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Sotajumala (Finnish: "Wargod") was a Finnish death metal band from Jyväskylä, formed in 1998. The band has released four albums, two maxi singles, one single and one split EP (with Torture Killer). They have played a lot of shows in their home country, including Tuska, Jalometalli, Nummirock, Lutakko Liekeissä and Pellavarock festivals.Template:Citation needed In Finland the band has also toured with Nile, Misery Index and Grave as well as supported Obituary, Napalm Death and Vader at one-off shows. The band split-up in 2016.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

HistoryEdit

Sotajumala was started by Tomi Otsala and Kosti Orbinski in 1998. In 2000 Arttu Romo, Pete Lapio, Jyrki Häkkinen and Harri Lastu joined the band, thus completing its first full line-up. In September 2001 the band recorded their first release entitled Sotajumala which eventually led to Woodcut Records signing the band. Guitarist Pete Lapio left the band shortly thereafter. Singer Harri Lastu also left the band in the late summer of 2002, due to personal issues and was soon replaced by '105' (Teijo Hakkola).

During fall 2002 the band entered Watercastle Studio to record four new songs which Woodcut released in early 2003 as Panssarikolonna. Drummer Arttu Romo and guitarist Jyrki Häkkinen left the band shortly after the release and session drummer Timo Häkkinen was hired to play on the debut album, which was to be recorded in the fall. Ex-guitarist Pete Lapio joined the band again during the summer.

Death Metal Finland, the band's debut album was recorded in September 2003 at Sam's Workshop in Jyväskylä. After its release in March 2004 the band played a short Scandinavian tour with Rotten Sound and Defleshed with another session drummer, Sami Järvinen. In June 2003 the band played Nummirock festival with bands such as Morbid Angel and Rotten Sound. More line-up changes occurred in August when Timo Häkkinen joined the band full-time and singer Teijo Hakkola was fired. Mynni Luukkainen joined as session singer and the band was able to continue playing shows. In spring 2005 Sotajumala played in Estonia and also did a three show mini-tour in Finland with Grave.

Two new songs were recorded in July 2005 to be released as a split with Torture Killer that October. After these sessions Mynni Luukkainen joined the band as a full-time member. The split CD entered the Finnish single charts at position 10.<ref name='Sotajumala Torture Killer split sales'>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In August the band played at Jalometalli Metal Music Festival in Oulu.

Sotajumala entered studio once more in late summer 2007 to record their sophomore album, Teloitus, which was released in October 2007. Teloitus entered the Finnish album charts at position 17.<ref name='Teloitus sales'>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This was the band's last album for Woodcut Records.<ref name='Sotajumala and Woodcut split'>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

To support Teloitus Sotajumala played many shows in Finland, including a four show mini-tour with Nile and Deathchain (December 2007), Finnish Metal Expo (February 2008), Tuska Open Air Metal Festival (June 2008), Pellavarock and Jalometalli Metal Music Festival (August 2008) as well as numerous shows with local bands. They also supported Obituary in August at Nosturi.

As of December 2008 the band was writing material for a new album and announced that they will try not to play any shows before the album is completed.<ref name='Sotajumala and 2009'>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In Sotajumala's case this usually doesn't work as evident by their performance at Jalometalli Winterfest in February supporting Napalm Death already in February 2009. Their third album Kuolemanpalvelus was released on 26 May 2010.<ref name='Sotajumala and 2009' />

Musical styleEdit

Musically, the band tends to lean toward the Cannibal Corpse/Florida style of death metal. Lyrical themes revolve around the military history of Finland and war stories in general. The band stresses, "Though the lyrics have their roots in war, they are not meant to provoke or create an image of fascist beliefs. So, Sotajumala does not take any stand with our lyrics to political or other ideologies."<ref name='Woodcut'>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

MembersEdit

Final MembersEdit

  • Tomi Otsala - bass, backing vocals (1998-2016)
  • Kosti Orbinski - guitar (1998-2016)
  • Pete Lapio - guitar (2000-2002, 2003-2016)
  • Timo Häkkinen - drums (2004-2016)
  • Mynni Luukkainen - vocals (2005-2016)

Former MembersEdit

  • Harri Lastu - vocals (2000-2002)
  • Arttu Romo - drums (2000-2003)
  • Jyrki Häkkinen - guitar (2001-2003)
  • Teijo "105" Hakkola - vocals (2002-2004)


Timeline <timeline> ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:80 top:0 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1998 till:12/31/2016 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy


Colors =

 id:vocals      value:red          legend:Lead_Vocals
 id:bvocals     value:pink         legend:Backing_Vocals
 id:guitar      value:green        legend:Guitar
 id:bass        value:blue         legend:Bass
 id:drums       value:orange       legend:Drums
 id:studio      value:black        legend:Studio_Album
 id:other       value:gray(0.6)    legend:Other_Release
 id:bars        value:gray(0.95)

BackgroundColors = bars:bars

Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:4 ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:1998

LineData =

layer:back
color:studio
at:09/27/2004
at:11/24/2007
at:05/25/2010
at:01/16/2015

LineData =

layer:back
color:other
at:08/10/2001
at:01/20/2003
at:10/12/2005
at:03/10/2010
at:04/28/2010

BarData =

bar:Harri   text:"Harri Lastu"
bar:Teijo   text:"Teijo Hakkola"
bar:Mynni   text:"Mynni Luukkainen"
bar:Kosti   text:"Kosti Orbinski"
bar:Pete    text:"Pete Lapio"
bar:Jyrki   text:"Jyrki Häkkinen"
bar:Tomi    text:"Tomi Otsala"
bar:Arttu   text:"Arttu Romo"
bar:Timo    text:"Timo Häkkinen"

PlotData=

width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
bar:Harri   from:01/01/2000 till:09/01/2002  color:vocals
bar:Teijo   from:09/01/2002 till:11/01/2004  color:vocals
bar:Mynni   from:12/01/2005 till:end         color:vocals
bar:Kosti   from:01/01/1998 till:end         color:guitar
bar:Pete    from:01/01/2000 till:07/01/2002  color:guitar
bar:Jyrki   from:04/01/2001 till:02/20/2003  color:guitar
bar:Pete    from:02/20/2003 till:end         color:guitar
bar:Tomi    from:01/01/1998 till:end         color:bass
bar:Tomi    from:01/01/1998 till:09/01/2002  color:vocals  width:2.5
bar:Tomi    from:01/01/2000 till:end         color:bvocals width:2.5
bar:Arttu   from:01/01/2000 till:02/20/2003  color:drums
bar:Timo    from:11/01/2004 till:end         color:drums
</timeline>

DiscographyEdit

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

External linksEdit

Template:Sister project Template:Official website

Template:Sotajumala Template:Authority control