EMBRAZE To Play Farewell Concert In May

EMBRAZE, a well-known metal band from Kiiminki, has decided to hang up its instruments and end its 15-year-long career. The group's farewell gig will be held at Club Teatria on May Day — Friday, May 1. The night will also feature two other local bands — SEITH and REFLEXION — whom EMBRAZE have specifically wanted to accompany them on their last night on stage.

EMBRAZE was founded in 1994 by lead-singer and guitarist Lauri Tuohimaa, drummer Ilkka Leskelä, bassist Petri Henell and guitarist Mikko Aaltonen, of which the first two are still with the band. The current keyboardist, Heidi Määttä, has also been with the group since the early days. Other current members of EMBRAZE are bassist Olli-Pekka Karvonen and guitarist Sami Siekkinen, who joined the band in the summer of 2000.

While EMBRAZE as a band has come to the end of its road, the members will remain active in their careers: Tuohimaa joined CHARON, a metal band from Raahe, in 2004, Leskelä and Siekkinen play in MAPLE CROSS and Karvonen in PERFECT CHAOS. Heidi Määttä also has some new band plans underway.

In the 1990s, EMBRAZE won the Rock Finnish Championship competition. Their first album, "Laeh", was released in 1998, and in 2003, the band's hometown Kiiminki awarded the band with the "Kiiminkian of the Year" nomination. "The Last Embrace", the band's latest album (released in 2006),is clearly the band's most mature and uniform piece of work.

Stylistically, EMBRAZE is best known for emotional Finnish, and especially Northern, melancholy and catchy melodical elements, not a million miles removed from those of AMORPHIS and SENTENCED.

In their career, EMBRAZE toured with Finland's AFTERWORLD and BEFORE THE DAWN, Canada's STAIN ON SOCIETY, Portugal's MOONSPELL, and Sweden's SPARZANZA.

Lauri Tuohimaa comments on EMBRAZE's decision to disband: "We've been thinking about this round and round for about a year, and we simply don't have enough time together to keep the band moving forward intensively enough. Other bands and our civilian lives take their toll, too. 'The Last Embrace' was not meant to be our last album, but we don't have enough spark as a band to take this great career any further. If it feels contrived and forced, there's no point to go on. Musically, we are probably in the best shape ever, and we're still good friends with one another. Our most recent shows at the end of last year were, in my opinion, our best, and we want to reward our fans and friends with one more show."

The group's video for the song "The One", which was shot with director Marko Siekkinen, can be viewed below.

(Thanks: fireangel / Night Elves)