Swallow The Sun

Biography :

Swallow the Sun is a Finnish melodic death / doom metal band.


History :

Swallow the Sun was formed in early 2000 by Juha Raivio, joined soon by Pasi Pasanen came along (both had played in Plutonium Orange). They rehearsed a couple of songs, one of them being "Through Her Silvery Body" which would end up on their first demo,Out of This Gloomy Light. In 2001 Markus Jämsen, whom Raivio and Pasanen already knew from their earlier bands, joined as a second guitarist, and Mikko Kotamäki from Funeris Nocturnum as singer; then Aleksi Munter (keyboards) and Matti Honkonen (bass), also of Funeris Nocturnum, joined the band. In the spring of 2002 they started arranging songs for the demo, which was recorded in January 2003 at Sam's Workshop with Sami Kokko, who also mixed the demo.

A record deal with Firebox Records was signed a few months after the recordings of the demo, and Swallow the Sun entered studio at late July 2003. During the following three weeks they recorded their debut album, The Morning Never Came.

In February 2005, Swallow the Sun released their second album, Ghosts of Loss. Their single, "Forgive Her...," gained 4th place on the Finnish Top 20 singles chart in its first week of release, and stayed on the charts for 6 weeks. Their album entered the charts as well: #8 in between Gwen Stefani and System of a Down.

During the year 2006 they signed to Spinefarm Records and did a small European tour. In January 2007 they released their third album, Hope, which includes a cover version of the Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus song "Alavilla mailla" (which they translated into "These Low Lands") as a bonus track on the digipack edition, sung by Tomi Joutsen, the frontman of fellow Finnish metal band, Amorphis. There is also a guest appearance by Jonas Renkse of Katatonia on the song "The Justice of Suffering." They went on a US tour with Katatonia, Scar Symmetry and Insomnium in late 2007.

In September 2008, they released an EP called Plague of Butterflies. In October, they announced a December tour of the UK of ten live shows supporting Apocalyptica.

On May 18th 2009 Swallow the Sun announced that Kai Hahto of Wintersun will be joining to fill the void left by former drummer Pasi Pasanen.

Swallow the Sun confirmed on 12 June that their next album would be entitled New Moon and is being produced by Jens Bogren, they also stated that Kai Hahto would be doing the drums on this album.


Band Members :

Current Members :

* Matti Honkonen - Bass Guitar
* Markus Jämsen - Guitar
* Mikko Kotamäki - Vocals
* Aleksi Munter - Keyboards
* Juha Raivio - Guitar
* Kai Hahto - Drums

Former Members :

* Pasi Pasanen - Drums


Discography :

Albums :

* Swallow The Sun - The Morning Never Came (2003)
* Swallow The Sun - Ghosts of Loss (2005)
* Swallow The Sun - Hope (2007)
* Swallow The Sun - Plague of Butterflies (2008)
* Swallow The Sun - New Moon (2009)

Videos :

* Swallow The Sun - "Descending Winters" (2005)
* Swallow The Sun - "Don't Fall Asleep" (2007)
* Swallow The Sun - "Doomed to Walk the Earth" (2007)