Biography
Requiem, the Finnish melodic metal band, started as a death-metal trio in 1999. The band was founded in Haapajärvi, Finland, by Arto Räisälä, guitar. Requiem made two demos, 'Gods of War' (1999) and 'Into the Night' (2000), before signing the record deal with Sound Riot Records from Portugal in 2001. Arto and Jari Huttunen, who replaced Rami Repola on drums soon after 'Gods of War', are the only original Requiem members left in the band nowadays.
Jouni Nikula, vocals, joined Requiem in the late summer of 2000. The band played some gigs with the new line up and one special night was being filmed by three cameras. Also the vocal parts for 'Into the Night' demo were re-recorded.
Requiem's plan in early 2001 was to make a demo to find a record label. The songs planned for the demo were 'Broken Alliance' (then it was called 'Tower of Shadows'), 'Whispers' and 'Invisible Touch'. Anyway, the demo was never made, because Sound Riot Records contacted the band in the spring, just a few weeks before it was time to go to the studio. The next summer was a period of major changes in Requiem's line up. The band asked Henrik Klingenberg to play the keyboards for the first album. At the same time the original bass player Matti Auvinen was replaced by Pasi Kauppinen. Line up for Requiem's two first albums, 'The Arrival' (2002) and 'Mask of Damnation' (2003), was found.
Requiem's debut, 'The Arrival', was recorded in late 2001. The fresh arrangements, hypermelodic and powerful songs reached a great feedback around the world. Requiem was hailed in many places as the newcomer of the year. 'The Arrival' reached quickly top-three in the chart of Japanese import metal albums. Below Requiem were bands such as Manowar, Dio and Helloween. Later on that year the album was licenced to Japan by Soundholic with a bonus track called 'Tomorrow's Dream'. This is what Sound Riot Records has to say about Requiem on their website: "The things started to change to us in 2002, principally after the release of the Requiem album that got an excellent feedback in many places".
Requiem's second album, 'Mask of Damnation', was recorded in the summer of 2003. Eight songs introduced Requiem to the world even more progressive than on 'The Arrival'. Requiem's musical 'crazyness' was taken to the top. After the recording session Henrik Klingenberg was forced to leave the band. He was just too damn busy with his new job on Sonata Arctica.
Requiem started to look for a new record label in the autumn of 2003. On the following winter Jukka Hänninen joined Requiem as the new keyboard player. The negotiations with more than five different labels took over an year, even two demos were recorded. Eventually Requiem decided to join Scarlet Records from Italy. The recordings of the third album, 'Reqiem Forever', started quickly after the names were in the contract. Teemu Hänninen, second guitar since the demo 'Into the Night', was forced to leave the band before the third album was finished.
'Requiem Forever' is musically pure Requiem: melodic and powerfull with a revolutionary songwriting. The band is also more mature and solid than before. The last song on 'Requiem Forever' is re-recorded version of 'Gods of War', which was originally released on the first demo back in 1999. But who could imagine a better ending for such an album as 'Requiem Forever'. "Thousands of miles behind and thousands more to go..." ('Gods of War')
Top of page
