Deuteronomium (band)

Deuteronomium
Deuteronomium live at Immortal Metal Fest 2009
Background information
Origin	Jyväskylä, Finland
Genres	Death metal, death 'n' roll,melodic death metal
Years active	1993–2001, 2006–present
Labels	Little Rose, Bullroser
Associated acts	Stoner Kings, Icon Clan, No Man's Band, Feiled, Vaskikäärme, Thy Bleeding Skies, Destroyer of Black Metal
Members	Manu Lehtinen Miika Partala Kalle Paju Janne-Jussi Kontoniemi
Past members	Jarno lehtinen Tapio Laakso Johnny Pesonen Jari Mantour Johnny Pesonen

Deuteronomium is a Christian death metal band formed in 1993, Jyväskylä, Finland, one of Finland's earliest and most influential groups in that genre.

Deuteronomium are together with Immortal Souls the only remaining bands of the first wave of Finnish Christian extreme metal that are currently active. Their first EP Tribal Eagle is, according to Ristillinen magazine, the first Finnish Christian metal CD.Tribal Eagle and debut album Street Corner Queen are also noted as pieces of Christian metal history. Bassist Manu Lehtinen and guitarist/vocalist Miika Partala - also known for the bands Stoner Kings, Icon Clan, No Man's Band and Feiled, established the record label Little Rose Productions that signed bands such as Immortal Souls. During the peak of their career before the band split up for six years in 2001, Deuteronomium became an internationally known group: at one point they headlined foreign festivals such as Seaside festival in Norway with Narnia and Newsboys as support acts. It is also notable that Deuteronomium was previously sponsored by Dr Pepper. Deuteronomium began influencing later bands such as the Ukrainian folk metallers Holy Blood. In June 2006 the band played a comeback concert as the headliner at the biggest non-alcoholic Mid Summer festival in Finland, OHM-Fest. Deuteronomium shot a DVD, Spelled Alive, of the comeback concert. In December 2006 the band officially reformed and soon headlined the biggest Christian metal festival in Finland, Immortal Metal Fest.

In August 2008, the band released its third album titled From the Midst of the Battle, which on August 20, peaked at No. 11 on the Official Finnish Top 40 Album Chart.

In 1990, brothers Jarno and Manu Lehtinen were invited to play in a band from Kokkola called DBM (Destroyer of Black Metal), which is known to be the very first Christian extreme metal group in Finland. DBM released two demos, Death of a Soul (1990) and Slayer of Evil (1991) before the Lehtinen brothers left the band due to the distance between Laukaa and Kokkola. Aki Särkioja, who would form Immortal Souls with his brother Esa in December 1991, also played in DBM for a short while until the band changed their name to Cathacomb and split up after releasing few demos.