芬兰金属乐队

乐队成员：

Janne Hurme: vocals / Jori "Jorge" Tojander: keyboards / Harri "Danny" Kinnunen: bass / Petri "Perti" Lehto: drums / Petri Ilvonen: guitars

The hard rock and metal boom of the eighties left a lasting impression on millions of teenagers. Among them, two young guys in Turku, Finland got an extremely bad case of hard rock poisoning. In 1986 it got really bad, and they decided to form their first band. Those guys were vocalist Janne Hurme and drummer Petri Lehto, and that band, whatever it was called, lead them to a road of no return...and ultimately to HUMAN TEMPLE.

During the late eighties and early nineties Janne and Petri played in various bands with many of the rock musicians of the Turku area, including current members of bands such as Kilpi, Clayskin and Rock City Band. In 1995 things changed dramatically, as Hurme was given an opportunity to sing entirely different kind of music in 1995. He took the chance and went on to become one of the most popular pop/"schlager" artists in the country, but he never lost his passion for metal and hard rock. There was always a hard rock band waiting in the wings...and Janne kept on writing hard rock songs.

Human Temple was formed in 1998. The line-up was Janne "Brother Cane" Hurme - vocals, EQ Saint - bass, Petri "Hellhammer" Lehto - drums and Petri Kitti - guitars. The line-up wasn't too stable, with several guitarists and keyboard players coming and going. However, it was this line up that played on the first demo "Walk Between The Shadows", recorded in the fall of 2001. During 2002 the demo found its' way to a few magazines, websites and record labels. The response was very encouraging, not only from the press and labels, but also from the music fans. The three tracks from the demo were released as free downloads on the band's website, and the traffic on the site went through the roof. A few months later a new song "On A Night Like This" was added to the site, and it became instantly the most downloaded track of them all. Curiously enough, the song was also released with Finnish lyrics and a slightly different arrangement as a Janne Hurme solo single. Although the song is clearly a melodic hard rock track, it still gained airplay especially on the smaller radio stations who tend to play more "schlager"-type of material.

In early 2003 the band had stabilized to a quartet, with guitarist Jari Salo and bassist Harri Kinnunen completing the line-up. Right there and then the band decided that it was time for the first album. The recordings were kicked off in the spring, and the final touches were made in December. Guitarist Jari Salo handled the production duties, as he's been doing studio work for years. His quest for the perfect sounds earned him the nickname of "Mutt"....he also took care of the keyboard parts and sang a lot of the background vocals. Just to add a little extra flavour to the album, a few guests were invited to take part: three Finnish top lead guitarists, Emppu Vuorinen from Nightwish, Jani Liimatainen from Sonata Arctica and Erkka Korhonen from Urban Tale added their solos to one song each. One of the best metal shouters of the country, Taage Laiho of Altaria/Kilpi fame provided backing vocals. Keyboard player Tony Green joined the band in late 2003, unfortunately too late to be featured on the album.

Finally, in February 2004 the album was mastered by Mika Jussila at the world-famous Finnvox studio. In March 2004 the band signed a deal with MTM, one of the leading hard rock labels in Europe. The label released the album "Insomnia" in June/July, 2004, and it recieved rave reviews from magazines and websites all over the world.

2005 wasn't too active time for the band. Early this year, keyboard player Tony Green left the band to concentrate on family life and his own musical activies, only to be followed by Jari Salo, who went on to become a solo artist. He's been involved with the "Aurinkotytt"-model contest tour, providing the musical entertainment with his band Sessio, and has released a single tied to the theme.

The band replaced Green with keyboard player Jori "Jorge" Tojander during the summer of 2005, and guitarist Juha Lepp鋘en stepped in shortly afterwards. However, his stay in the band proved to be quite short, and he has since left the group. In July 2006 the band announced that Pertti "Pertza" Renko is the bands' new guitar player.

The band recorded some demos in 2007 and played a few gigs supporting ex-Iron Maiden singer Paul DiAnno, but mostly they kept a low profile.

Another line-up change took place in 2009, when Petri Ilvonen (of Ironsphere fame) took over the guitar duties. During the summer, the band recorded material for their second album.

This is the situation in January 2010 (official press release):

Finland's premier melodic hard rockers Human Temple are back! Their 2004 debut "Insomnia" received rave reviews, and the fans have been eagerly awaiting a follow-up. Now the wait is over, so be prepared for a "Murder Of Crows". The foundation of the Temple was laid way back in the late eighties, when vocalist Janne Hurme and drummer Petri Lehto formed their first band. The guys were highly impressed by Kiss, Dokken, Crüe and the likes, so the style of the music just had to be hard rock, yet always with a keen ear for a good melody.

Fast forward to 1995... Janne was signed as a solo artist, and given a album's worth of more pop/"schlager" type of material to sing. He sang it with conviction, and once the album was released, he became a major star almost overnight. Among other hits, the album spawned "Kirje", one of the biggest hits of the nineties in Finland. One could say that it's nowadays "an evergreen", played regulary on the radio stations and karaoke bars.

While Janne's solo career was blossoming, he didn't forget his roots, and kept writing hard rock songs. In 1998 he and Petri formed HumanTemple, determined that this band would take the next step and become something bigger than their previous bands.

After an intial buzz created via local gigs and the Internet, HumanTemple were signed to the German label MTM Music, and their first album saw the light of day in the summer of 2004. Marquee Avalon released the album later that year in Japan.

The next years passed quite fast, and the band went through a few line-up changes. In the summer of 2009, they felt that the time was right for album number two. They entered the Noisecamp studio in Turku, chose the best 10 songs from their selection of new tracks, and started the recording process. With a little help from some friends like Jani Liimatainen (ex-Sonata Arctica, Cain's Offering), Erkka Korhonen (ex-Urban Tale, Ari Koivunen band) and Vesa Virtanen (Twilight Guardians), they created a worthy successor to "Insomnia".

"Murder Of Crows" stays true to the sound of the debut, while adding some new elements to it. Next to the band's highly melodic AOR anthems such as "Just One Night", "Ghost Of You" and "What About My Broken Heart" you'll find some more metallic tracks, flat-out hard rocking and even atmospheric pop-rock.