The tale of Simulacrum started in 1999 when a young boy, inspired by bands like Stratovarius and Dream Theater, composed his first tunes. The boy was Christian “Chrism” Pulkkinen and those tunes ended up almost unchanged on the debut album under the names Hammerhead and Battle Within. Chrism had studied classical piano from the age of six, but had never fully found his place with classical music. He learnt the basics of score reading and a polished technique but his love for the piano, keyboards and music in general was set ablaze when his friend copied him a cassette full of Iron Maiden, Gamma Ray, Helloween, Megadeth, Dream Theater etc. Finding music that included keyboards but wasn’t classical music was an ecstatic discovery and re-ignited the flame that motivated him to practice.