Ajattara is a

sextet A sextet (or hexad) is a formation containing exactly six members. The former term is commonly associated with vocal ensembles (e.g. The King's Singers, Affabre Concinui) or musical instrument groups, but can be applied to any situation where six ...

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...

band from

Helsinki, Finland Helsinki () is the capital and most populous city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipality, with million in the capital region and ...

, led by Pasi Koskinen (ex

Amorphis Amorphis is a Finnish progressive metal band founded by Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari, and Esa Holopainen in 1990. Initially, the band was a death metal act, but on later albums they evolved into playing other genres, including progressive meta ...

). They formed in 1996, split up in 2012, and reformed in 2016. They were signed to

Spinefarm Records Spinefarm Records is an international record label. Founded in Finland in 1990, Spinefarm was acquired by Universal Music Group in 2002. History Spinefarm Records began as a mailorder distribution company, founded by Riku Pääkkönen. The c ...

and have released eight albums, their most recent being '' Lupaus'', which was released in May 2017.

History

Ajattara formed in 1996 as a

side project In popular music, a side project is a project undertaken by one or more people already known for their involvement in another band. It can also be an artist or a band temporarily switching to a different style. Usually these projects emphasize ...

singer Pasi Koskinen.Rivadavia, Eduardo " Ajattara Biography, Allmusic, Macrovision Corporation Their first release was a demo tape entitled ''Helvetissä on syntisen taivas'' which was released in 1998. The band then signed to Spikefarm Records and went on to release three albums - '' Itse'' in 2001, '' Kuolema'' in 2003 and '' Tyhjyys'' in 2004. These albums were met with largely good reviews. Ajattara released the Christmas singles "Ilon juhla" in November 2004 and "Joulu" in November 2005. The band then went on to release another album in 2006, entitled '' Äpäre'', which was met with similar reviews as their last three albums. The band continued with the Christmas single tradition of 2004 and 2005 by releasing a single entitled ''Sika'' in 2006. The band entered the studio on 1 June 2007 to begin recording on the album '' Kalmanto'' which was released on 5 September 2007. However, this album was not met with such good reviews as Ajattara's other albums, as some critics said the album sounded chaotic and forced. In April 2009 Ajattara released their sixth album entitled '' Noitumaa'', this time being an all-acoustic album, which received clearly better reviews than the previous release. In 2011 the band released their seventh studio album ''

Murhat Ajattara is a sextet black metal band from Helsinki, Finland, led by Pasi Koskinen (ex Amorphis). They formed in 1996, split up in 2012, and reformed in 2016. They were signed to Spinefarm Records and have released eight albums, their most rece ...

''. The band made an announcement on its

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

page on 15 April 2012 that it had split up for reasons unknown. On 23 March 2016 the band made an announcement on their

page that they will be playing at the Norwegian Blastfest in February 2017. Shortly after, on 9 May 2016, Pasi Koskinen announced the reunion of the band, announcing further live dates including Nummirock 2016 in Finland and Satan's Convention 2017 in Germany. In May 2017 the band released '' Lupaus'', their eighth studio album and first since their reformation.

Musical style

Ajattara combine elements of

to produce a style of black metal not dissimilar to

Celtic Frost Celtic Frost () was a Swiss metal music, heavy metal band from Zürich. They are remembered for their strong influence on the development of several metal subgenres, particularly extreme metal,Bukszpan, Daniel. ''The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal' ...

, and to a lesser extent

Samael Samael (; , ''Sammāʾēl'', "Venom of God"; , ''Samsama'il'' or , ''Samail''; alternatively Smal, Smil, Samil, or Samiel) is an archangel in Talmudic and post-Talmudic tradition; a figure who is the accuser or adversary (Satan#Judaism, Satan ...

. The combined use of

synthesisers A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

and heavy guitar sounds give Ajattara a distinct sound. The lyrical themes of Ajattara usually deal with death, evil and

paganism Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

Line-up

Current members

* Ruoja ―

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

(1996-2012, 2016-present)

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

(1996—2009);

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

keyboards (1996—2004) * Kalmos (Vesa Wahlroos) ―

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

(2006—2012, 2016—present) * Tohtori Kuolio ―

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, backing vocals (2007—2012, 2016—present) * Raajat (Janne Immonen) ― keyboards, backing vocals (2007—2012, 2016—present) * Tartunta (Mynni Luukkainen) ― rhythm guitar (2009—2012, 2016—present) * Malakias 6,8 (Rainer Tuomikanto) ―

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

(2011—2012, 2016—present)

Session member

*Lempo (Iiro Illman) ―

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

(2018-)

Former members

Guitar

* Ismonster ( Ismo Liljelund) - ? * Samuel Lempo (

Tomi Koivusaari Amorphis is a Finnish progressive metal band founded by Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari, and Esa Holopainen in 1990. Initially, the band was a death metal act, but on later albums they evolved into playing other genres, including progressive meta ...

) - (2005-2006)

Bass

* Atoni ( Toni Laroma) - (1996-2007)

Keyboards

* Ikkala ( Jarmo Ikala) - ? * Akir Kalmo ( Aki Räty) - ? * Irstas ( Kalle Sundström) - (2004-2007)

Drums

* Orpo ( Pekka Kasari) - ? * Malakias I ( Pekka Sauvolainen) - (1996-2003) * Malakias II ( Jan Rechberger) - (2003-2004) * Malakias III ( Atte Sarkima) - (2004-2007) * Malakias IV (

Tonmi Lillman Tonmi Lillman (born Tommi Kristian Lillman, 3 June 197314 February 2012) was a Finnish musician, best known as Otus, the former drummer of the Finnish Rock music, rock band Lordi. Lillman died on 14 February 2012 after an illness. Career Lillma ...

) - (2007–2011) † (died in 2012)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums * ''Itse'' (2001) * ''Kuolema'' (2003) * ''Tyhjyys'' (2004) * ''Äpäre'' (2006) * ''Kalmanto'' (2007) * ''Noitumaa'' (2009) * ''Murhat'' (2011) * ''Lupaus'' (2017) Compilation albums * ''Joululevy'' (2009) Demo albums * ''Helvetissä on syntisen taivas'' (1998) Singles * "Ilon juhla" (2004) * "Joulu" (2005) * "Sika" (2006) * "Tulppaani" (2007)

References

External links

Ajattara's official website

Ajattara's page on Spinefarm Records

Ajattara's page on MySpace

Ajattara's page on the Encyclopedia Metallum

Ajattara's page at Last.fm

Ajattara
at Metal From Finland {{DEFAULTSORT:Ajattara Finnish black metal musical groups Finnish musical sextets Musical groups from Helsinki Musical groups established in 1996