Esa Holopainen (born 1 October 1972) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

musician, currently the main songwriter, occasional lyricist, founding member and lead guitarist of the Finnish metal band

Amorphis Amorphis is a Finnish heavy 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 metal, an ...

. He is one out the two longest standing members of the band (the other being

Tomi Koivusaari Tomi Koivusaari (born 11 April 1973) is the current rhythm guitarist and former vocalist of the Finland, Finnish metal band Amorphis. He started playing at the age of 12, his first band was Violent Solution formed in 1987, with him on guitars and ...

) and one of the four original members in the band (the others being Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari and Olli-Pekka Laine). He was also formerly the guitarist of the bands Violent Solution (1990) and Chaosbreed (2003–2004). Holopainen did the

guitar solo A guitar solo is a melodic passage, instrumental section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. In 20th and 21st century traditional music and popular m ...

on "Dambuster" from ''Hellroad Caravan'' by

Mannhai Mannhai is a Finnish stoner rock band from Helsinki. The band was formed in late 1999 by bass player Olli-Pekka "Oppu" Laine and guitarist Ilkka "Ile" Laaksomaa. Soon they were accompanied by a young drummer, Mikko "Junior" Pietinen, and the fo ...

. His influences include

Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist and songwriter. He was a founding member of Deep Purple in 1968, playing jam-style hard rock music that mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds. He is prolific in creating guitar ...

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1967, shortly before the departure of founding member Syd Barrett. P ...

John McLaughlin John or Jon McLaughlin may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John McLaughlin (musician) (born 1942), English jazz fusion guitarist, member of Mahavishnu Orchestra * Jon McLaughlin (musician) (born 1982), American singer-songwriter * John McLaug ...

and Petri Walli of

Kingston Wall Kingston Wall was a psychedelic/progressive rock group from Helsinki, Finland, originally formed in 1987. Influenced by such artists as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, the group combined eastern themes, mysticism and vivid psychedelia ...

. Holopainen uses ESP guitars and Koch amplifiers.

Discography

With Violent Solution

* ''Period of Depression'' (demo, 1990) * ''Paralysis / Individual Nightmare'' (EP, 1990)

Solo

* ''Silver Lake by Esa Holopainen'' (album, 2021)

With Amorphis

* ''Disment of Soul'' (demo, 1991) * ''Amorphis'' (single, 1992) * ''The Karelian Isthmus'' (album, 1992) * ''Privilege of Evil'' (EP, 1993) * ''Tales from the Thousand Lakes'' (album, 1994) * ''Black Winter Day / Fear'' (split with Gorefest, 1995) * ''Black Winter Day'' (EP, 1995) * ''Elegy (Amorphis album), Elegy'' (album, 1996) * ''My Kantele'' (EP, 1997) * ''Divinity / Northern Lights'' (single, 1999) * ''Tuonela (album), Tuonela'' (album, 1999) * ''Alone'' (single, 2001) * ''Am Universum'' (album, 2001) * ''Mourning Soil'' (single, 2003) * ''Far from the Sun'' (EP, 2003) * ''Day of Your Beliefs'' (single, 2003) * ''Far from the Sun'' (album, 2003) * ''Evil Inside'' (single, 2003) * ''Relapse Singles Series Vol. 4'' (split with Goreaphobia, Phobia (band), Phobia, and Exit-13, 2004) * ''House of Sleep'' (single, 2006) * ''Eclipse (Amorphis album), Eclipse'' (album, 2006) * ''The Smoke'' (single, 2006) * ''Silent Waters'' (single, 2007) * ''Silent Waters (Amorphis album), Silent Waters'' (album, 2007) * ''Silver Bride'' (single, 2009) * ''Skyforger (album), Skyforger'' (album, 2009) * ''From the Heaven of My Heart'' (single, 2009) * ''Martyr of the Free Word / From the Heaven of My Heart'' (split with Epica (band), Epica, 2009) * ''Forging the Land of Thousand Lakes'' (DVD, 2010) * ''Magic & Mayhem - Tales from the Early Years'' (compilation, 2010) * ''You I Need'' (single, 2011) * ''The Beginning of Times'' (album, 2011) * ''Circle (Amorphis album), Circle'' (album, 2013) * ''Under the Red Cloud'' (album, 2015) * ''Queen of Time'' (album, 2018) * ''Halo'' (album, 2022)

With Chaosbreed

* ''Unleashed Carnage'' (EP, 2003) * ''Brutal'' (album, 2004)

References

1972 births Living people Amorphis members Finnish heavy metal guitarists Finnish heavy metal musicians Lead guitarists Sitar players 21st-century guitarists {{Finland-musician-stub