''In Paradisum'' is the debut and only album by multinational power metal band

Symfonia Symfonia was a short-lived symphonic power metal Supergroup (music), supergroup formed in 2010 by Andre Matos (vocals), Timo Tolkki (guitars), Jari Kainulainen (bass), Mikko Härkin (keyboards) and Uli Kusch (drums). On February 18, 2011, the band ...

, released on March 25, 2011, in Japan and April 1, 2011, in Europe. In paradisum ( English: "Into

paradise In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human ...

") is an antiphon from the traditional

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

of the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Requiem Mass. The album was written by vocalist

Andre Matos Andre Coelho Matos (; 14 September 1971 – 8 June 2019) was a Brazilian singer and musician. He was involved in the heavy metal bands Viper, Angra, Shaman and Symfonia. Since 2006, Matos had been dedicating his time to his solo career. I ...

and guitarist

Timo Tolkki Timo Tapio Tolkki (born 3 March 1966) is a Finnish musician best known as the former guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer of the power metal band Stratovarius. With his tenure lasting for more than twenty years, he was the longest standing ...

, with the former focusing on lyrics and the latter focusing on the music, and both having some input on each other's parts. The drums were recorded in two days by

Uli Kusch Ulrich Kusch (born 11 March 1967) is a German heavy metal drummer. He is best known for playing with Helloween, Gamma Ray, Masterplan and Holy Moses, among others. He is known for his technical style of playing, fast-paced speed metal-like rh ...

in a separate studio, with the guitars, bass and keyboards recorded in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, 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 municipali ...

. Work on vocals started on the first day of 2011 in a cabin on top of a mountain, where Matos and Tolkki remained isolated with no internet or telephone. Regarding the music of the album, Matos said: ''In Paradisum'' was mixed in Italy.

Track listing

All songs written by

and

. # "Fields of Avalon" (5:09) # "Come by the Hills" (5:01) # "Santiago" (5:54) # "Alayna" (6:17) # "Forevermore" (5:31) # "Pilgrim Road" (3:37) # "In Paradisum" (9:35) # "Rhapsody in Black" (4:34) # "I Walk in Neon" (5:44) # "Don't Let Me Go" (3:56) # "I'll Find My Way Home" (4:44) (Japanese bonus track)

Personnel

– vocals *

– guitars, production, mixing * Jari Kainulainen – bass *

Mikko Härkin Mikko Härkin (born 25 May 1979 in Kuopio, Finland) is a Finnish power metal keyboardist, who has performed with Sonata Arctica and Kenziner. History Härkin begun to study piano at the age of 5. He joined ''Kenziner'' in 1998 and with them re ...

– keyboards *

– drums * Giovanni Nebbia – mixing, editing, engineer – mix engineer on "I'll Find My Way Home" *Maor Appelbaum – mastering engineer

References

{{Authority control 2011 debut albums Symfonia albums