# Omnium Gatherum

Omnium Gatherum is a six-piece melodic death metal band from Finland, founded in the autumn of 1996. Although the band mainly follows the path of the melodic death metal genre, much of their work shows strong influences from progressive metal, especially their later albums. Their music is influenced by Gothenburg-style bands such as At the Gates, In Flames, Dissection, and Dark Tranquillity, but also Iron Maiden, Death, Anathema, and Megadeth among others.

## History

After releasing four demos, and an EP they recorded after getting signed to Rage of Achilles, their debut full-length album "Spirits And August Light" was released in April 2003 via Rage Of Achilles and gave the band some attention within the underground metal community and the press.
Next, the band signed to the major metal label Nuclear Blast in the autumn of 2004 to release the second album "Years In Waste". This album was more technical and progressive than their earlier releases.
In the spring of 2006, long-time singer Antti Filppu was replaced by Jukka Pelkonen aka J.
"Stuck Here On Snakes Way" was the debut OG album featuring J on vocals and it was released in April 2007 after a successful UK tour and a signing to Candlelight Records. The band followed the album with tours alongside Dark Tranquillity, Caliban, and Entombed, as well as a large amount of Finnish headlining gigs, and attained the No. 31 position in the Finnish national album chart.
Omnium Gatherum's fourth album "The Redshift" was recorded at Sound Supreme and SouthEastSounds Studios during the spring days of 2008 and it was mixed and mastered at Unisound Studio in Sweden by the renowned metal musician and producer, Dan Swanö, who stated of the album: "I hate bands like Omnium Gatherum, they are so good it pisses me off!!! Their fine blend of melody and aggression is so good I thought about stealing the record and releasing it as my own :) You won´t find a better album in years." Their 2008 album The Redshift had generally positive reviews, inked band to do long European tours with Nile/Grave in 2008 and Swallow The Sun/Insomnium in 2009 and even charting in Finnish official album chart to position No. 24.
In the summer of 2008 bassist Eerik Purdon announced that he will be leaving Omnium Gatherum, and In 2009 Toni Mäki Officially joined Omnium Gatherum as their new bassist.
In August 2010, Omnium Gatherum announced that they had signed a deal with Lifeforce Records for their next release, and that their longtime rhythm guitarist Harri Pikka had left the band. Their official statement read "We're really sorry to announce also that Harri Pikka has silently decided to flee the OG crew after 13 years of solid service. We don't know his exact reasons for this but maybe someday mr. Mystery Man tells us… :) At the moment we've decided to finish the new album as a 5-piece unit, but we have the best possible live guitar unit called Joonas Koto (Malpractice / Ex-To/Die/For / Ex-Hateframe) filling the second guitar live duties at the moment and it rocks!" Omnium Gatherum entered the studio to record their fifth studio album for an early 2011 release. Lead guitarist Markus Vanhala handled all guitar parts for the recording. Mixing and mastering were handled by Dan Swano.
Their fifth album, "New World Shadows", was released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on 4 February. 2011, in Finland, Sweden and Hungary on 9 February, the rest of Europe on 7 February, and North America on 1 March. "New World Shadows" topped the Finnish album charts and was on the 5th position on official national album chart and was on the 1st position in Finnish Rumba indie chart! The album was the band's first to be released via Lifeforce Records. It was recorded during the period August 2010 – October 2010. After the album release, Omnium Gatherum toured Europe with Rotting Christ in April/May 2011.
New World Shadows was critically acclaimed, and is considered to be one of the best melodic death metal albums in Finnish metal. It is renowned for the mixture of harmonizing melodies along with typical death/heavy metal guitars and drumming. The vocal styles vary from deep death growls to clean vocals. The sound of the album is epic and progressive.
On 17 June it was announced that Joonas "Jope" Koto had joined Omnium Gatherum as their new full-time second guitarist, replacing Harri Pikka.
On 10 July 2015, the band announced that they had almost finished the recordings for a new album. The album, "Grey Heavens", was released in 2016.
In 2021, Omnium Gatherum released their ninth studio album "Origin" and announced a North American tour, supported by Allegaeon and Black Crown Initiate.

## Members
### Current members

* Markus Vanhala – lead guitar (1996–present)
* Aapo Koivisto – keyboards, backing vocals (2005–present)
* Jukka Pelkonen – lead vocals (2006–present)
* Mikko Kivistö – bass (2020–present)
* Atte Pesonen – drums (2021–present)
* Joonas "Jope" Koto – rhythm guitar (2010–2020, 2025–present)

### Former members

* Olli Lappalainen – lead vocals (1996–2000), rhythm guitar (1996–1997)
* Ville Salonen – drums (1996–1999)
* Mikko Nykänen – keyboards (1996–1999)
* Olli Mikkonen – bass (1996–1997)
* Harri Pikka – rhythm guitar (1997–2010)
* Jari Kuusisto – bass (1997–1998)
* Janne Markkanen – bass (1998–2007)
* Jarmo Pikka – drums (1999–2016)
* Tomi Pekkola – keyboards (1999–2001)
* Antti Filppu – lead vocals (2000–2006)
* Mikko Pennanen – keyboards (2001–2003)
* Jukka Perälä – keyboards (2003–2005)
* Eerik Purdon – bass (2007–2008)
* Toni "Tsygä" Mäki – bass (2009–2012)
* Erkki Silvennoinen – bass (2012–2019)
* Tuomo Latvala – drums (2016–2021)
* Pyry Hanski – bass (2019–2020)
* Nick Cordle – rhythm guitar (2022–2025)

### Timeline
## Discography

* Steal the Light (EP) (2002)
* Spirits and August Light (2003)
* Years in Waste (2004)
* Stuck Here on Snakes Way (2007)
* The Redshift (2008)
* New World Shadows (2011)
* Beyond (2013)
* Grey Heavens (2016)
* The Burning Cold (2018)
* Origin (2021)
* Slasher (EP) (2023)