Gandalf was 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 ...

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavine ...

band who incorporated elements of traditional hard rock into their sound. Formed in 1993 by drummer (then guitarist) Nalle Österman (later in

Shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spir ...

Korpiklaani Korpiklaani ( Finnish: ) is a Finnish folk metal band from Lahti who was formerly known as Shamaani Duo and Shaman. History Shamaani Duo While other folk metal bands began with metal before adding folk music, Korpiklaani started with folk music ...

and

Lullacry Lullacry was a Finnish melodic band with gothic metal influences that hailed from Helsinki. History The band recorded their first demo (named ''Weeper's Aeon'') in 1998 and in a short time they had enough of a following to safely attempt a full ...

), guitarist Timo Nyberg and vocalist Jari Hurskainen, with session drummer Mika "Gas Lipstick" Karppinen, who later achieved fame playing with the band HIM. The name Gandalf came from when the founding fans of the band used to refer to Gandalf's guitarist as the guitar wizard,

Gandalf Gandalf is a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels '' The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. He is a wizard, one of the ''Istari'' order, and the leader of the Fellowship of the Ring. Tolkien took the name "Gandalf" from the Old Nor ...

(from ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...

''). Since then, the band decided to call their band Gandalf. Gandalf released both of their albums through

Wicked World Records Earache Records is a British independent record label, music publisher and management company founded by Digby Pearson in 1985, based in Nottingham, England, with offices in London and New York. The label helped to pioneer extreme metal by re ...

, a subsidiary of

Earache Records Earache Records is a British independent record label, music publisher and management company founded by Digby Pearson in 1985, based in Nottingham, England, with offices in London and New York. The label helped to pioneer extreme metal by rel ...

Discography

*''Deadly Fairytales'' (1999) *''Rock Hell'' (2001)

References

External links

Gandalf
at

1993 establishments in Finland Earache Records artists Finnish melodic death metal musical groups Music based on The Lord of the Rings Musical groups established in 1993 {{Finland-band-stub