Finland’s Sinisthra have signed with Italian label Rockshots Records for the release of their album, “The Broad and Beaten Way”. Best described as sadness tinged with despair and hope, the new album encapsulates raw emotion set against heavy and brooding music.
This album comes 15 years after the debut record “Last of the Stories of Long Past Glories”, and its manifestation has been a slow and arduous process. The songs were written ages ago while other projects, primarily vocalist Tomi Joutsen’s presence in Amorphis, were given priority from the band members.
Guitarist Markku Mäkinen writes the majority of the music for the highly elusive band whose original and complex sound has often been mislabeled. The band explains the evolution of their music:
“We all had a history in thrash and death metal bands, but when the band originally came together in 2000, there was not much metal at all in the sound, it was leaning more towards grunge and at times trip-hop. After the first album in 2005, the sound took a lot more metallic turn and something came in from 70’s prog as well. Metal genres are irrelevant to us.”
The name for the album comes from “Paradise Lost” by John Milton; “The Broad and Beaten Way” is a bridge from Hell to Earth with the lyrics taking inspiration from the fall of man and from leading a chaotic and self-destructive modern day life and trying to find solid ground and perhaps even some peace of mind.
“Eterne” is the first song, where the metaphorical Adam and Eve are expelled, both from Eden and from their union, and in the last song “Ephemeral” Adam, solitary, finally accepts his past actions as futile.
The melancholic sojourn, suitable for fans of Katatonia, Anathema, and Amorphis will be available in May 2020.
The debut record “Last of the Stories of Long Past Glories” is available now on digital platforms:
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/38Tn0rS
iTunes: https://apple.co/2WgV1zK
YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/Sinisthra
"Last of the Stories of Long Past Glories" Track Listing:
1. Coming Up Roses
2. Ice Cube Sun
3. Fearless Under The Falling Sky
4. To The One Far Away
5. Unrevealed
6. My Sweet Nothing
7. Fucking Fragile
8. Innocence…In A Sense
9. Completely Incomplete
What? Who? Why?
With the sun behind their backs and welcoming smiles on their faces, Sinisthra beckon you to come closer and listen for awhile. Yes it’s metal and yes it’s from Finland but it’s not as simple as that. The sound has been in existence from the year 2000, always quite heavy and always quite melancholic, and often with strong shades of 70’s prog with lesser shades of 90’s grunge. The band released one album on 2005, called “Last Of The Stories Of Long Past Glories” to favourable reviews and got labelled “gothic metal”, somewhat misleadingly, but as the singer Tomi Joutsen joined Amorphis, his career skyrocketed and Sinisthra’s didn’t, so due to lack of time from his part, things slowed down. A lot. And then a lot more. But slowing down isn’t the same as stopping completely, and as 2020 dawns, things stir in their cobwebbed spaces.
ONLINE
LINEUP
Tomi Joutsen - Vocals
Markku Mäkinen - Guitar
Erkki Virta -Drums
Timo Vainio - Keyboards
Marko Välimäki - Guitar
Janne Telen - Bass
BIOGRAPHY/LOGO
Here's the biography from our old webpage, written back in 2005. It's all blah blah blah but if it were to be updated, it would be all blah blah blah too, only newer. So there:
SINISTHRA has been in existence for a good five years by now, formerly operating under the name NEVERGREEN. The band comes from Helsinki Finland. Their brand of music is basically metal, drawing from a wide source of different influences and blending them to a sound that can't really be compared to any one single band.
An apt description would be metal with all the most common metal clichés removed. The members have a long history of playing in various Finnish metal bands, starting from Protected Illusion who caused quite a stir in the thrash metal circuit in the early 90's, and most recently with Amorphis. Their musical past is not forgotten but it's not heavily present in their sound, either.
The name SINISTHRA derives from the italian word sinistra, meaning "the left side" and representing the allegory of creativity, femininity, individuality and general free thinking pathways of the Left Hand, without the hollow "satanic" or any other religious connotations. The lyrics steer clear of the most commonly used themes and phrases and focus heavily on more personal and intimate subjects.
Sinisthra is all about contrasts, frail yet crushing, sad yet content, silent but roaring. Melancholy without utter despair. Darkness tinged with light. The only dogma is never to acknowledge musical boundaries, and never to use the words "love" and "death" in the lyrics..
With the release of their first full lenght album SINISTHRA hopes to move further on along the road they've chosen and welcomes the option to finally bring their music to larger audiences. The road has been long and winding but this is only the beginning.
DISCOGRAPHY
Last of the Stories of Long Past Glories - 2005
The Broad and Beaten Way - 2020
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Gothic Metal