HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Villieläin are a
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 ...
/
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 ...
band from
Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...
,
Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
. They formed in 2006 and released a demo the same year. On August 19, 2009 they released their first studio album named ''
Julma Satu ''Julma Satu'' is the debut album of the Finnish power metal band Villieläin. It was released on 19 August 2009 on the Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or ...
'', and went on indefinite hiatus soon afterwards.


Background

The band was formed in 2006 by Emilia "Nemilia" Rantasalo, Jani Hölli, Timo Niemistö, Janne Juutinen and Dimitri Martinov, with the name of the band meaning ''Wild Animal''. The group's lyrics centered around the idea of ”He who makes a beast of himself, gets rid of the pain of being a man”. Their music was inspired by the original gloomy fairy tales of the
Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm (1786–1859), were Germans, German academics who together collected and published folklore. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of Oral tradit ...
and their lyrics also contained references to these stories. They incorporated female
coloratura Coloratura ( , , ; , from ''colorata'', the past participle of the verb ''colorare'', 'to color') is a passage of music holding elaboration to a melody. The elaboration usually takes the form of runs, trills, wide leaps or other virtuoso ma ...
vocals, heavy metal riffs and industrial sounding keyboards into their songs. They toured regularly but were not signed to a record label until 2008, when they were signed to
Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum ...
. Another change was made in 2008. Janne Juutinen was replaced by
Mikael Hakamies Mikael is a masculine given name, a variant of the Hebrew name Michael (מִיכָאֵל), which means "Who is like God". It is used predominantly throughout Scandinavia and Finland. Mikaela is the feminine form of the name. In France, the name is w ...
as the band's drummer. Their first single "Kaiverrettu Hiekkaan" ("Engraved in Sand") was widely played on Finnish mainstream radio stations and was a download only release. It featured on the ''Soundi 2009'' compilation album. Their second single, "Voittamaton" ("Invincible") was released on May 12, 2009 and entered the Finnish top 20 singles charts at position 12, on the week beginning at August 2, 2009. The third single "Kuoleman Suudelma" ("Kiss of Death"), was released in August 2009.


''Julma Satu''

The band's debut album, ''
Julma Satu ''Julma Satu'' is the debut album of the Finnish power metal band Villieläin. It was released on 19 August 2009 on the Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or ...
'' (''Cruel Fairytale'') was a mixture of heavy power metal, industrial sounds and acoustic influences. It was released on August 19, 2009 and reached #27 on the Finnish top 40 album charts, where it stayed for one week. Many Finnish musicians were involved in the songwriting and production of the album, including Manzana vocalist Piritta "Lumous" Vartola, Entwine drummer
Aksu Hanttu Aksu Hanttu (born ) is a musician, record producer and sound engineer from Lahti, Finland. He plays the drums in the metal band Entwine and vocals and drums in the group Tuoni. Hanttu is also involved with Finnvox Studios in Helsinki, which h ...
and former Soulrelic vocalist Raymond Pohjola. The album's booklet details the fairytale story of the characters as portrayed by the members, saying that they were a group of "outcasts, gathered together by a mystic shaman in order to avenge the evils done to them by humanity" and tells of a world where people live in past emotions, leaving the world with no future and a feeling of time standing still.


Reception

Reception to the album was mixed to negative, with the group being criticized for "creating music that does not take itself seriously", sounding like "a cheap
Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neval ...
copy and "a low cost version of Spinal Tap". Petri Klemetti remarked that "although putting fairy tale style lyrics to the sounds of metal is an original idea, it doesn't work because the music is too terrifying for children, but yet too childish for adults and therefore does not appeal to any specific target audience". The overall mixing of the album has been criticized as being "bland, dull, tasteless and colourless", although Aksu Hanttu has been commended for his involvement. However others are of the view that the overall production of the album is "a fresh extract of sounds previously demonstrated by
Poisonblack Poisonblack was a Finnish gothic metal band led by singer and guitarist Ville Laihiala. They released six studio albums. History In 2003, the band's first album, ''Escapexstacy'', was on the Finnish national charts for three weeks, peaking at ...
" and an example of "fantastic modern heavy rock". Since 2013, however the band are steadily gaining popularity and exposure through social media and music discussion sites such as
Last.fm Last.fm is a music website founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. Utilizing a music recommender system known as "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm creates a detailed profile of each user's musical preferences by recording the details of the tracks they ...
.


Eurovision 2010

Villieläin was one of the 30 entries taking part i
SMS voting
which ran from 1st till 15 October 2009. Only three performers proceeded to the live selection phase. The band were entry 30 and entered the song "Ei Minua" ("Not Me") for selection as a song choice for Finland in the 2010
Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...
, held in
Oslo, Norway Oslo ( or ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of towns and cities in Norway, most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a Counties of Norway, county and a Municipalities of Norway, municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a populat ...
. The song received a large number of votes and thus finished in the top 10 of the web voting. However, since it did not finish in the top three, the band were eliminated from the competition.


Indefinite Hiatus (2011-present)

In October 2009, the band’s official website was suddenly taken down, and the group's Metal Archives page listed them as having split-up. In 2013, Nemilia gave an interview where she said that the group had "taken a break" and were working on their own projects, as they were disheartened with how low the album sales were (and also due to financial difficulties). Holli now plays keyboards for several other groups, Niemistö is now playing guitar in the
progressive metal Progressive metal (often shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven sound of the former with t ...
group Anthriel, and Martinov and Hakamies are working on private projects. Nemilia runs the company "Altissimo", where she offers vocal performances at various events. She also performs concerts with pianist Matthew Carter, and is taking singing lessons with opera singer and professor
Seppo Ruohonen Seppo Ruohonen (25 April 1946 — 1 March 2020) was a Finnish operatic tenor and voice pedagogue. Education Ruohonen trained initially under Lea Piltti, and later continued in Vienna at the Vienna State Opera school and the ''Hochschule für ...
. When asked if there was any chance of the band reuniting, Rantasalo replied that there could be a possibility, but there were no plans for the foreseeable future. As of 2014 Dimmu is playing bass in a Melodic Hard Rock band called ''Randy Royal Machine.'', Tinke is recording a new album with Anthriel and is in a band with Teräsbetoni vocalist
Jarkko Ahola (born 24 August 1977) is a Finnish performing artist, composer and singer. Born in , he is the vocalist and bass player and one of the three songwriters of the band . He is also a member of a Finnish symphonic metal cover supergroup Northern ...
called ''Cosmic Spell''. Jani Hölli plays keyboards in the rock group Waltari. It was speculated that Nemilia would be the new vocalist for symphonic metal group
Amberian Dawn Amberian Dawn is a Finnish symphonic power metal band, formed in 2006 by Tuomas Seppälä and Tommi Kuri. As of 2023, Amberian Dawn has released nine studio albums, four singles and twelve music videos. History Atheme One (2006–2008) Several ...
, but Capri Virkkunen was chosen instead.


Members


Last Known Line-up

* Emilia "Nemilia" Rantasalo - vocals ( Mystic Opera) * Jani "Jay" Hölli - keyboards, ( Snakegod, Soulrelic,
Technical Justice Technical may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle * Technical area, an area which a manager, other coaching personnel, and substitutes are allowed to occupy during a football match * Technical advisor, a person who adv ...
) * Timo "Tinke" Niemistö - guitar ( Anthriel, Soulrelic, X-Tacy,
Elias Viljanen Elias "E.Vil" Einari Johannes Viljanen (born 8 July 1975) is a Finnish musician from Tampere, Finland, known for being the guitarist for Sonata Arctica since 2007. Viljanen joined Sonata Arctica in spring 2007 in order to replace Jani Liimatai ...
) * Dimitri "Dimmu" Martinov - bass (
Two Witches Two Witches may refer to: * Two Witches (band), a gothic rock band from Finland * Two Witches (film), a 2021 American horror film {{dab ...
) * Mikael "Miguel" Hakamies - drums ( Snakegod)


Former members

* Janne Juutinen (2006–2008), ( Dreamtale, Masterstroke, ex-Crystallic) - drums


Guest musicians

* Capri Virkkunen (
Amberian Dawn Amberian Dawn is a Finnish symphonic power metal band, formed in 2006 by Tuomas Seppälä and Tommi Kuri. As of 2023, Amberian Dawn has released nine studio albums, four singles and twelve music videos. History Atheme One (2006–2008) Several ...
) - backing vocals *
Aksu Hanttu Aksu Hanttu (born ) is a musician, record producer and sound engineer from Lahti, Finland. He plays the drums in the metal band Entwine and vocals and drums in the group Tuoni. Hanttu is also involved with Finnvox Studios in Helsinki, which h ...
(
Entwine Entwine was a Finnish gothic metal band from Lahti. Entwine played their last gig on 9 Nov 2019 at Lahti. History Entwine was originally assembled under the name ''Kaamos'' in 1995 by guitarist and vocalist Tom Mikkola, drummer Aksu Hanttu and b ...
) - backing vocals * Jaakko Teittinen - growls on ''Voittamaton'' *
Mika Tauriainen Mika Tauriainen (born 5 January 1975 Sweden) is a Finnish vocalist. He is currently a member of gothic metal band Entwine, Frostlit and ex-vocalist of atmospheric rock band ShamRain. Discography With Entwine * Chaotic Nation (2015/Spinefarm Re ...
(
Entwine Entwine was a Finnish gothic metal band from Lahti. Entwine played their last gig on 9 Nov 2019 at Lahti. History Entwine was originally assembled under the name ''Kaamos'' in 1995 by guitarist and vocalist Tom Mikkola, drummer Aksu Hanttu and b ...
,
ShamRain ShamRain is a Finnish band which plays slow, dreamlike music, also categorized as atmospheric rock music. They were established in 2000 by Janne Jukarainen and Matti Reinola. The band released its second album titled ''Someplace Else'', in 2005 ...
) - male vocals on ''Kuoleman Suudelma'' * Janne Juutinen (Masterstroke) - drums * Petri Alanko - flute


Songwriters and collaborators

* Piritta "Lumous" Vartola (Manzana) *
Aksu Hanttu Aksu Hanttu (born ) is a musician, record producer and sound engineer from Lahti, Finland. He plays the drums in the metal band Entwine and vocals and drums in the group Tuoni. Hanttu is also involved with Finnvox Studios in Helsinki, which h ...
(Entwine) * Tommy Suomala (Soulrelic) * Raymond Pohjola (Soulrelic) * Anna-Eerika Guzejev (Dean) * Petri Alanko


Discography


Studio albums

* ''
Julma Satu ''Julma Satu'' is the debut album of the Finnish power metal band Villieläin. It was released on 19 August 2009 on the Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or ...
'' (''Cruel Fairytale'') (2009)


Demos and singles

* "Demo" (2006) * "Kaiverrettu Hiekkaan" ("Engraved in Sand") (2008) - single * "Voittamaton" ("Invincible") (2009) - single * "Kuoleman Suudelma" ("Kiss of Death") (2009) - single * "Ei Minua" ("Not Me") (2009) - unreleased commercially


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villielain Finnish power metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2006 Universal Music Group artists