Ruoska

Infobox musical artist
Name = Ruoska

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Img_capt = Ruoska performing live at Mietaan Nuorisoseurantalo, in Kurikka, Finland
Img_size = 250
Landscape = yes
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Juva, Finlandflagicon|Finland
Genre = Industrial metal
Neue Deutsche Härte
Years_active = 2002−2008 (on hiatus)
Label = EMI
Kråklund
URL = [http://www.ruoska.net ruoska.net]
Current_members = Patrik Mennander
Anssi Auvinen
Mika Kamppi
Sami Karppinen
Past_members = Kai Ahvenranta

Ruoska (In Finnish "a whip") is a Finnish industrial metal band from the Juva municipality. One of the factors making them greatly stand out from those bands to those who listen to them, however, is singer Patrik Mennander's combination of low, growling speech and conventional singing. The lyrics are exclusively in Finnish.

Before becoming Ruoska, the band was called Natsipaska.

Ruoska is currently on hiatus and will not perform at live shows or record. This was announced by Patrik Mennander at Jurassic Rock 2008 on August 8 2008 who said that the hiatus would last about a year.

Biography

The beginnings, "Kuori" and "Riisu" (2002−2003)

Ruoska was formed in 2002, with some of the same members from the previous comical rock band Natsipaska. They released their debut album "Kuori" the same year. Fans and critics, immediately recognized a new type of music in this band, and grew to be very loyal to these new musicians. After having made two music videos, being "Kiroan" and "Epilogi", and releasing one single, "Aurinko ei Nouse", the band returned to the studio and recorded their second album, "Riisu" in 2003, from which came one single: "Darmstadt". After this release, Ruoska established a sound that had a much more industrial sound and had more machines involved. Their popularity took a big step forward when Till Lindemann, lead singer of the German industrial metal band Rammstein, commented in a Finnish magazine interview on the new single "Darmstadt" by saying that it was "most noticeable". After doing a few gigs, the Ruoska's lead singer Patrik Mennander decided to join the Finnish symphonic metal band Battlelore for awhile.

"Radium" and "Amortem" (2004−2007)

After returning to the growing industrial metal band, Mennander and Ruoska started working on a new album, and shortly after that, in 2005, "Radium" was released. The new album, which had a bold new electronic-pop metal sound and from which one single and music video came out "Tuonen Viemää", which brought a lot of new fans to the band, and they started to have new larger gigs. Then, Ruoska had to make a difficult decision by changing from Kråklund Records to a multinational recording company, EMI Music. When they went back to the studio, and now having to impress more fans than ever before, Ruoska created a new unique sound that was represented by their new album, "Amortem" in 2006. The singles "Mies yli Laidan", "Alasin" and "Pure Minua" were huge hits, and "Mies yli Laidan" and "Alasin" were turned into music videos, "Mies yli Laidan" being immediately very popular. The album itself debuted at sixth place in Finnish radio charts for almost 10 weeks. Unfortunately, after the release of "Amortem", one of the band's guitarists Kai Ahvenranta left the band to be more with his family. The band grew bigger than ever before and, now with some new die-hard fans, Ruoska had a few major gigs, such as "Puustock 2007" and "Välipuistorock 2007".

"Rabies" and the present (2008−present)

Ruoska's fifth album "Rabies" was released on April 9, 2008. Their two singles "Pirunkieli" and "Helvettiin Jäätynyt" from the new album are already starting to be big hits, and their music video is going to be for "Ei Koskaan". Ruoska have continued making live shows, and their success never stops spreading all across Europe, and even in the U.S., in Mexico and South America as well. At Jurassic Rock 2008 on August 8 2008, Mennander said that Ruoska would be on hiatus for about a year.

Members

Current members

* Patrik Mennander − vocals
* Anssi Auvinen − guitar
* Mika Kamppi − bass guitar
* Sami Karppinen − drums

Former members

* Kai Ahvenranta − guitarNote: Kai Ahvenranta still does some studio work with the band.

Discography

Albums

* "Kuori" (2002)
* "Riisu" (2003)
* "Radium" (2005)
* "Amortem" (2006)
* "Rabies" (2008)

ingles

* "Aurinko ei Nouse" (2002)
* "Darmstadt" (2003)
* " [http://ruoska.net/files/ruoska_veriura.mp3 Veriura] " (2004)
* "Tuonen Viemää" (2005)
* " [http://www.emi.fi/jukebox/play/302/mies_yli_laidan Mies yli Laidan] " (2006)
* " [http://www.emi.fi/jukebox/play/419/alasin Alasin] " (2006)
* " [http://www.emi.fi/jukebox/play/372/pure_minua Pure Minua] " (2006)
* " [http://www.emi.fi/jukebox/play/717/pirunkieli Pirunkieli] " (2007)
* " [http://www.emi.fi/jukebox/play/736/helvettiin_jaatynyt Helvettiin Jäätynyt] " (2008)
* " [http://www.myspace.com/ruoskaband Lihaa Vasten Lihaa] " (2008)
* " [http://www.emi.fi/jukebox/play/863/ei_koskaan Ei Koskaan] " (2008)

Music videos

* "Kiroan" (2002)
* "Epilogi" (2002)
* "Tuonen Viemää" (2005)
* "Mies yli Laidan" (2006)
* "Alasin" (2006)
* "Ei Koskaan" (2008)

Comparison to Rammstein

There has been some controversy over the fact that Ruoska might be trying to copy German industrial metal band Rammstein. This is often based on the "Alasin" music video. Even though receiving a lot of criticism on this point, Ruoska says that they have never tried to copy Rammstein. They have also said that they like Rammstein, and that Rammstein is only an influence to them. According to a German interview with Ruoska early in their career (after the release of their second album "Riisu"), Ruoska has translated a few of Rammstein's songs into Finnish.

As for Rammstein, they apparently liked some songs that Ruoska has sent them.

External links

* [http://ruoska.net Ruoska's official website - in Finnish only]
* [http://www.royalartistclub.com/ruoska Royal Artist Club - official mobile blog]
* [http://www.myspace.com/ruoskaband Ruoska's official MySpace profile]