Teräsbetoni
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| Teräsbetoni | |
|---|---|
 (Teräsbetoni at W:O:A) |
|
| Origin | Finland |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Genres | Heavy Metal |
| Labels | Warner Music Finland |
| Members | Jarkko Ahola Arto Järvinen Viljo Rantanen Jari Kuokkanen |
| Website(s) | www.terasbetoni.com |
Teräsbetoni (Finnish for "Reinforced concrete") is a Finnish heavy metal band. Their first album, Metallitotuus (Trans. "Metal truth"), was published in 2005 and has so far sold more than 32,000 copies. Teräsbetoni has been strongly influenced by bands such as Manowar.
The music of Teräsbetoni has a martial air to it, with lyrics glorifying a pagan warrior lifestyle and a "brotherhood of metal". The style has received mixed reception. Many consider it to be exceedingly corny, while others see the band as a parody of heavy metal clichés.
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[edit] History
Jarkko Ahola, Arto Järvinen, and Viljo Rantanen met each other in 2002 and decided to form a band. Jari Kuokkanen joined in as a part time drummer, and later became an official member. Rantanen was the one to come up with the name Teräsbetoni. Teräsbetoni made its first songs in 2003. They were published on the band's homepage in the summer of 2003 and were called "Teräsbetoni", "Teräksen varjo" (trans. The Shadow of Steel), and "Maljanne nostakaa" (trans. Raise Your Toast).
The band started to get popular in underground circles and soon the knowledge of the band's existence spread wider. Excited fans collected a card of condolence, demanding a recording contract for Teräsbetoni, and sent it to several record companies. In 2003, Teräsbetoni performed their first concert and a live version of "Taivas lyö tulta" was added to the band's homepage. In their first concerts they use to play a cover versions of Ronnie James Dio's "Rainbow In The Dark" and Manowar's "Metal Warriors". In the late 2004 the band signed a recording contract with Warner Music Finland and the recording for "Taivas lyö tulta" single started in December 2004. The single was published February 2nd, 2005, and during its first week on the Finnish single list it rose to the top of the list, followed by plentiful radio time and the band becoming more widely known.
The recordings for the "Metallitotuus" album started in January 2005 was published April 6th, 2005. During its first week on the Finnish list, it placed 2nd and stood on the list for 29 weeks. Another single from the album was "Orjatar" (trans. Slavewoman). A music video was also made of this song, and it was shown first time in the TOP40 show April 16th, 2005. Taivas lyö tulta was later chosen to be the goal song for the Finnish icehockey national team A in the Karelian tournament.
"Metallitotuus" went platinum (in Finland, that means over 30,000 copies have been sold) in the year it was published, with almost 33,000 copies sold, being the third most popular heavy rock album in Finland that year. In June 2006, the second album of the band, "Vaadimme metallia" (trans. We Demand Metal), was published. During the day of its publishing, it nearly broke the gold album line (which in Finland is 15,000 sold albums).
There has been a lot of interest of Teräsbetoni in countries outside Finland and the band is also very interested of playing outside Finland; so far they have done only one concert outside Finland, this happened in Wacken Open Air 2005. The question about using the finnish language in the vocals is right now in the concencration of the band. Jarkko Ahola has stated that Teräsbetoni will not hit anywhere but Finland in the year 2006 but in the year 2007 it might be possible.
[edit] Members
Jarkko Ahola - vocals, bass guitar
Arto Järvinen - guitar, vocals
Viljo Rantanen - guitar
Jari Kuokkanen - drums
[edit] Releases
[edit] Albums
- Metallitotuus (2005)
- Vaadimme metallia (2006)
[edit] Singles
- Taivas lyö tulta (2005)
- Orjatar (2005)
- Vahva kuin metalli (2005)
- Älä mene metsään (2006)
- Viimeinen tuoppi (2006)
[edit] Song translations
Metallitotuus
| Finnish name | Translation | Theme or events |
| Teräsbetoni | Reinforced Concrete | The might and superiority of the Brotherhood |
| Älä kerro meille | Don't Tell Us | The resolve and bloody life of the Brotherhood |
| Taivas lyö tulta | The Sky Strikes Fire | Praise of the Brotherhood; exuberant almost to the point of incoherence |
| Vahva kuin metalli | Strong As Metal | The resolve, bloody life and divine favor of the Brotherhood |
| Silmä silmästä | Eye For An Eye | Betrayal and vengeance |
| Metallisydän | Metalheart | The solitude and resolve of a lone warrior |
| Orjatar | Slavewoman | A pleasure slave of a warrior |
| Tuonelaan | To the Underworld | Assassination and post-mortem vengeance |
| Metallitotuus | Metal Truth | The values and conquests of the Brotherhood |
| Voittamaton | Invincible | The might and perservance of the Brotherhood |
| Teräksen varjo | Shadow of Steel | Riding into battle |
| Maljanne nostakaa | Raise Your Toasts | Rest and reflection after a battle |
Vaadimme metallia
| Finnish name | Translation |
| Vaadimme metallia | We Demand Metal |
| Viimeinen tuoppi | The Last Pint |
| Älä mene metsään | Don't Go into the Forest |
| Varmaan kuolemaan | To a Certain Death |
| Kuninkaat | Kings |
| Saalistaja | Prowler |
| Paha silmä | Evil Eye |
| Sotureille | For Warriors |
| Kotiinpalaaja | The Home-returner |
| Aika on | It Is Time |
| Kirotut | The Cursed |
- "Pyhä Maa" = "Holy Land"
