Best Finnish prog band?

Verisimilitude wrote: valravennz wrote: I am not too familiar with Sonata Arctica but will give them a spin. They're closely linked with Nightwish... Another big power metal act to come out of Finnland... They have played quite a bit with Nightwish...

Thanks - thats recommendation in itself  BTW I noticed that you saw Nightwish live very recently - was that in Australia?? If so you lucky person! It's just a short step to cross "the ditch" - I would have been one of the first to lineup for a ticket if they had come to NZ

valravennz wrote: I am not too familiar with Sonata Arctica but will give them a spin.

They're closely linked with Nightwish... Another big power metal act to come out of Finnland...

They have played quite a bit with Nightwish...

Tasavallan Presidentti, ever since finding Lambertland on vinyl back in 1973 (and I think in  cheapo dumper bin), issued in the Uk by Sonet, that album has remained a firm favourite. The sticker on the front of the cover stating " A tidied up Traffic", was very misleading but having 30 years later got hold of the earlier recording Tasavallan Presidentti I see about where they got their ideas from. Excellent hydrid of blue rock and jazz, superb guitar and sax work of Lambertland - and The Bargain is one of my all time favourite tunes.

Other: Nightwish.

I like Nightwish, in fact I was blown away when I saw them live two nights ago, but they definitely aren't prog... They're Power Metal/Opera Metal... And that's very little to do with progressive music...

Also I wish they weren't compared to Evernescence... Because the two have nothing in common... It's like calling Linkin Park metal, you just need some reasonable argument to distinguish it clearly as trash...


Edited by Verisimilitude

WiguJimbo wrote: Hopefully you didn't pick the last one

If he did, then try Hippie Shake Records in Hakaniemi. I'm sure they have both Uzva's cd's in stock.

Logos wrote: valravennz wrote: Nightwish get my vote too! They are not that well known in my part of the world - but they do have a following. I have seen them compared to that other band (Evernescence). Tarja is by far the best female vocalist in prog metal. I would love to see them live... What recommendations for a similar Finnish band? Yes, Tarja is a great singer.(I prefer Heather Findlay from Mostly Autumn though ) That's one positive thing I can say about Nightwish. There is a whole bunch of that kind of metal bands in Finland, such as Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica. Try them if you're into that kind of stuff, although both have a male vocalist. (Not that you can always tell that )

Hey thanks for that Logos -  I have heard quite a bit of Stratovarius - "Elements" Pt1 gets the odd thrashing - mainly for the title track. I can't say they grab me as much as Nightwish but when the mood strikes, they are great to play LOUD . I am not too familiar with Sonata Arctica but will give them a spin.

What I would love to hear are some Finnish groups who play prog similar to Pink Floyd, ELP, King Crimson (early), Yes - ie: who are influenced by these groups. What do you recommend?

I'm sure you know this one, "Keltainen Jäänsärkijä" at Kamppi. It's just that even the most obscure cd store in Sweden doesn't have a tenth of all the prog cd's they had there, so to me it was like heaven

I found an awesome progstore from Helsinki today, provided with the biggest progselection I've ever seen live. Not only finnish, but italian, german and english prog too. Unfortunately my budget it reaching its bottom, and I came out with only Uzva's first album "Tammikuinen Tammela". I see there's no review of it yet, but I'll add one once I get home with a few more listens of this very promising jazz-fusion/prog album.

I have not heard any - But which is the closest to Yes/Genesis ??

Haikara's two first albums are definitely worth getting. The only problem is that they are relatively rare. Even I had difficulties finding those two albums and I live in Finland.