Jari Mäenpää (born 23 December 1977) is a Finnish singer, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. He is the founder of the

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 heavines ...

band Wintersun for which he records all instruments except the drums. Before forming Wintersun, Mäenpää was also known for his role in the

folk metal Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for example ...

band

Ensiferum Ensiferum (Latin: , n adj., meaning "sword bearing") is a Finnish folk metal band from Helsinki. The members of the band label themselves as "melodic folk metal". History Formation, demos and ''Ensiferum'' (1995−2002) ''Ensiferum'' was foun ...

, which he joined in 1996 after leaving his prior band named Immemorial. Wintersun was initially planned as a parallel project alongside Ensiferum, but in January 2004 he was forced to leave Ensiferum due to clashes between their touring schedule and the studio recording time he had booked for Wintersun. In 1997, Mäenpää had to put his musical career on hold to take part in Finland's compulsory military service. In an interview, Mäenpää admitted he disliked the time he spent in the military and suspects it's where he acquired

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. Jari was also a member of the band Arthemesia, and participated in Kimmo Miettinen's side project Lost Alone.

Writing style

Jari's style of guitar playing utilizes tremolo-picked melodies and phrases and the heavy use of extremely fast sweep-picking solos and breaks as heard on most of the songs. The speed of Wintersun's music is due in part to the use of

blast beat A blast beat is a type of drum beat that originated in hardcore punk and grindcore, and is often associated with certain styles of extreme metal, namely black metal, death metal and their respective subgenres,Adam MacGregor, '' PCP Torpedo'' ...

s and quick, spacey keyboard lines. This gives the guitar a charging,

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within a symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in co ...

feel for the most part.

Notable instruments

*Tokai Telecaster *Ibanez RGD(25½ scale)Custom *Ibanez RGD(26½ scale)Prototype *Ibanez JEM *Ibanez PGM301 *Jackson DR3 with EMG *Daemoness 'Forest' Cimmerian VI * Solar Guitars Type S (modded with EMG pickups) *Mesa Boogie Mark V *Mesa Boogie Triaxis Pre Amplifiers *Peavey 5150 *Fractal Audio Axe-FX II Jari Mäenpää no longer performs guitar live, on Facebook he released the following statement, "After thinking about it for a long time I have made the decision to drop the live guitar, which means that I will solely become 100% live vocalist."

Discography

References

External links

* 1977 births Living people Finnish heavy metal musicians Finnish heavy metal singers 21st-century Finnish singers Ensiferum members Wintersun members Arthemesia members {{Finland-musician-stub