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 is a Japanese guitar manufacturer, primarily focused on the production of electric guitars and Bass guitar, basses. They are based in both Tokyo and Los Angeles, with distinct product lines for each market. ESP Company manufactures instruments ...

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 ''Tales from the Thousand Lakes'' is the second full-length album by doom metal band Amorphis. It is a concept album, the lyrics are based on the Finnish national epic, ''Kalevala''. While still predominantly melodic death metal and gothic ...

'' (album, 1994) * ''Black Winter Day / Fear'' (split with

Gorefest Gorefest was a Dutch death metal band from Goes in Zeeland. It was founded in 1989 by Jan-Chris de Koeijer, Frank Harthoorn, Alex van Schaik and Marc Hoogendoorn. History Within two months of existence Gorefest recorded their first demo. A ...

, 1995) * '' Black Winter Day'' (EP, 1995) * ''

Elegy An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...

'' (album, 1996) * '' My Kantele'' (EP, 1997) * ''Divinity / Northern Lights'' (single, 1999) * ''

Tuonela Tuonela (; )Oinas, Felix J., and Juha Pentikäinen. "Tuonela." In ''Encyclopedia of Religion'', 2nd ed., edited by Lindsay Jones, 9396-9397. Vol. 14. Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. ''Gale eBooks'' (accessed January 3, 2021)/ref> i ...

'' (album, 1999) * ''Alone'' (single, 2001) * ''

Am Universum ''Am Universum'' is the fifth album by Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis. This album was a departure from the doom/stoner metal influence on their previous album, ''Tuonela'', featuring more of a vocal-driven hard rock sound. This is the first ...

'' (album, 2001) * ''Mourning Soil'' (single, 2003) * ''

Far from the Sun ''Far from the Sun'' is the sixth studio album by Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis. It was the first album to feature drummer Jan Rechberger since 1994's ''Tales from the Thousand Lakes'', replacing Pekka Kasari who had quit the band to spend ...

'' (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 Goreaphobia, formed by Alex Bouks and Chris Gamble in 1988, is the first American death metal band from Philadelphia and one of the first to emerge from the east coast scene. They never released a full-length record until after breaking up and r ...

Phobia A phobia is an anxiety disorder defined by a persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation. Phobias typically result in a rapid onset of fear and are usually present for more than six months. Those affected go to great lengths to avo ...

, and

Exit-13 Exit-13 was an American grindcore band from Millersville, Pennsylvania, United States. The band were formed in 1989 by Relapse Records founder and co-owner Bill Yurkiewicz (vocals), guitarist Steve O'Donnell and bassist Joel DiPietro. Their earl ...

, 2004) * ''House of Sleep'' (single, 2006) * ''

Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ce ...

'' (album, 2006) * ''The Smoke'' (single, 2006) * ''Silent Waters'' (single, 2007) * '' Silent Waters'' (album, 2007) * ''Silver Bride'' (single, 2009) * ''

Skyforger Skyforger is a heavy metal band from Latvia which was formed in 1995 out of the remains of doom metal band Grindmaster Dead. Musical style and lyrical themes Most of their songs are about Baltic mythology and warfare; they also play Latvia ...

'' (album, 2009) * ''From the Heaven of My Heart'' (single, 2009) * ''Martyr of the Free Word / From the Heaven of My Heart'' (split with

Epica Epica or EPICA may refer to: * Epica (band), a Dutch symphonic metal band * ''Epica'' (Kamelot album), 2003 * ''Epica'' (Audiomachine album), 2012 * The European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) * The Epica Awards (International Adver ...

, 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 ''The Beginning of Times'' is the tenth studio album by Finnish metal band Amorphis, released on 25 May 2011 in Finland, 27 May in Europe and 7 June in the United States. Like previous Amorphis albums, ''The Beginning of Times'', is a concept alb ...

'' (album, 2011) * ''

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...

'' (album, 2013) * '' Under the Red Cloud'' (album, 2015) * '' Queen of Time'' (album, 2018) * ''

Halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...

'' (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