1994-1997: DEMO/PROMO TAPES. SINNER’S SERENADE

After several projects in the early 90s, Eternal Tears of Sorrow was formed in May 1994 by Altti Veteläinen (bass, vocals), Olli-Pekka Törrö (guitars) and Jarmo Puolakanaho (guitars). In October 1994, it was time to go to a real studio, Tico-Tico in Kemi to record their second and last demo/promo tape Bard’s Burial. In 1995, EToS got songs on on several compilation albums. By the spring of 1996, the band got a record deal with X-Treme Records from Gotherburg, Sweden. Also, the very first version of the EToS website appeared online in February 1996. The recording sessions started in early July 1996. Now, the band started to prepare themselves for their first gig ever, in their home town. The debut album Sinner’s Serenade got released in September 1997.

1998: VILDA MÁNNU

In early ’98, the band booked two weeks at Tico-Tico to rxecord their next album called Vilda Mánnu. The deal with X-Treme Records was closing, so the band decided to record the album on their own. The recordings took place in July, and at the studio the band could hear the improvement in their music and the overall production.

The album was released in December and before that, Burning Flames’ Embrace was included on Sacrament of Wilderness, the second single by Nightwish.

1999-2000: NEW MEMBERS, CHAOTIC BEAUTY, EUROPEAN TOUR

In January Olli-Pekka told the rest of the guys he was leaving the band. The remaining duo had two choices: to go on as a duo or to hire new members. Petri Sankala (drums), Pasi Hiltula (keyboards) and Antti-Matti Talala (guitar) joined the band.. For the first time, an EToS album was mixed by a Finnish metal recording guru, Mikko Karmila. In early 2000, the third album Chaotic Beauty was released.

Soon, EToS was on an European with Nightwish and Sinergy, nine countries in seven weeks. Unfortunately, by the end of the tour, Antti-Matti Talala was asked to leave the band and was replaced by Antti Kokko who had been playing with EToS on gigs in 1997 and 1998.

2001-2003: A VIRGIN AND A WHORE, BREAK, SPLIT-UP

For the first time in the history of the band, the members were tired of being busy all the time with the band related things. Still, they had to record one more album. The songs for A Virgin and a Whore were written in two months only. Being too tired for the tour, the band had only one gig in 2007, supporting Megadeth in Oulu. Before that, the first single come out and went to the Finnish singles Top 20. The album came out later that year. Now it was time to think about the future of the band, and more importantly, to think about something completely different for a while… The band was still tired but relieved. For the first time, it seemed that the band had met its maker. There was even an official press release that the band had split up. Meanwhile, the members were doing something completely different with many bands.

2004-2006: REUNION, BEFORE THE BLEEDING SUN

In April 2004, however, Altti and Jarmo literally bumped into each other and started talking “it would still be nice to try something with EToS”. Petri confirmed he was ready for the reunion. Risto Ruuth was delighted to join the band. Janne Tolsa was known from the Finnish heavy metal legends Tarot and he joined the band as well. In addition, the band got its semi-official sixth member, Jarmo Kylmänen, a local song-writer and vocalist who said he would help with the new album. The album (Before the Bleeding Sun) came out in May 2006. The comeback gig took place on New Year’s Eve 2006 at Teatria in Oulu, Finland with Amorphis and several other bands. The band had a couple more gigs in 2007 and then started thinking of the next album…

2007-2009: CHILDREN OF THE DARK WATERS

In early 2008, Eternal Tears of Sorrow signed to Suomen Musiikki. Later in 2008, Jarmo Kylmänen officially joined the band as the clean vocalist and Petri left the band to be replaced by Juho Raappana. The album, called Children of the Dark Waters was prepared well in two years, recorded at Tico-Tico Studio (as always) and released in May 2009. Just before that, Risto Ruuth left the band and Mika Lammassaari joined the band as a new lead guitarist.

2010- : SAIVON LAPSI

Making the seventh album took longer than anyone expected. However, in late 2012, everything was ready. On this album, Eternal Tears of Sorrow returned to their roots as Saivon Lapsi is an album about the North, the Sami people and their mythology.