Finntroll is an extreme metal & folk metal band from Finland. They combine elements of black metal & death metal with Finnish polka, called humppa.
Finntroll was founded in 1997, by Teemu "Somnium" Raimoranta (guitarist of Impaled Nazarene) and vocalist Jan "Katla" Jämsen. Their first demo, Rivfader, was recorded about a year later, in 1998. After the demo recording, drummer Samu Ruotsalainen (from Barathrum, Shape of Despair and Rapture), guitarist Samuli Ponsimaa, keyboardist Henri Sorvali (from Moonsorrow) and bassist Sami Uusitalo joined the band. The record label Spinefarm got interested in the band then, and made a contract, yielding the album Midnattens Widunder as a result.
The next step for Finntroll was the album Jaktens Tid, which was released in 2001. This album managed to climb to rank 20 of the Finnish album charts, exceeding expectation of band and publisher alike. The following wave of popularity attracted the attention of Century Media, which began promoting Finntroll for the rest of the world. The following summer, the band had their first time playing on open air festivals in Finland and other countries.
The year after the release of the album Jaktens Tid proved to be a misfortune for Finntroll: some tours had to be cancelled, and in the aftermath of his problems, vocalist Jämsen had to retire from the band due to a viral-based tumor in his vocal cords which could not be removed surgically; he retired after the release of the album Visor om Slutet.
Said album was recorded in early January 2003, in a forest cabin near Helsinki. It was an "acoustical experiment", where Jämsen and the new vocalist Tapio Wilska (of Sethian and Lyijykomppania) shared the singing duties among them. The album was released as a mid-price album and held rank on the Finnish midprice chart for several weeks.
Shortly before the release of Visor om Slutet, Raimoranta died by falling off a bridge in Hakaniemi, Helsinki after having consumed too much alcohol, according to the official story. Mika Luttinen (from Impaled Nazarene) said that it wasn't an accident, but suicide. Finntroll didn't dissolve after losing the last founding member still in the band, but decided to go on, touring for two weeks in Europe, supported by the group Katatonia. The guitarist Mikael Karlbom was hired as a replacement for Raimoranta. In 2004, the band released an EP, Trollhammaren, and an album called Nattfödd.
In early 2006, the band embarked on their first North American tour, along with the influential black/thrash metal band Sodom.
On January 29th, 2006, Tapio Wilska, vocalist of the band since 2002, was fired from the band. In a statement issued on the band's website, Wilska states that he would like to keep the reason for his dismissal private.
A new album, titled Ur Jordens Djup, was released March, 2007. This fifth album put more emphasis on epic keyboard riffs with very loud but melodic guitar and downplayed some of the polka elements. Former vocalist Katla was brought in to write the lyrics for this album.