Karelia is a French heavy metal band created in 2000 by Lionel Vest and Matthieu Kleiber.

Biography

Karelia first released a self-titled demo in 2000. Their first full-length album ''Usual Tragedy'' was released in 2004 on the German label

Drakkar Records Drakkar Entertainment GmbH, also called Drakkar Records or Drakkar Publishing, is a German record label with its headquarters in Witten. It is a joint venture with Bertelsmann Music Group. History Originally Kopec Music Publishing, Drakkar En ...

. The orchestral arrangements give it its symphonic heavy metal (or simply

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitar ...

) tag. Lyricwise, ''Usual Tragedy'' is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

about a man who crossed both World Wars, lost his father during the first one, lost his beloved one during the second one, witnessed the violence and the madness of men, eventually lost his own sanity and died alone and anonymous in an hospital. Their second studio album, ''Raise'', released in 2005 on Drakkar Records as well, is not as orchestral as ''Usual Tragedy'' but has dark, melancholic atmospheres that could already be heard on the first album as well and that seem to be the band's trademark; that's why Karelia's music is also sometimes called

gothic metal Gothic metal (or goth metal) is a fusion genre combining the aggression of heavy metal with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy met ...

. The lyrics deal with various themes such as blinding and misleading of people by a charismatic leader ("Raise"), religion wars ("Cross and Crescent"), childhood ("Child Has Gone", "Unbreakable Cordon"), depression ("Breakdown"). In January 2007 keyboardist Bertrand Maillot left the band, and Jack Ruesch joined the band as second guitarist. In June 2007 the band finished the recording of its third album ''Restless''. It was first expected to be released in September/October 2007 (as stated in January 2007 on their still-working then website), but Karelia later announced o
its MySpace
that it would be released through the French label

Season Of Mist Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pag ...

; the label's website displays 21 April 2008 as the release date. The cover artwork hasn't been revealed yet. ''Restless'' will show new musical orientations, featuring

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

elements. In autumn November 2007 Karelia opened for the well-known German

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band

Scorpions Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...

for three of their shows in France. Finally, on 26 August 2011, the album Golden Decadence was released, with the guest Rudolf Schenker of Scorpions playing guitar on two songs and Keep Watching Me The Way Across The Hills and 3 bonus tracks, including the resumption of Queen

The Show Must Go On "The show must go on" is a phrase in show business, meaning that regardless of what happens, whatever show has been planned still has to be staged for the waiting patrons. There is no evidence to suggest that it is the abbreviation of a longer phra ...

. On 2 June 2012 the group were back on the stage with

for their last day in France at the outdoor amphitheater at the Zenith of Nancy Nancy Festival On The Rocks. In this concert, Lex, singer and leader of Koritni came to sing with the band the title of

Misfits Misfits or The Misfits may refer to: Film and television * ''The Misfits'' (1961 film), a film starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift * ''The Misfits'' (2011 film), a Mexican film * ''The Misfits'' (2021 film), an American ...

Attitude. In May 2013 the band finally decided to stop.

Influences

According to Karelia's frontman Matthieu Kleiber, the band members have various influences, citing, among others,

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

as well as

bands like

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKa ...

and

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...

for himself and ex-keyboardist Bertrand Maillot,

such as

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own entit ...

for bassist Gilles Thiebaut,

symphonic A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

heavy metal bands for guitarist Erwan Morice and drummer Loïc Jenn.Interview @ Obsküre.com (in French)

Members

Current members

*Matthieu Kleiber –

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

*Erwan Morice –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

*Jack Ruesch – guitar *Gilles Thiebaut –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

*Loïc Jenn –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

*Bobby Gu - record producer

Former members

*Bertrand Maillot –

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

*Chris Savourey – guitar *Claude Gasparini – bass *Lionel Vest – guitar, keyboard *Sébastien Fellmann – guitar

Discography

Studio albums

*'' Usual Tragedy'' (2004) *''

Raise Raise may refer to: Music *''Raise!'', the name of a 1981 album by Earth, Wind, and Fire * '' Raise'' (album), the name of a 1991 album by Swervedriver Place names * Raise, Cumbria, England * Raise (Lake District), the name of the 12th highe ...

'' (2005) *'' Restless'' (2008) *''Golden Decadence'' (2011)

Demo albums

*''

Karelia Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for ...

'' (2000)

References

External links

http://www.karelia.fr Official Site]
Karelia
at MySpace {{DEFAULTSORT:Karelia Musical groups established in 2000 French musical quintets Season of Mist artists French symphonic metal musical groups French power metal musical groups