Insomnium

Insomnium
Insomnium live at Party.San (2017)
General information
origin	Joensuu , Finland
Genre (s)	Melodic Death Metal
founding	1997
Website	www.insomnium.net
Founding members
Electric bass , vocals	Niilo Sevänen
Electric guitar	Ville Friman
Drums, guitar	Tapani Pesonen (until 1998)
Drums	Markus Hirvonen
Current occupation
Electric bass, vocals	Niilo Sevänen
Electric guitar	Markus Vanhala (since 2011)
Electric guitar, vocals	Ville Friman
Electric guitar	Jani Liimatainen (since 2019)
Drums	Markus Hirvonen
former members
Electric guitar	Timo Partanen (1998-2001)
Electric guitar	Ville Vänni (2001-2011)

Insomnium ( lat. Insomnium 'dream') is a Finnish melodic death metal band that was founded in Joensuu in spring 1997 .

history

Insomnium was founded in the eastern Finnish city of Joensuu in spring 1997 by Niilo Sevänen, Ville Friman, Tapani Pesonen and Markus Hirvonen. The second guitarist, Ville Vänni, only joined Insomnium in 2001 as a full member. It was clear from the start that the band would try to combine all the positive elements of the music of their personal favorite bands. The result was a mixture of Scandinavian Melodic Death Metal and typical Finnish sounds.

Two years later, Insomnium recorded the first demo CD. Motivated by the predominantly positive criticism, their next demo CD was released a year later. In 2001, the band signed a contract with the label Candlelight Records and began a few weeks later the recording of their first album In The Halls of Awaiting which was released of 2002.

In 2004 the second studio album Since the Day It All Came Down was released and in 2006 the third studio album Above the Weeping World was released. In 2009, the band's fourth studio album, Across the Dark, was released, on which for the first time in the band's history clean vocals are joined by the characteristic growls of Insomniums. In addition to their musical activities, the members have normal work or study.

In August the band signed a record deal with the German label Century Media . She justified this with the fact that she would like to tour more outside of Europe. From September to October 2010 the band was on their We Are the Void tour together with Dark Tranquility . In addition, the band released the song Weather the Storm , on which Mikael Stanne could be heard, as a free download shortly before . In October 2011 the fifth studio album One for Sorrow was released .

On October 31, 2011, the band announced that Ville Vänni would leave the band at the beginning of the One-for-Sorrow Tour. His role as guitarist will be taken over by Markus Vanhala of the band Omnium Gatherum . The sixth studio album Shadows of the Dying Sun was released in April 2014.

In September 2016, the seventh studio album, Winter's Gate , was released by Dan Swanö , a concept album with a 40-minute song about a group of Vikings in search of gold. The idea for this arose two years earlier when recording the previous album. The album reached number 1 in the Finnish charts and number 17 in the German charts.

On July 16, 2019, the band announced the release date, October 4, 2019, of their 8th studio album Heart Like a Grave on their Facebook page . At the same time, Insomnium introduced Jani Liimatainen as their 5th band member.

The band commented: “In 2018 it became apparent that Ville could not combine the heavy touring anymore with his another career as a lecturer in York university. Hence, we decided that a third guitarist was needed to get the machinery running properly. We did not have to look far, since Jani Liimatainen had already been a live guitarist on several tours. And since this dude is amazing musician, vocalist, songwriter and all-round nice guy the decision was really a no-brainer. Now we are stronger than ever! "

style

Insomnium's music is partly shaped by bands like Dark Tranquility , In Flames and At the Gates . According to their own statements, the band draws textual inspiration from a wide variety of works in world literature.

gallery

• Band members at the Party.San 2017
• 

  Singer and bass player Niilo Sevänen

• 

  Guitarist Markus Vanhala

• 

  Guitarist Ville Friman

• 

  Drummer Markus Hirvonen

Discography

Albums

year	Title music label	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		FI	DE	AT	CH
2002	In the Halls of Awaiting Candlelight Records	-	-	-	-	First published: April 30, 2002 Producer: Jone Väänänen (Media Works Studios)
2004	Since the Day It All Came Down Candlelight Records	-	-	-	-	First published: April 5, 2004 Producer: Jone Väänänen (Media Works Studios)
2006	Above the Weeping World Candlelight Records	FI9 (2 weeks) FI	-	-	-	First published: August 9, 2006 Producer: Samu Oittinen (Fantom Studio)
2009	Across the Dark Candlelight Records	FI5 (2 weeks) FI	-	-	-	First published: September 7th, 2009 Producer: Samu Oittinen, Ville Friman (Fantom Studio)
2011	One for Sorrow Century Media	FI6 (3 weeks) FI	DE95 (1 week) DE	-	-	First published: October 25, 2011 Producer: Samu Oittinen (Fantom Studio)
2014	Shadows of the Dying Sun Century Media	FI2 (7 weeks) FI	DE18 (1 week) DE	AT38 (1 week) AT	CH33 (1 week) CH	First published: April 25, 2014 Producer: Teemu Aalto (SF Sound Studio)
2016	Winter's Gate Century Media ( Sony Music )	FI1 (5 weeks) FI	DE19 (1 week) DE	AT27 (1 week) AT	CH27 (1 week) CH	First published: September 23, 2016 Producer: Teemu Aalto (SF Sound Studio)
2019	Heart Like a Grave Century Media (Sony Music)	FI1 (6 weeks) FI	DE10 (2 weeks) DE	AT23 (1 week) AT	CH15 (1 week) CH	First published: October 4th, 2019 Producer: Teemu Aalto (SF Sound Studio)

EPs

• 2009: Where the Last Wave Broke (CD, Candlelight Records)
• 2013: Ephemeral ( AAC , Century Media Records)

Demos

• 1999: Demo '99 (CDR, self-distribution)
• 2002: Underneath the Moonlit Waves (CDR, self-distribution)

Singles

• 2011: Weather the Storm (AAC, Century Media Records)
• 2014: While We Sleep (AAC, Century Media Records)
• 2015: Out to the Sea / Skyline ( Split with Omnium Gatherum , 7 ”vinyl , Century Media Records)
• 2019: Valediction (AAC, Century Media Records)

Box sets

• 2014: The Candlelight Years (4xCD / 6x LP , Candlelight Records)

Contributions to compilations (selection)

• 2005: Shades of Deep Green on Candlelight Collection Vol 5 (CD, Candlelight Records)
• 2006: Death Walked the Earth on Phoenix Risen (2xCD, Candlelight Records)
• 2011: Mortal Share on Kaikkien Aikojen Suomimetallit (3xCD, Capitol Records )

Music videos

• 2011: Weather the Storm
• 2011: Through the Shadows
• 2012: One for Sorrow
• 2014: While We Sleep (Director / Production: Rafal Szermanowicz / Grupa 13)
• 2019: Valediction (Director / Production: Vesa Ranta, Aapo Lahtela / Kaira Films)
• 2019: Heart Like a Grave (Director / Production: Vesa Ranta, Aapo Lahtela / Kaira Films)

Web links

Commons : Insomnium  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website
• Insomnium at Discogs (English)

swell

1. ↑ http://www.insomnium.net/ News from October 17, 2011
2. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated November 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ http://www.metal.de/specials/insomnium-listening-session-und-lesung-zu-winters-gate-190933/
4. ↑ http://www.centurymedia.com/newsdetailed.aspx?IdNews=17321&IdCompany=3
5. ↑ New album HEART LIKE A GRAVE / Welcome JANI LIIMATAINEN as official fifth band member. Retrieved July 16, 2019 .