful songs I ever listened.



The next band, called Lake Of Tears, has wandered between pure Gothic Metal and several different influences like Atmospheric and Electronic. I first listened to them in their 1997 album, A Crimson Cosmos. The following song is from that album, still my favourite from them.



Finally, to end today's post, there's a band that I discovered when preparing the chronicle, Deathstars. Their sound is Industrial Gothic Metal. Some visual similarities with Marilyn Manson may not be coincidence, but the music is much better.

Sweden (part 2/5) - Death for us all

As you may have guessed, this post title is not a collective suicide wish, but the notion that there is, in Sweden, Death Metal for every taste.

One of the most interesting phenomenon is the first band for today. Mixing Death and Progressive Metal with a great deal of musical talent. The result is one of the most popular Metal bands of all time: Opeth.
I admit that their most calm and acoustic songs bore me to death, but when there is a good mix between the Death and the Progressive parts, its great Metal.



I don't know why I hadn't heard Amon Amarth before preparing the Swedish Metal posts, but it was a big mistake.
They have a very powerful sound, but very melodic. Already one of my favourite Death Metal bands.



In Mourning started as a Gothic Metal band in 2000, but two years later they parted ways with the two females from the band, singer and keyboardist, and became a Melodic Death Metal band. Never heard anything from their Gothic days, but listening to their MeloDeath stuff, seems they did a smart choice.



The last band of today's post is Edge Of Sanity. They existed has a band between 1989 and 1999, when they released 7 full lengths. The project was revived as Dan Swanö's solo project in 2003, releasing another full length.

Sweden (part 1/5) - Gothenburg, the Swedish Metal

Yes, five parts for the Swedish chronicles, but it's perfectly justified since I think Sweden is the European country with the biggest number of Metal bands, that span all genres, so without messing up different genres, it wasn't possible to do it in less than 5 parts.

Also perfectly justifiable, to start the series of posts with the Metal genre that has originated from the Swedish city that ended up naming it, Gothenburg.
Much better than a mediocre description of the genre done by me, is to listen to the best Swedish bands playing it, so read on.

The best of them is, in my opinion, In Flames. Twenty years of a very rich career, with excellent albums.
This video is of one of my favourite Metal songs of all times.



Dark Tranquillity was founded one year before In Flames, and has disputed with them ever since the title of best Gothenburg band. With several musicians being in the band since the beginning, they have a very musically coherent path.



Arch Enemy is one of the few bands with a female singer that uses harsh vocals as its main style. Their sound is very powerful.



Founded in 2004, Scar Symmetry is Sweden's most recent hot Gothenburg Metal band. In 2008 they lost the fantastic singer Christian Älvestam, that was able to do both harsh and clear vocals, and they had to replace him for two singers, "Robban" Karlsson and Lars Palmqvist.



Soilwork is another great Gothenburg band, that was a victim of my self-imposed limit of four videos per post. I admit felt tempted to break my own rule, but the post would get simply too big.

Norway (part 3/3) - It's not just Black and Gothic

That's right. Norway has some great bands that don't play Black or Gothic Metal.

The first one is Circus Maximus that plays Progressive Metal. They have a sound that will definitely please the fans of Dream Theater.



Another Progressive, in this case, Progressive Power Metal, band is Pagan's Mind. Founded in 2000, all the current line-up is there from the start of the band.



Jorn is the self-titled band of one of the great Heavy Metal singers, Jorn Lande. Beside his own band, Lande is also the singer of Masterplan (see my Germany chronicles) and Allen/Lande, a band he has with other top singer, Russell Allen (Symphony X).
He also was one of the singers that replaced Ronnie James Dio in the Heaven and Hell tour in the beginning of the year, while Dio was still battling stomach cancer, battle that he ended up losing. This video is the felt homage from Jorn to his late friend Dio.



An interesting voice and an interesting sound, those were the things that made me add Lumsk, a Viking Folk band to this chronicle.