Villieläin
| Villieläin | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Tampere, Finland |
| Genres | Symphonic / Power metal |
| Years active | 2006-2011 (Indefinite hiatus) |
| Labels | Universal Music Group |
| Associated acts | Soulrelic, Snakegod, Two Witches, Elias Viljanen & Evil Spirit, Athriel, Mystic Opera, Cosmic Spell, X-TACY |
| Members |
Emilia Rantasalo Jani Hölli Timo Niemistö Dimitri Martinov Mikael Hakamies |
| Past members |
Janne Juutinen Kirsi Hannele Sirén |
Villieläin are a symphonic / power metal band from Tampere, Finland. They formed in 2006 and released a demo the same year. On August 19, 2009 they released their first studio album named Julma Satu, and went on indefinite hiatus soon afterwards.
The band was formed in 2006 by Emilia "Nemilia" Rantasalo, Jani Hölli, Timo Niemistö, Janne Juutinen and Dimitri Martinov, with the name of the band meaning Wild Animal. The group's lyrics centered around the idea of ”He who makes a beast of himself, gets rid of the pain of being a man”. Their music was inspired by the original gloomy fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and their lyrics also contained references to these stories. They incorporated female coloratura vocals, heavy metal riffs and industrial sounding keyboards into their songs. They toured regularly but were not signed to a record label until 2008, when they were signed to Universal Music. Another change was made in 2008. Janne Juutinen was replaced by Mikael Hakamies as the band's drummer.
Their first single "Kaiverrettu Hiekkaan" ("Engraved in Sand") was widely played on Finnish mainstream radio stations and was a download only release. It featured on the Soundi 2009 compilation album. Their second single, "Voittamaton" ("Invincible") was released on May 12, 2009 and entered the Finnish top 20 singles charts at position 12, on the week beginning at August 2, 2009. The third single "Kuoleman Suudelma" ("Kiss of Death"), was released in August 2009.
The band's debut album, Julma Satu (Cruel Fairytale) was a mixture of heavy power metal, industrial sounds and acoustic influences. It was released on August 19, 2009 and reached #27 on the Finnish top 40 album charts, where it stayed for one week. Many Finnish musicians were involved in the songwriting and production of the album, including Manzana vocalist Piritta "Lumous" Vartola, Entwine drummer Aksu Hanttu and former Soulrelic vocalist Raymond Pohjola.
The album's booklet details the fairytale story of the characters as portrayed by the members, saying that they were a group of "outcasts, gathered together by a mystic shaman in order to avenge the evils done to them by humanity" and tells of a world where people live in past emotions, leaving the world with no future and a feeling of time standing still.
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Wikipedia