Shade Empire is a Finnish symphonic black metal band, formed in 1999 in the city of Kuopio. Shade Empire's prevalent lyrical subjects are death, destruction, hatred, anti-religion and pain. The music on their first three official full-length releases, '' Sinthetic'', '' Intoxicate O.S.'' and '' Zero Nexus'', bears a melodic sort of

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emp ...

, featuring the usage of both electronic and symphonic elements. Their lyrics are mainly in English, except for one song that has lyrics in Finnish, "...Ja Pimeys Laskeutui", the title of which can be translated as "...And Darkness Descended" (the last word "Laskeutui" can also be translated as "Fell", "Came" or "Landed"). The third demo CD of the band, ''Essence of Pain'', raised the interest of the Italian label

Avantgarde Music Avantgarde Music is an Italian record label, formed as a continuation of Obscure Plasma Records, focusing on black and doom metal artists. The label had a sub-label called Wounded Love Records, which has released albums by Dolorian and Taake. ...

. As a result, their debut album ''Sinthetic'' was released on March 29, 2004, under the aforementioned label. In 2006, the band signed with the Finnish label Dynamic Arts Records. The same year, their second album, ''Intoxicate O.S.'', was released on May 24, 14 days after the release of the single " Slitwrist Ecstasy". ''Intoxicate O.S.'' had moderate success, reaching number 25 in weekly Finnish album sales. After releasing the album, Shade Empire continued playing at several events such as Jörisrock and

Qstock Qstock is an annual two-day rock festival held at the end of July in Oulu, Finland. The festival lineup includes some of the biggest names in both domestic and international music scene, regardless of the genre. The first Qstock festival was orga ...

, mainly beside other Finnish artists. They also performed on a series of independent gigs. The same year, Shade Empire played their first official concert outside of Finland, in the encompassment of the

Popkomm Popkomm was an international trade show for the music and entertainment business during the 1990s and 2000s, and also integrated a congress and festival. It was held in Cologne for most of its existence, later moved to Berlin with entries from at ...

trade show in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

at the Kulturbrauerei (Culture Brewery). The band released their fourth album in the 6 May 2013. Called ''Omega Arcane'', it was released via Candlelight Records. On April 11, 2017 the band announced that their long-time vocalist Juha Harju has been dismissed from the band, to be replaced by Henry Hämäläinen. The upcoming album will still feature Juha on vocals.

Gallery

Shade Empire Dark Troll 2018 08.jpg, Singer Henry Hämäläinen Shade Empire Dark Troll 2018 03.jpg, Guitarist Aapeli Kivimäki Shade Empire Dark Troll 2018 01.jpg, Guitarist Juha Sirkkiä Shade Empire Dark Troll 2018 09.jpg, Bass guitarist Eero Mantere Shade Empire Dark Troll 2018 11.jpg, Keyboarder Olli Savolainen Shade Empire Dark Troll 2018 23.jpg, Drummer Erno Räsänen

Discography

Studio albums

*'' Sinthetic'' (2004) *'' Intoxicate O.S.'' (2006) *'' Zero Nexus'' (2008) *'' Omega Arcane'' (2013) *'' Poetry of the Ill-Minded'' (2017)

Singles and EPs

*'' Slitwrist Ecstasy'' (2006) *''Anti-Life Saviour'' (2017)

Live and other albums

*''Throne of Eternal Night'' (2000, demo) *''Daemon'' (2001, demo) *''Essence of Pain'' (2002, demo)

Members

Present

*Henry Hämäläinen – vocals (2017–present) *Juha Sirkkiä – guitars (2000–present) *Eero Mantere – bass guitar (1999–present) *Erno Räsänen – drums (2006–present) *Aapeli Kivimäki - guitars (2013–present)

Previous members

*Tero Liimatainen – guitars (1999-2000) *Antti Makkonen – drums (1999–2006) *Janne Niiranen – guitars (1999-2013) * Juha Harju – vocals (2000-2017) *Olli Savolainen – synthesizers (2000–2021)

Timeline

References

External links

*
Dynamic Arts Records
* Shade Empireat

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

Shade Empire
at MySpace {{Authority control Finnish black metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1999 Symphonic black metal musical groups 1999 establishments in Finland