List of Famous Bands from Helsinki

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Updated June 9, 2017 67 items

List of Helsinki bands, listed by their level of fame. This Helsinki musicians list includes both bands and solo artists. All famous Helsinki bands are included, as well as many Helsinki musicians of underground status. This list of Helsinki musical artists includes information like what genre the artist falls under, what albums they've put out and more. If you want to know more about these famous Helsinki bands you can click on their names to learn more about them. Bands from every genre are listed here, including rock, pop, hip-hop/rap, jazz, and more.

List ranges from Apocalyptica to Ensiferum and more.

If you're wondering, "What bands are from Helsinki?" or "What is a list of Helsinki bands?" then this list will answer your questions. {#nodes}
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  • Apocalyptica

    Apocalyptica

    Thrash metal, Progressive metal, Cello rock
    Apocalyptica is a Finnish metal band from Helsinki, Finland formed in 1993. The band is composed of classically trained cellists Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen, and Perttu Kivilaakso and drummer Mikko Sirén. Originally a Metallica tribute band, their music borrows elements from a wide variety of genres including classical music, neoclassical metal, speed metal, alternative metal, post-grunge, hard rock, progressive metal, thrash metal and symphonic metal. They also incorporate some influences from Middle Eastern music, world music and folk music. They have sold over four million albums to date.
  • Ensiferum

    Ensiferum

    Melodic death metal, Viking metal, Black metal
    Ensiferum (Latin ēnsiferum, n adj., meaning "sword bearing") is a Finnish folk metal band from Helsinki. The members of the band label themselves as "melodic folk metal."
  • Stratovarius

    Stratovarius

    Progressive metal, Power metal, Heavy metal
    Stratovarius is a Finnish heavy metal band that formed in 1984. Since their formation, they have released 15 studio albums, 4 DVDs and 5 live albums. In its history, the band has gone through many chaotic lineup changes and since 1995 there are no founding members of the band that remain. Currently, the longest standing member is singer Timo Kotipelto, who joined in 1994. Stratovarius was founded under the name Black Water in August 1984 by singer and drummer Tuomo Lassila, guitarist Staffan Stråhlman, and bassist John Vihervä. Line-up changes soon started to occur, including Timo Tolkki replacing Stråhlman two months later and taking over singing duties as well, and the band expanding to a quartet with the arrival of keyboardist Antti Ikonen the following year. Under this line-up, the band released its first album Fright Night in 1989, with Tolkki as the only songwriter. While the band went through many bassists, the band released the albums Twilight Time in 1992 and Dreamspace in 1994. In 1994, Tolkki decided to stop acting as lead vocalist, with Kotipelto joining the band. After the release of Fourth Dimension in 1995, Ikonen and the last founding member, Lassila, left the band and were replaced by Jens Johansson and Jörg Michael respectively. This line-up consisting of Kotipelto, Tolkki, bassist Jari Kainulainen, Johansson and Michael, now recognized as the "classic line-up" of Stratovarius, became the longest line-up in its history (1995-2005). With this line-up, the band released eight albums including most of their popular works (releasing an album with the same line-up than its predecessor for the first time) until the release of a self-titled album in 2005, after which Kainulainen departed and was replaced by Lauri Porra. In 2008 guitarist, sole composer and main lyricist Timo Tolkki, being highly critical of their last album and tired of the tensions between the members, decided to disband Stratovarius. However, at the demand of the rest of the band, he agreed to let them continue as Stratovarius while leaving the band. He subsequently regretted his decision, stating that the current band had nothing to do with Stratovarius which he considered as mainly his own work. Despite the controversy of Tolkki's departure, the band's following albums Polaris (2009) and Elysium (2011) received positive reception, with various critics and fans considering them their best albums in the last decade. These were the first albums with Porra and new guitarist Matias Kupiainen, and all members except Michael were part of the songwriting process. After a small "Farewell Jörg" tour in Finland, Jörg Michael departed for personal reasons in 2012. With new drummer Rolf Pilve, the band released Nemesis in 2013 and Eternal in 2015.
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  • Hanoi Rocks

    Hanoi Rocks

    Glam metal, Rock music, Heavy metal
    Hanoi Rocks was a Finnish rock band formed in 1979. They were the first Finnish band to chart in the UK and they were also popular in Japan. The band broke up in June 1985 after the drummer Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley died in a car accident during their first US tour in December 1984. Original vocalist Michael Monroe and guitarist Andy McCoy reunited in 2001 with a new lineup that lasted until 2009. Although musically closer to traditional rock n' roll and punk, the band have been cited as a major influence in the glam metal genre for bands such as Guns N' Roses, Skid Row and Poison. According to Finnish radio and TV personality Jone Nikula, who was the band's tour manager in the 2000s, Hanoi Rocks's albums have sold between 780,000 and 1,000,000 copies around the world, mostly in Scandinavia and Japan.
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  • Wintersun

    Wintersun

    Progressive metal, Melodic death metal, Viking metal
    Wintersun is a Finnish heavy metal band from Helsinki originally formed as the side project of Jari Mäenpää, then vocalist and guitarist of folk metal band Ensiferum. In 2003, Mäenpää began pulling together songs that he had been working on since 1995. These songs followed specific themes described by Mäenpää as majestic, "spacy", and melodic. While Mäenpää planned to perform and record each instrument for the first album himself, he still required a drummer. He sent demos to Kai Hahto, former member of Rotten Sound, who agreed to perform the drums. After obtaining a record deal, Mäenpää scheduled studio time to record the first album. Ensiferum's tour to support their 2004 release was scheduled at the same time, which forced Mäenpää to request time off from the band. The band instead fired him, and Mäenpää was free to go ahead with the production of his self-titled album, Wintersun. After the release of Wintersun, the band found permanent members to perform shows and promote the album, although a keyboardist would never be found. In 2006, Wintersun began work on their second and third albums, Time I and Time II, which were initially intended to be released as a single album. Recording began in May of that year, but the albums would be the recipient of years-long delays for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which was the complexity of each song's mix.
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  • Roope Latvala

    Roope Latvala

    Thrash metal, Melodic death metal, Power metal
    Roope Juhani Latvala (born 25 June 1970) is a Finnish guitarist, best known as the former rhythm guitarist for the band Children of Bodom from 2003 to 2015 and co-lead guitarist of Sinergy. He was also one of the founding members of Stone, which was one of the first notable bands in the history of Finnish heavy metal.
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