Erno Matti Juhani "Emppu" Vuorinen (born 24 June 1978) is a Finnish guitarist, most famous for being a founding member and occasional songwriter of the
symphonic metal
Symphonic metal is a cross-genre style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitars ...
band
Nightwish
Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neval ...
. He is the oldest of five children, having a twin brother and three younger sisters. He started to play guitar as a private study at the age of 12 and since then has played in various bands including
Nightwish
Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neval ...
,
Brother Firetribe
Brother Firetribe is a Finnish hard rock band. They take their name from a direct English translation of the name of the former professional tennis player Veli Paloheimo. The name is a reference to an in-joke, where the perfect description for ...
,
Barilari,
Almah
In Biblical Hebrew, the words ''almah'' (; ) and ''alamot'' (; ), drawn from a Semitic root implying the vigour of puberty, refer to a young woman who is sexually ripe for marriage. Although the concept is central to the account of the virgin ...
, and
Altaria.
Biography
Vuorinen started playing guitar as a hobby at the age of ten. Vuorinen knew
Jukka Nevalainen
Jukka Antero "Julius" Nevalainen (born 21 April 1978, in Kitee, Finland) is the former drummer of the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish.
Personal life
He spent his early years in the city of Kitee. His music teacher at school told him ...
from elementary school and met
Tuomas Holopainen
Tuomas Lauri Johannes Holopainen (born 25 December 1976) is a Finnish musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known as the primary songwriter, keyboardist, and founding member of symphonic metal band Nightwish. He has stated that his son ...
at a gig by Nattvindens Gråt. As Holopainen started Nightwish he asked Vuorinen to join the new band. The new band, called Nightwish, started as an acoustic music project and they asked Tarja Turunen to join initially for three songs.
Vuorinen has a black belt in
judo
is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...
and has won a bronze-medal from Nordic championship of the youth and two gold-medals from Finnish championship of the youth.
Vuorinen has a recording studio at Kerava with Tero Kinnunen. Vuorinen and Marko Hietala received cultural award from Kerava for their contributions.
Background
Vuorinen and Nevalainen played together in bands Ambrosia and Nidhro't before Nightwish.
Vuorinen and Holopainen founded Nightwish in 1996 with
Tarja Turunen
Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen-Cabuli (born 17 August 1977), known professionally as Tarja Turunen or simply Tarja, is a Finnish Heavy metal music, heavy metal singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Nightwish.
Turunen studied lyrical ...
.
Vuorinen also formed Brother Firetribe as a side project in 2002 after moving to Kerava. Vuorinen has produced and recorded Brother Firetribe albums with band member Tomppa Nikulainen. In 2004 Vuorinen left
Altaria.
In Nightwish, Vuorinen is primarily a rhythm player, often supporting the keyboard or orchestral parts of Nightwish songs. However, he plays lead melodies and solos as well. Vuorinen's solo techniques usually include alternate picking, tapping, sliding, legato, and minor to extreme whammy bar use; he also employs sweep picking, although very rarely. His solos are more melodic than those of most metal bands, but he sometimes
shreds (notably in "Nightquest," "The Pharaoh Sails to Orion," "Romanticide," and "Gethsemane" by Nightwish, and also in "Traitor" by Tarot, for which he provided a solo). Nightwish's first three albums feature a larger amount of lead guitar work from Vuorinen than their later albums.
Vuorinen is also a creative force in Nightwish, having co-written songs with
Tuomas Holopainen
Tuomas Lauri Johannes Holopainen (born 25 December 1976) is a Finnish musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known as the primary songwriter, keyboardist, and founding member of symphonic metal band Nightwish. He has stated that his son ...
from ''
Oceanborn
''Oceanborn'' is the second studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. It was released in Finland by Spinefarm Records on 7 December 1998 and in the spring of 1999 worldwide. It was released by Drakkar Entertainment in the rest of E ...
'' until ''
Dark Passion Play''. The song "Whoever Brings The Night" on ''Dark Passion Play'' is written by Vuorinen alone.
Vuorinen has said that when he was younger there was more of a need to show skills which has since diminished and since then he plays more as the song requires, also leaving more of the songwriting responsibilities to Holopainen. Vuorinen does not play excessive notes and keeps to the atmosphere of the songs.
Vuorinen recorded guitar parts for
Almah
In Biblical Hebrew, the words ''almah'' (; ) and ''alamot'' (; ), drawn from a Semitic root implying the vigour of puberty, refer to a young woman who is sexually ripe for marriage. Although the concept is central to the account of the virgin ...
, a Brazilian metal band, order to help his friend and vocalist
Edu Falaschi
Eduardo Teixeira da Fonseca Vasconcellos, known as Eduardo "Edu" Falaschi (born May 18, 1972), is a Brazilian musician. He is best known as the former lead singer and songwriter of São Paulo-based power metal band Angra (band), Angra. With Angr ...
(former singer of
Angra). Vuorinen did not stay in the band because of his obligations to Nightwish. He was also involved with
Brother Firetribe
Brother Firetribe is a Finnish hard rock band. They take their name from a direct English translation of the name of the former professional tennis player Veli Paloheimo. The name is a reference to an in-joke, where the perfect description for ...
, an
AOR band, and played on four albums released worldwide: ''False Metal'' (re-released as ''Break Out''), ''Heart Full of Fire'', ''Diamond in the Firepit'' and ''Sunbound''.
In 2020 Vuorinen left Brother Firetribe due to lack of time.
Discography
Nightwish
Brother Firetribe
Studio albums:
* ''
False Metal'' (2006)
* ''
Heart Full of Fire'' (2008)
* ''
Diamond in the Firepit'' (2014)
* ''Sunbound'' (2017)
Altaria
Studio albums:
* ''Invitation'' (2003)
Almah
Studio albums:
* ''
Almah
In Biblical Hebrew, the words ''almah'' (; ) and ''alamot'' (; ), drawn from a Semitic root implying the vigour of puberty, refer to a young woman who is sexually ripe for marriage. Although the concept is central to the account of the virgin ...
'' (2006)
Darkwoods My Betrothed
Studio albums:
* ''Witch-Hunts'' (1998)
References
Sources
*
*
External links
Nightwish official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vuorinen, Emppu
Finnish heavy metal guitarists
Rhythm guitarists
Nightwish members
1978 births
Living people
People from Kitee
20th-century Finnish male singers
Finnish heavy metal bass guitarists
Finnish twins
Finnish male bass guitarists
21st-century Finnish bass guitarists
Altaria (band) members
Almah (band) members