Shade Empire is a Finnish

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

band, formed in 1999 in the city of

Kuopio Kuopio ( , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Savo. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Kuopio is approximately , while the Kuopio sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mos ...

. Shade Empire's prevalent lyrical subjects are death, destruction, hatred, anti-religion and pain. The music on their first three official full-length releases, '' Sinthetic'', '' Intoxicate O.S.'' and '' Zero Nexus'', bears a melodic sort of

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 ...

, featuring the usage of both electronic and symphonic elements. Their lyrics are mainly in English, except for one song that has lyrics in Finnish, "...Ja Pimeys Laskeutui", the title of which can be translated as "...And Darkness Descended" (the last word "Laskeutui" can also be translated as "Fell", "Came" or "Landed"). The third demo CD of the band, ''Essence of Pain'', raised the interest of the Italian label

Avantgarde Music Avantgarde Music is an Italian record label, formed as a continuation of Obscure Plasma Records, focusing on black and doom metal artists. The label had a sub-label called Wounded Love Records, which has released albums by Dolorian and Taake. A ...

. As a result, their debut album ''Sinthetic'' was released on 29 March 2004, under the aforementioned label. In 2006, the band signed with the Finnish label Dynamic Arts Records. The same year, their second album, ''Intoxicate O.S.'', was released on May 24, 14 days after the release of the single " Slitwrist Ecstasy". ''Intoxicate O.S.'' had moderate success, reaching number 25 in weekly Finnish album sales. After releasing the album, Shade Empire continued playing at several events such as Jörisrock and

Qstock Qstock is an annual two-day music festival held at the end of July in Oulu, Finland. The festival lineup includes some of the biggest names in both the domestic and international music scene, regardless of the genre. The first Qstock festival was ...

, mainly beside other Finnish artists. They also performed on a series of independent gigs. The same year, Shade Empire played their first official concert outside of Finland, in the encompassment of the

Popkomm Popkomm was an international trade show for the music and entertainment business during the 1990s and 2000s, and also integrated a congress and festival. It was held in Cologne for most of its existence, later moved to Berlin with entries from at ...

trade show in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

at the

Kulturbrauerei The Berlin Kulturbrauerei (literally "Culture Brewery") is a building complex in Berlin, Germany. Originally built and operated as a brewery, its courtyards and unique architecture have been protected as a monument since 1974. It is one of the ...

(Culture Brewery). The band released their fourth album in the 6 May 2013. Called '' Omega Arcane'', it was released via Candlelight Records. On 11 April 2017 the band announced that their long-time vocalist

Juha Harju Juha Harju (born 1981 in Kuopio) is a Finnish heavy metal musician. He was the vocalist of the Finnish black metal band Shade Empire and metal band Chaosweaver (Cypher Commander). He also plays bass in black metal bands Ajattara (under the ...

has been dismissed from the band, to be replaced by Henry Hämäläinen. Their fifth album '' Poetry of the Ill-Minded'' would still feature Juha on vocals. Both that album and their 2023 album '' Sunholy'' (their first album with Henry on vocals) displayed the band moving further into

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

and discarding their industrial roots while maintaining the

symphonic black metal Symphonic black metal is a subgenre of black metal that emerged in the 1990s and incorporates symphonic and orchestral elements. History One of the earliest forerunners in what would come to be the sound of symphonic metal was Celtic Frost ...

sound they have been known for.

Gallery

Shade Empire Dark Troll 2018 08.jpg, Singer Henry Hämäläinen Shade Empire Dark Troll 2018 03.jpg, Guitarist Aapeli Kivimäki Shade Empire Dark Troll 2018 01.jpg, Guitarist Juha Sirkkiä Shade Empire Dark Troll 2018 09.jpg, Bass guitarist Eero Mantere Shade Empire Dark Troll 2018 11.jpg, Keyboarder Olli Savolainen Shade Empire Dark Troll 2018 23.jpg, Drummer Erno Räsänen

Members

Present

*Henry Hämäläinen – vocals (2017–present) *Juha Sirkkiä – guitars (2000–present) *Eero Mantere – bass guitar (1999–present) *Erno Räsänen – drums (2006–present) *Aapeli Kivimäki - guitars (2013–present)

Previous members

*Tero Liimatainen – guitars (1999-2000) *Antti Makkonen – drums (1999–2006) *Janne Niiranen – guitars (1999-2013) *

– vocals (2000-2017) *Olli Savolainen – synthesizers (2000–2021)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

*'' Sinthetic'' (2004) *'' Intoxicate O.S.'' (2006) *'' Zero Nexus'' (2008) *'' Omega Arcane'' (2013) *'' Poetry of the Ill-Minded'' (2017) *'' Sunholy'' (2023)

Singles and EPs

*''Slitwrist Ecstasy'' (2006) *''Anti-Life Saviour'' (2017)

Live and other albums

*''Throne of Eternal Night'' (2000, demo) *''Daemon'' (2001, demo) *''Essence of Pain'' (2002, demo)

References

External links

*
Dynamic Arts Records
* Shade Empireat

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Shade Empire
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{{Authority control Finnish black metal musical groups Finnish musical quintets Finnish musical sextets Musical groups established in 1999 Symphonic black metal musical groups 1999 establishments in Finland Avantgarde Music artists Candlelight Records artists