Wasara is a

Finnish language Finnish (endonym: or ) is a Finnic languages, Finnic language of the Uralic languages, Uralic language family, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official langu ...

rock music band from

Lohja Lohja (; ) is a town in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Lohja is situated in the western part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Lohja is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, munici ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

that formed in 1999. They are known for their depressive doom style.

Name

Wasara in old Finnish orthography means ‘Hammer’. The modern spelling is Vasara.

History

Antti Åström, Ipi Kiiskinen and Mikko Nevanlahti were childhood friends in the town of Lohja in Southern Finland, and in 1996 they decided to form a band. The band was formed as ''Ali Baba'' and took influences from a range of musical genres including punk and rock. In 1999 the band changed its name to Wasara and Sami Tikkanen was added on guitars. Two demos were released on CD between 2000 and 2002. The first of these; ''Sinulle'' did not create the type of sound that the band were looking for. The second, a self-titled work was more successful and secured a two-album deal with

Firebox Records Firebox Records was a Finnish record label based in Seinäjoki, Southern Ostrobothnia. They specialized in doom metal. Firedoom Music was a subsidiary label of Firebox Records specializing in more extreme doom metal and other obscure genres. T ...

. Their first album Kaiken Kauniin Loppu was released in 2003. Mikko Nevanlahti left shortly afterwards and was replaced by Tuukka Heikurinen on drums. Before the release of the second album

Meistä On Maa Täysi ''Meistä On Maa Täysi'' is the second studio album of Finnish rock group Wasara. To promote the album, the single "Manan maille" was released on Valentine's Day 2005 as a digital download. In April the new album followed. The album was recorde ...

in 2005 Harri-Lempinen had taken over on drums. The second album was released on Roihu Records, which was a division of Firebox. A further change with Saku Lempinen replacing Sami Tikkanen on guitars took place in 2008. The third album Hehku was released in 2011. The band reportedly split in early 2012 however by 2014 they were back together playing live gigs. They remained active until at least March 2016, but there has been no new recording.

Musical style

Lyrically Wasara focus on the subjects of despair, sorrow and pain. Suicide is a common issue in their lyrics. At times the harsh lyrical style is that of

Death Metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

. However the songs are produced at a mid-tempo with some folk elements and may also be described as

Groove Metal Groove metal, sometimes also called neo-thrash or post-thrash, is a subgenre of heavy metal music that began in the early 1990s. The genre is primarily derived from thrash metal, but played in slower tempos, and making use of rhythmic guitar pa ...

. Their music has been defined as 90s Heavy Rock rather than Metal. It has also been compared with early

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 ...

. Although melancholy is a common thread, their albums offer variation in style and pace, with clean and harsh vocals used.

Current lineup

* Antti Åström – vocals, guitar, lyricist (1996–) * Ipi Kiiskinen–

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 ...

(1996–) * Tuomo Tolonen – guitar (2001–) *

Harri Lempinen Harri is a given name and a surname. Notable people with these names include: Given name *Harri Anne Smith, (born 1962), American Republican member of the Alabama Senate * Harri Eloranta (born 1963), Finnish biathlete *Harri Hänninen (born 196 ...

– drums (2004–) * Saku Lempinen – guitar (2008–) * Tipi Vainio – Keyboards (2014–)

Past members

* Sami Tikkanen – guitar (1999–2008) * Mikko Nevanlahti – drums (1996–2003) * Tuukka Heikuriseen – drums (2003–2004)

Discography

Demos

* ''Sinulle'' (2000) Not on label * ''Wasara'' (2002) Not on label

Albums

* '' Kaiken Kauniin Loppu'' (All in a Beautiful End) (2003) * ''

'' (2005) * '' Hehku'' (The Glow) (2011)

Singles

* ''Kivisade'' (Stone Rain) – CD Single (2003) * ''Manan Maille '' –

Digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...

(2005) * ''Kuollut On Kuollut'' – Digital (2011)

External links

* https://www.facebook.com/pg/wasaraband/about/?ref=page_internal * https://www.discogs.com/artist/708822-Wasara

References

{{Authority control Finnish rock music groups