Norther - Melodeath

Norther is a metal band from Helsinki, Finland. The band began in early 1996 under the name of Requiem, and was assembled by guitarist Petri Lindroos and drummer Toni Hallio accompanied by two other musicians. In the beginning, the band suffered from the lack of a proper rehearsal place, but in late 1997, guitarist Alexander Kuoppala (ex-Children of Bodom) found a suitable place for them to practice at Lepakko; around this time the band decided to change their name from Requiem to Decayed. Their luck was short-lived, however, as their new rehearsal place was soon to be demolished. The musicians who played with Lindroos and Hallio soon lost their motivation and quit Requiem.

After a few months, the band managed to find another rehearsal place, and began looking for members to complete their line-up. After quite a few auditions, they were unable to find musicians that they deemed fit to play with them, and thus went on a hiatus, which lasted until the beginning of 2000, when they met guitarist Kristian Ranta. The band became active once more, and with the help of two brothers who were friends of Lindroos - Sebastian and Joakim Ekroos - the band recorded their first demo, for the first time using the name Norther. A promising demo led to them signing a deal with Spinefarm Records.