Requiem

T

he history of Requiem goes back to 1999 in Haapajärvi, Finland. Originally as a trio, the founding members of Arto Räisälä (guitar), Matti Auvinen (bass/vocals) and Rami Repola (drums) started as melodic death metal/power metal band with neo-classical vibrations as displayed on their first demo Gods Of War released in late autumn of 1999.

In the beginning of 2000, drummer Rami Repola left the band for personal reasons. 14-year-old Jari Huttunen replaced him soon after. In that period their music was heading into a more technical and melodic direction, so, it was time to get a keyboard-player and a second guitarist. Ahti Komu (keyboard) and Teemu Hänninen (guitar) joined Requiem in the winter of 2000. With this line-up, Requiem played gigs and in the summer of 2000 recorded their second demo, Into The Night.

In the late summer of 2000, Requiem needed a new lead vocalist for the band because the new songs needed more clean vocals and high, catchy vocal melodies. Jouni Nikula (ex-Mysterium; vocals/guitars) got the job. The clean vocal parts of Into The Night were re-recorded and some copies were printed for promotion. A live video Into The Stage! was filmed in the autumn of 2000.

In the late 2000, Requiem started to write new songs for their third demo-release, but in the spring of 2001, just a few weeks before it was the time to record their third demo Requiem signed a record deal with 'Sound Riot Records' canceling the third demo. This deal coincided withtheir style shift from Death to a more Power and progressive metal style.