Norther

Norther
Norther performing live at Wacken Open Air
Background information
Also known as	Requiem (1996–2000) Decayed (2000)
Origin	Espoo, Finland
Genres	Melodic death metal
Years active	1996 (1996)–2012
Labels	Century Media, Marquee Avalon, Spinefarm
Associated acts	Children of Bodom, Amberian Dawn, Ensiferum, Wintersun, Naildown, Cain's Offering, Imperanon

Norther was a Finnish melodic death metal band from Espoo, Finland. The band broke up in 2012.

Norther formed under the name Requiem (Lindroos, Korpas, Hallio) in 1996 after various early stage band formations. The band's debut effort was the album, Dreams of Endless War, released through Spinefarm Records in 2002. The album entered the Finnish charts at position 17. At the time, Norther was playing shows only in and around the Helsinki area. That changed when the album Mirror of Madness came out in early 2003 (entering the Finnish charts at position 11). The group toured with Dimmu Borgir and Hypocrisy in late 2003. In early 2004, Norther released its third full-length album, Death Unlimited, which reached 17 on the Finnish charts.

Norther played several shows in 2005 and then recorded an EP, Solution7 (recorded at Astia Studio). It landed in the official Finnish charts at position five. Norther added Kristian Ranta's vocals afterward. In the summer of 2005, Norther used Studio Fredman in Gothenburg, Sweden, to record their fourth full length-album named Till Death Unites Us, with producers Fredrik Nordström & Patrick J. Sten. Soon after recording the album, Toni Hallio left the band to pursue other interests; Heikki Saari replaced him at drums. After its release in January 2006, Till Death Unites Us was number six on the Finnish album charts. Later the same year, the band composed the theme song ("Frozen Angel") for a major Finnish feature film, V2: Dead Angel produced by Solarfilms, Inc. The band is also featured in the film. In February 2007 Norther released a new EP, No Way Back, released only in Finland and Japan. The record hit number one in the Finnish charts. Later that year the released Amoral & Drone, and supported it with a European tour.

Petri Lindroos quit as lead vocalist on 1 February 2009 and was replaced by Aleksi Sihvonen (ex-Imperanon) on 14 April 2009. Their sixth studio album, Circle Regenerated, and was released 19 April 2011.

The band made their final appearance at the Brutal Assault festival in the Czech Republic on 10 August 2012.

Warlord was the only demo recorded by Norther. It was self-released 10 November 2000. The demo featured Sebastian Knight and Joakim Ekroos (both of whom left the group after its production). Warlord was mixed in only a few hours; and features a cover song of Skid Row's "Youth Gone Wild". The song "Warlord" was later renamed "Endless War," and is on the Dreams of Endless War album.