Eternal Tears of Sorrow

Eternal Tears of Sorrow (commonly abbreviated to EToS) was a Finnish melodic death metal band formed in Pudasjärvi.

Biography

The band was formed in 1994 by Jarmo Puolakanaho, Altti Veteläinen and Olli-Pekka Törrö, after various projects that featured people who became members of Eternal Tears of Sorrow. Andromeda, a first death/doom/thrash metal project, had been put on hold in late 1992 because the rehearsal place had burned down. They could not find a new rehearsal place in their hometown, so the three members started a new side-project (M.D.C.) and recorded a demo tape, Beyond the Fantasy, in autumn 1993.

In spring 1994, they recorded a new demo, The Seven Goddesses of Frost. Then the band decided to change their name to something they felt more appropriate opting for Eternal Tears of Sorrow.<ref name="etosbio">Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref> Between 1994 and 1996 the band had a couple of songs on some compilation CDs in Europe and Canada, and recorded their debut, Sinner's Serenade. It took more than a year for the debut album to get released by X-Treme Records,<ref name="etosbio" /> a small underground label from Gothenburg in Sweden. After they recorded their second album, Vilda Mánnu, Spinefarm Records approached the band and soon they signed a deal with the label.<ref name="etosbio" />

Their third album, Chaotic Beauty (on which the band had three new members since Olli-Pekka Törrö had left the band),<ref name="etosbio" /> led to a European tour with Nightwish and Sinergy. Their fourth album, A Virgin and a Whore, went to the Finnish Album Top 40 charts.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref> After releasing four albums, the band announced they were taking a break just after the release of A Virgin and a Whore; however, they broke up in January 2003.

In February 2005, the band announced they were going to make a comeback. Their fifth album, Before the Bleeding Sun, was released in April 2006 (excluding releases in Russia and Japan that were released later). This album also went to the Finnish Album Top 40 charts, to No. 26.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The band added two session members since Petri Sankala and Janne Tolsa were unavailable at that time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In late 2008, the band announced that Jarmo Kylmänen (who had been part of the band's song-writing team since 2005) had joined the band as an official member.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Soon after that, their long-time drummer Petri Sankala left because of back pain.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In early April 2009, it was reported that Risto Ruuth had left the band. They found a replacement, Mika Lammassaari, and started rehearsing for the postponed live shows originally planned for May.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The band's sixth album, Children of the Dark Waters,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="blabbermouth">Template:Cite web</ref> came out in May 2009 through Suomen Musiikki in Finland, Massacre Records in the rest of Europe, and Marquee/Avalon in Asia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A new single, "Tears of Autumn Rain," was released in Finland and Japan as well as on the band's MySpace page. The other track on the single was a re-recorded version of "Vilda Mánnu" from their second album. Children of the Dark Waters charted at No. 19 at the Finnish Album Top 40 charts.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref>

The seventh album, Saivon Lapsi, was released in February 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 2 February 2025, the band had announced on their social media that they had disbanded.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Band members

Final lineup

• Altti Veteläinen – vocals, bass (1994–2025)
• Jarmo Puolakanaho – guitars (1994–2025)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Risto Ruuth – guitars (2005–2009, 2018–2025)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Janne Tolsa – keyboards (2005–2025)
• Jarmo Kylmänen – clean vocals (2008–2025)
• Juho Raappana – drums (2008–2025)

Former

• Olli-Pekka Törrö – guitars (1994–1999)
• Antti-Matti Talala – guitars (1999–2000)
• Pasi Hiltula – keyboards (1999–2003; session 2009–2010)
• Antti Kokko – guitars (2000–2003), bass (session 1997–1998)
• Petri Sankala – drums (1999–2008), session (1997–1998)
• Mika Lammassaari – guitars (2009–2018)

Session

• Pekka Kokko – bass guitar (1999)
• Heidi Määttä – keyboards (2000)
• Juha Kylmänen – clean vocals (2001)
• Veli-Matti Kananen – keyboards (2006–2007; 2010)
• Tuomo Laikari – drums (2006–2007)

Timeline

<timeline> ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:80 top:15 right:15 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1994 till:02/02/2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy

Colors =

 id:voc       value:red    legend:Vocals
 id:gtr       value:teal   legend:Lead_guitar
 id:gtr2      value:brightgreen  legend:Rhythm_guitar
 id:bass      value:blue    legend:Bass
 id:kbd       value:purple   legend:Keyboards
 id:drums     value:orange           legend:Drums
 id:Lines     value:black         legend:Studio_album
 id:other value:gray(0.5)        legend:Other_release

Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:4

ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1994 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1995

LineData =

 at:01/10/1997 color:black layer:back
 at:01/12/1998 color:black layer:back
 at:01/04/2000 color:black layer:back
 at:01/09/2001 color:black layer:back
 at:01/03/2006 color:black layer:back
 at:01/05/2009 color:black layer:back
 at:01/02/2013 color:black layer:back

 at:01/05/1994 color:other layer:back
 at:01/10/1994 color:other layer:back

BarData =

 bar:Altti  text:"Altti Veteläinen"
 bar:JarmoK text:"Jarmo Kylmänen"
 bar:Olli   text:"Olli-Pekka Törrö"
 bar:AnttiT text:"Antti-Matti Talala"
 bar:AnttiK text:"Antti Kokko"
 bar:Risto  text:"Risto Ruuth"
 bar:Mika   text:"Mika Lammassaari"
 bar:JarmoP text:"Jarmo Puolakanaho"
 bar:Pasi   text:"Pasi Hiltula"
 bar:Janne  text:"Janne Tolsa"
 bar:Petri  text:"Petri Sankala"
 bar:Juho   text:"Juho Raappana"

PlotData =

 width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
 bar:Altti from:start till:01/03/2003        color:voc
 bar:Altti from:start till:01/03/2003        color:bass width:3
 bar:Altti from:01/02/2005 till:end        color:voc
 bar:Altti from:01/02/2005 till:end        color:bass width:3
 bar:JarmoP from:start till:01/03/2003        color:gtr2
 bar:JarmoP from:start till:01/03/1999        color:kbd width:3
 bar:JarmoP from:01/02/2005 till:end        color:gtr2
 bar:Olli from:start till:01/03/1999        color:gtr
 bar:Olli from:start till:01/03/1999        color:kbd width:3
 bar:Petri from:01/03/1999 till:01/03/2003        color:drums
 bar:Petri from:01/03/2005 till:01/12/2008        color:drums
 bar:Pasi from:01/03/1999 till:01/03/2003        color:kbd
 bar:AnttiT from:01/03/1999 till:01/11/2000        color:gtr
 bar:AnttiK from:01/11/2000 till:01/03/2003        color:gtr
 bar:JarmoK from:01/03/2005 till:end        color:voc
 bar:Janne from:01/03/2005 till:end        color:kbd
 bar:Risto from:01/03/2005 till:01/03/2009        color:gtr
 bar:Risto from:18/09/2018 till:end        color:gtr
 bar:Juho from:01/12/2008 till:end        color:drums
 bar:Mika from:01/05/2009 till:18/09/2018        color:gtr

</timeline>

Discography

Studio albums

• Sinner's Serenade (1997)
• Vilda Mánnu (1998)
• Chaotic Beauty (2000)
• A Virgin and a Whore (2001)
• Before the Bleeding Sun (2006)
• Children of the Dark Waters (2009)
• Saivon Lapsi (2013)

External links

• Template:Allmusic