Tapio Wilska

Infobox musical artist
Name = Tapio Wilska
Background = group_or_band


Img_capt = Wilska during Meet & Greet at Wacken Open Air 2005.
Birth_name =
Alias = Wilska
Born =
Origin = Finland
Instrument = Vocals, Bass guitar
Genre = Folk metal
Symphonic metal
Power metal

Tapio Wilska (born September 19th, 1969 in Savonlinna, Finland) is the main vocalist of the heavy metal band Sethian. He is also the ex-lead vocalist for the band Finntroll. He gets his inspiration from bands like Black Sabbath, Motörhead, Dead Kennedys, Venom, Thin Lizzy and The Pixies.

Biography

His musical career started when he was in bands like "Lyijykomppania", "Stray Toasters" and "Nattvindens Gråt" with Sami Vänskä and Tuomas Holopainen (both from the then yet to be founded Nightwish) in the middle of the '90s. He even helped Nightwish to get a record deal with Spinefarm. When Nightwish became an established name, Wilska moved on to "stage technical" work during their tours. His job included working on microphones, the bass and drums, and some security.

When Nightwish released their 1998 album "Oceanborn", Wilska was asked to do the male vocals on the tracks Devil and the Deep Dark Ocean and The Pharaoh Sails to Orion. Wilska's low and dark voice gave the songs a sinister character, and many metal fans from all over the world loved it. After his successful appearance on "Oceanborn", Wilska also performed in the song Tenth Man Down and once again with "The Pharaoh Sails to Orion" on Nightwish's DVD From Wishes to Eternity.

After this success, Wilska quit working as a roadie and started working on his own project, entitled Sethian. Once again, he got a lot of help from Nightwish, mainly Tuomas and Jukka, the latter of whom had even decided to play drums for the band. In 2003 the album "Into The Silence" was released.

During May 2002 Tapio was featured on the album track 'Farewell' by Finnish based doom metal band 'Rapture' reciting lyrics for the song.

In late 2002, however, vocalist Jan 'Katla' Jämsen left the band Finntroll because of a viral-based growth on his vocal cords. Wilska was asked to be the new singer, and he accepted. In 2004, he released his first full album with Finntroll called Nattfödd.

In early 2006 Wilska was fired from Finntroll due to personal differences. Very soon afterwards he joined Finnish pagan metal band Soulgrind as a bassist, and also started a new metal band Blood Royal.

Discography

All of the albums Wilska appears on:
*Lyijykomppania - Uimakoulu (1993)
*Nattvindens Gråt - A Bard's Tale (1994)
*Nattvindens Gråt - Chaos Without Theory (1997)
*Wizzard - Devilmusick (1999)
*Wizzard - Songs Of Sin And Damnation (2000)
*Nightwish - Oceanborn (1998)
*Nightwish - From Wishes to Eternity (2001)
*Nightwish - Over The Hills And Far Away (2001)
*Sethian - Into The Silence (2003)
*Finntroll - Nattfödd (2004)
*Kylähullut - Lisää Persettä Rättipäille (2007)

External links

* [http://www.nightwish.com Nightwish Official Website]
* [http://www.finntroll.net Finntroll Official Website]
* [http://www.sethianmusic.com/html Sethian Official Website]