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The history of Norther dates back to the year 1996, when Toni Hallio and Petri Lindroos started playing together under the monicker Requiem with two other guys. After a short split-up and loosing their rehearsal lair, the boys persevered and played as a trio wherever possible: at home, in Hallio's grandmother's attic (no joke!), in cellars, youth centers... Finally, in late 1997, the band got a rehearsal place in the legendary Lepakko through Alexander Kuoppala (Children of Bodom), a friend of the band. Obviously, the boys were thrilled and began an extensive search for new members, without much success. At this point, Requiem was informed that Lepakko was to be demolished and the line-up was again reduced to the duo of Hallio and Lindroos. After the instant shock, the boys managed to book a new rehearsal place in Nosturi and began searching new members to complete the line-up that was to become Norther. Many an aspiring player came and auditioned for the band, but none were deemed suitable for the band. Early 2000, however, a new guitar player was found in Kristian Ranta. The trio began rehearsing like there was no tomorrow and things finally started to flow for them. Kristian knew two brothers, Sebastian and Joakim Ekroos, who joined the band and a demo was recorded. At this point, the band also changed their name to Norther. The demo was good enough to land them a deal with Spinefarm Records so now things were on the roll... Nevertheless, certain things led to the discharging of the Ekroos brothers, so the line-up was once again reduced to a trio. It did not take long for the guys to find Jukka Koskinen and Tuomas Planman to finally create a stable line-up for Norther. And thus, "Dreams of Endless War" was recorded and the Norther warmachine kicked into gear. After the initial release of the album, the scene went ballistic over Norther. Although the band was plagued with constant comparisons to Children of Bodom, the overall response from the media and fans was overwhelming. Norther began playing shows in and around Helsinki and the buzz kept growing like wildfire. Being the prolific songwriters that the guys are, they almost had an album's worth of material ready before the debut was released in every corner of the world. Norther soon barricaded themselves inside the famed Astia Studio with producer extraordinaire, Anssi Kippo. The result is nothing short of breathtaking. "Mirror of Madness" is a step forward for the band, a logic continuation of the onslaught that began with "Dreams of Endless War". It is a step towards more of an old school-type of sound combined perfectly with their intense approach to modern death/black, a mix made in metal heaven. The fury and sheer frantic energy of Norther's delivery is simply stunning. "Mirror of Madness" forces the listener into uncontrollable bouts of headbanging with it's outrageous catchiness and -to put it simply- all-out brutality. Norther are ready to take your head off and will waste no time to do so. |
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