Swallow the Sun is a Finnish melodic death / doom metal band.
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.
Current line-up
• Matti Honkonen - bass guitar
• Markus Jämsen - guitar
• Mikko Kotamäki - vocals
• Aleksi Munter - keyboards
• Juha Raivio - guitar
• Kai Hahto - drums
Swallow the Sun
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Swallow the Sun has issued the following recap of the band's "New Moon" tour dates:
"So, friends around the planet, it's time to summarize the New Moon tours of 2009 - 2010 and pick up the pieces of our gloomy and broken bones from countless stages, backstages, buses, hotels, bars, planes and police stations, giving huge thanks to all of you for making the New Moon tours the most successful tours so far for us! Thank you for coming to the shows, buying merchandise, believing in us and supporting the music!
"Once again we toured more than ever before, and this time we brought the Finnish winter to 24 different countries, playing 146 shows in total after the album release. During the New Moon touring period we completed 3 European tours, 2 North American tours, played many summer festivals and also had the pleasure to play in Israel and Romania for the first time. In 2010 we also made an endorsement deal with D'Addario strings, Planet Waves cables and Evans drum skins, and we are more than happy to be part of the D'Addario family from now on.
"So this year, 2011, we are going to keep things a bit more quiet and start preparing for the next Swallow the Sun album, which will be released at the end of this year or in the beginning of 2012... yeah, if the world doesn't end! Ten new songs are already in the works, but we are not going to rush with recording, album release or new tours because our bodies, hair and especially livers just can't handle it yet, folks!!
"We might do a few selected shows and festivals this year if it fits in with our plans, but otherwise this year is going to be a dark road of solitude towards new depths of gloom, beauty and despair – the 6th chapter of Swallow the Sun. Long, dark winter wishes to everybody."
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