Poets of the Fall

Poets of The Fall is a Finnish rock band from Helsinki, Finland. The group consists of Marko Saaresto (lead vocals), Olli Tukiainen (lead guitar) and Markus "Captain" Kaarlonen (keyboards, production).[3] On tour the band is supported by Jani Snellman (bass guitar), Jaska Mäkinen (rhythm guitar, backing vocals) and Jari Salminen (drums, percussion). The band has sold 99,198 albums in Finland.[4]
== Contents ==
[hide] 
* 1 History
** 1.1 Early years (2003–2004)
** 1.2 Signs of Life (2005–2006)
** 1.3 Carnival of Rust (2006–2007)
** 1.4 Revolution Roulette (2008–2009)
** 1.5 Twilight Theater (2010)
** 1.6 Alchemy Vol.1 (2011)
** 1.7 Temple of Thought (2012–2013)
** 1.8 Jealous Gods (2013-present)
* 2 Discography
** 2.1 Studio albums
** 2.2 DVDs
** 2.3 Singles
** 2.4 B-sides
** 2.5 Compilation albums
** 2.6 Cover songs
* 3 Videography
* 4 Tours
* 5 Awards
* 6 In other media
* 7 References
* 8 External links
== History ==
=== Early years (2003–2004)[edit] ===
The band was founded in 2003 by Saaresto and Tukiainen. Tukianen had written multiple songs for Saaresto's previous band Playground and performed with Finnish jazzbandPohjoinen Syke previously.
In 2003, Saaresto's friend Sami Järvi, a script-writer working at Remedy Entertainment handed Saaresto a poem he had written, asking him to turn it into a song to use in Remedy's video game Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. The song, entitled Late Goodbye, was used as the ending-theme of the game as well as a recurring motif, being sung and whistled by multiple characters. It was produced by Markus "Captain" Kaarlonen, who joined the band shortly after due to Saaresto and Tukiainen liking his work.[5]
Kaarlonen being a former employee of benchmark-developer Futuremark, POTF were offered to have their song Lift included in the 2005-literation of Futuremark's benchmarking software 3DMark, which exposed the band to a wider audience than Max Payne 2 had done.
In order to keep complete control and freedom over the band, the members founded their own independent record label, Insomniac, on which they have released all their CDs as of 2014.
On 30 June 2004, the Poets released their debut single Late Goodbye in Finland which was followed by Lift on 9 September 2004.[6][7] The songs charted No. 14 and No. 8 on the Finnish single charts and reached No. 2 and No. 7 in YleX's 2004-voting for "Best Finnish song". POTF were also voted "Fresh Newcomer of 2004" by YleX.[8] The videos for both songs were directed by Tuomas "Stobe" Harju. POTF performed at Popkomm 2005 in Berlin.[9]
On 18 December 2004, the Poets released a free download single on their website Maybe Tomorrow is a Better Day to market the release of their debut album Signs of Life.[10]After having been taken offline, it was remastered and reissued on the band's second album Carnival of Rust.
=== Signs of Life (2005–2006) ===
The band's debut album Signs of Life was released in Finland on 19 January 2005, followed by iTunes on 25 May 2005.[11] It entered the Finnish Top 40 album chart at number one and has been certified platinum by the Finnish IFPI.[4] The album was awarded the Emma Award for the "Best Debut Album of the Year 2005" and the band received the "Best Newcomer of the Year"-Award.
Accompanying the album, the band released a video for the song Lift, directed by Tuomas "Stobe" Harju, and used the songs Stay and Illusion and Dream as promotional radio singles.[12] The album contains a password granting access to a secret page on poetsofthefall.com that hosts a remix of the song "Lift", entitled "Dramadance Remix" as well as wallpapers made from the "Lift" video and the album artwork.
The title Signs of Life is a reference to the Pink Floyd-instrumental of the same name released in 1987.
=== Carnival of Rust (2006–2007) ===
Having won the "Best Finnish Breakthrough"-Award at the NRJ Radio Awards, POTF released their third single, entitled "Carnival of Rust" in Finland on 22 March 2006 with a release in Germany following on 1 December 2006.[13][14] The single, which entered the Finnish charts at No. 2, features a radio- and an album-edit as well as a live-recording ofDon't Mess With Me, the fourth track on Signs of Life, from the band's performance at Rockperry Festival, Vaasa, Finland on 15 July 2005.[15]
On 30 March 2006, the band released the video to Carnival of Rust which shows a gas-masked woman visiting an old carnival, and also references every song from the band's second album of the same name, became hugely popular in Finland, winning two Muuvi Awards as well as the YLE Audience Choice Award as "Best Finnish Music Video of All Time". It was also voted "Best Music Video 2006" by The Voice.[16][17][18] In 2009, the video was remastered by Elmeri Raitanen as his bachelor-thesis in visual and media arts atLahti Institute of Design and reissued in high definition.[19]
The Poets' second album Carnival of Rust was released in Finland on 12 April 2006 and has since been released in Sweden, Australia, Ukraine, Russia, Germany and on iTunes.[20][21][22][23] It includes 11 new songs, a remastered version of Maybe Tomorrow is a Better Day, as well as the music video to the title track.[24] The cover, which sees the return of the lollipop from the first album, was designed by Tuomas Harju.
Carnival of Rust also went straight to No. 1 on the Finnish charts.[25] It has been certified platinum.[4] It was selected as one of the best albums 2006 by Finland's largest newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, and was nominated for "Best Finnish Album" at the NRJ Radio Awards as well as "Best Rock Album" at the Emma Awards in 2007.[26][27][28]
=== Revolution Roulette (2008–2009) ===
In 2008, POTF redesigned their moth-logo and also changed the font used to display their band name. They also participated in the Voice's CD compilation Livenä Vieraissa, with a cover version of Chris Cornell's song "You Know My Name", and their own song "Diamonds for Tears".[29] In the same year, POTF signed Phoenix Effect, the band of formerSunrise Avenue-guitarist Janne Kärkkäinen to their Insomniac-label and produced their debut album Cyanide Skies with Saaresto / Tukiainen performing additional vocals / guitar work. The album was released on 18 February 2009 in Finland and entered the Finnish album charts at No. 22.[30][31] POTF also make a cameo-appearance in the video to Phoenix Effect's song "King See No Evil".
Poets of the Fall released their next single called The Ultimate Fling in Finland on 6 February 2008.[32] The single features three variations of the title track (a radio-edit, an album-edit and an impromptu-version) as well as a live recording of Fire, the opening track of the band's second album Carnival of Rust which was recorded during the Poets' performance at Ankkarock Festival 2007 on 5 August.[24][33] The single charted at No. 2 in the Finnish singles charts.[34] Months after the release of the single, the band published the accompanying video which consists of fan-recorded footage of the band performing at various gigs.
The third POTF-album, entitled Revolution Roulette, was released in Finland and on iTunes on 26 March 2008. Its cover was designed by Tuomas Harju and features a giantpadlock with a built-in roulette, abandoning the lolipop used on the previous album-covers. The record marks the first POTF-album not produced in Markus Kaarlonen's living-room, but the band's own professional studio. It went straight to the top of the Finnish charts and was certified gold two weeks after being released.[35] The band also released the title track of the album as a promotional radio-single.[24] Revolution Roulette is currently the only POTF album that has not been released physically outside Finland. While on tour with the album, the band played their first gig in the United States at Musexpo 2008 in Los Angeles on 29 April 2008.[36]
On 18 September 2009, the band released a "Best of"-compilation in India.[37]
=== Twilight Theater (2010) ===
In mid-2009, after finishing the Revolution Roulette-tour, the band announced they would be heading into the studio to record their fourth album whose genre they described as "cinematic rock".[38] On 9 December 2009, the band announced that a song entitled "War" from their fourth studio album would be featured in Alan Wake, a psychological thriller video game developed by Remedy Entertainment. Along with "War", Alan Wake also features two new songs, "Children of the Elder God" and "The Poet and The Muse", which were written specifically for the game, and are performed by Poets of the Fall as the in-game band Old Gods of Asgard. In June, the band released a video for "War" (despite it being only a promotional single on radio) which reenacts scenes from the game in live-action. It features Finnish actor Ilkka Villi as the game's protagonist of the same name (Villi also served as the model used for the creation of the Alan Wake character) and the band, except Saaresto. The band portrays in the video some of Alan Wake's in-game antagonists, lumberjacks possessed by an evil force named "the Dark Presence". The antagonists are collectively called "the Taken".
On 18 January, the band announced that their fourth album entitled Twilight Theater would be released on 17 March in Finland and that the first single from the album would beDreaming Wide Awake which debuted on Radio NRJ Suomi on 21 January and was released on 3 February as a limited-edition single. It reached No. 18 on the Finnish single-charts.[39][40]
Twilight Theater was released in Finland and on iTunes on 17 March, followed by Germany, Austria and Switzerland on 29 October. It went straight to the top of the Finnish album charts and was certified gold a week after release.[41][42]
=== Alchemy Vol.1 (2011) ===
The band released a double-vinyl edition of their debut album Signs of Life on 19 January 2011, exactly six years after its original release.[43] A CD&DVD-compilation entitledAlchemy Vol.1 was released on 16 March 2011. It contains the band's whole videography as well as the favourite songs of the band-members and also features two new songs, "No End, No Beginning" and "Can You Hear Me". The latter was released digitally on 2 February 2011 and is featured in the remake of Remedy Entertainment's video gameDeath Rally.[44] The video to the song was directed by Mikko Harma and premiered on The Voice on 18 March 2011.[45]
=== Temple of Thought (2012–2013) ===
A fifth studio album Temple of Thought was released on 21 March 2012 to conform to the release-cycle of two years set by the previous albums. Its name and album cover was revealed on band's official Facebook page on 25 January 2012. Temple of Thought debuted at #3 on the Finnish charts.
The first single of the new album Cradled in Love was released for Finnish radio airplay on 24 January 2012. On 26 January it was released for digital download on band's official digistore. The band released the music video for the song "Cradled in Love" on 3 March 2012. "The Happy Song", an original song written for Alan Wake's American Nightmare, also appeared on the album. A 45 second snippet of the German radio edit of "Kamikaze Love" was uploaded by remote music on 24 February 2012. The single was released in Germany on 13 April 2012. A special edition of album was released in Germany and internationally (digital-only) on 20 July 2012. It includes three bonus titles. Temple of Thought-Tour included locations in Finland, Russia, Germany, Romania and India.[46]
In March 2013 the band announced that they film their show in Moscow on 23 March, during 10th Anniversary Tour.[47] They launched a campaign collabrating with PledgeMusic. In April they produced a track called Yö (Night in English) for Finnish singer-songwriter Ima.[48] On 13 September 2013 the band released their first live performance DVD titledLive in Moscow.[49]
=== Jealous Gods (2013-present)[edit] ===
On 19 December 2013 the band announced they began working on their upcoming sixth studio album.[50] On 26 May they announced that they'll have short break from making their new album by going on tour.[51] Currently as they announced they are on Studio Breakout Minitour, including Finland and Russia. On 8 July 2014 the band announced that their sixth studio album Jealous Gods was released on 19 September on iTunes, Spotify along with other digital music retailers, streaming services and selected record stores. The album's first single Daze was released on 22 August on their official website along with its music video.[52] Plus, before the release of album as a special countdown to new single and video, each Friday, starting from 11 July with Signs of Life, they released each their albums on Spotify chronologically.[53] On October they will tour Finland and Germany on Jealous Gods Tour.[54]
== Discography ==
	This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: correct formatting of "Song" and Album titles. Please help improve this section if you can. (February 2014)
=== Studio albums ===
Year	Album 	Release 	Charts
FIN	Certifications
2005	Signs of Life 	19 January 2005 (Finland)[55]
25 May 2005 (iTunes)[11]
19 January 2011 (Limited Edition Vinyl – official webshop)[56]
11 July 2014 (Spotify)[57]	#1[58]	IFPI certification: Platinum[4]
2006	Carnival of Rust 	12 April 2006 (Finland, iTunes)[59][60]
12 September 2006 (Sweden)[21]
6 October 2006 (Australia, Russia, Ukraine)[22]
20 April 2007 (Germany)[23]
18 July 2014 (Spotify)[61]	#1[25]	IFPI certification: Platinum[4]
2008	Revolution Roulette	26 March 2008 (Finland, iTunes)[62][63]
25 July 2014 (Spotify)[64]	#1[65]	IFPI certification: Gold[4]
2010	Twilight Theater 	17 March 2010 (Finland, iTunes)[66][67]
29 October 2010 (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)[68]
1 August 2014 (Spotify)[69]	#1[41]	IFPI certification: Gold[4]
2012	Temple of Thought 	21 March 2012 (Finland)
20 July 2012 (Germany)[71]
8 August 2014 (Spotify)[72]	#3[73]	
2014	Jealous Gods 	19 September 2014 (iTunes, Spotify)[74]	#1[75]	
=== DVDs[edit] ===
Year	DVD 	Release Date
2013	Live in Moscow	14 September 2013[49]
=== Singles[edit] ===
Single 	Release 	Charts
FIN
"Late Goodbye" 	30 June 2004 (Finland)[6] 	#14[76]
"Lift" 	9 September 2004 (Finland)[7]
21 January 2011 (RBN)*[77]	#8[78]
"Carnival of Rust" 	22 March 2006 (Finland)[15]
1 December 2006 (Germany)[14]	#2[79]
"Sorry Go 'Round" (Limited Edition) 	16 August 2006 (Finland)[80] 	#7[81]
"Locking Up the Sun" 	29 November 2006 (Finland)[82]	#3[83]
"The Ultimate Fling" 	6 February 2008 (Finland)[32] 	#2[34]
"Diamonds for Tears" 	21 May 2008 (Finland)[84] 	#13[85]
"Dreaming Wide Awake" (Limited Edition)	3 February 2010 (Finland)[40] 	#18[86]
"Can You Hear Me" 	2 February 2011 (Download)[87]	
"Cradled in Love" 	25 January 2012 (Download) 	#16[88]
"Kamikaze Love" 	13 April 2012 (Germany)[89] 	
"The Lie Eternal" 	3 July 2012 (Germany)[90] 	
"Daze" 	22 August 2014[91] 	
"*" = refers only to the song, not b-sides etc. featured on the single
=== B-sides[edit] ===
Year 	Song 	Included on 	Ref
2004 	"The Beautiful Ones"	Lift 	[92]
2011 	"Can You Hear Me" 	Alchemy Vol.1	[44]
"No End, No Beginning"	 	 	
=== Compilation albums ===
Compilation 	Medium	Release 	Charts
FIN
Best of Poets of the Fall	CD 	18 September 2009 (India)[37]	—
Alchemy Vol.1 	CD+DVD	16 March 2011[44] 	#9[93]
=== Cover songs[edit] ===
Song 	Original artist	Featured on 	Ref
"Tobacco Road" 	Dingo 	Melkein vieraissa – Nimemme on Dingo	[94]
"You Know My Name"	Chris Cornell 	Livenä Vieraissa 	[95]
== Videography ==
Year 	Video 	Director(s)
2004 	Late Goodbye 	
Lift 	Tuomas Harju[96] 	
2006 	Carnival of Rust 	
Locking Up the Sun	 	
2008 	The Ultimate Fling 	Sami Mäkelä, Jussi Rautaniemi, Minni Wiitala
Diamonds For Tears	Niina Miettinen 	
2009 	Carnival of Rust (Special Edition HD Remaster)	Tuomas Harju
2010 	Dreaming Wide Awake 	Oskari Sipola
War 	Aleksi Koskinen, Akseli Tuomivaara[97] 	
2011 	Can You Hear Me 	Mikko Harma[98]
2012 	Balance Slays the Demon 	Remedy Entertainment[99]
Cradled in Love 	Santeri Enstedt, Mikko Harma 	
2014 	Daze 	Saku-Petteri Perintö
== Tours ==
Years 	Tour 	Countries 	Concerts	Ref
2004–2005	Signs of Life-Tour 	5 (Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden) 	62 	[100]
2006–2007	Carnival of Rust-Tour 	8 (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, India, Lithuania, Russia, Sweden) 	126 	[33][101]
2008–2009	Revolution Roulette-Tour	5 (Finland, Germany, Russia, Sweden, United States) 	59 	[102]
2010 	Twilight Theater-Tour 	3 (Finland, Germany, Russia) 	24 	[103]
2011 	Alchemy-Tour 	4 (Finland, India, Russia, Ukraine) 	15 	[104]
2012-2013	Temple of Thought-Tour 	9 (Austria, Estonia, Finland, Germany, India, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine)	74 	[105]
== Awards ==
Year 	Award 	Category 	Related work	Result 	Ref
2004 	Game Audio Network Guild Awards 	Best Original Vocal Song – Pop	Late Goodbye	Won 	[106]
YleX's "Best of 2004" 	Best Finnish Newcomer 	Themselves 	Won 	[8] 	
Best Finnish Song 	Lift 	2nd place 	 	 	
Late Goodbye 	7th place 	 	 	 	
2005 	Musiikki & Media Events 	Newcomer of '05 	Themselves 	Won 	[107]
Radio City 	Album of the Year 	Signs of Life 	7th place 	[108] 	
The Voice 	Top 106 	Lift 	10th place 	[109] 	
2006 	NRJ Radio Awards 	Best Finnish Breakthrough 2005	Themselves 	Won 	[13]
Emma Awards 	Best Newcomer of the Year 	Themselves 	Won 	 	
Best Debut Album of the Year	Signs of Life 	Won 	 	 	
MTV Europe Music Awards 	Best Finnish Act 	Themselves 	Won 	[110] 	
The Voice 	Best Music Video 2006 	Carnival of Rust 	Won 	[17][18] 	
Locking Up the Sun 	12th place 	[18] 	 	 	
YLE Audience Choice Award 	Best Finnish Music Video of All Time	Carnival of Rust 	Won 	[111] 	
2007 	NRJ Radio Awards 	Best Finnish Band 	Themselves 	Won 	[112]
Best Nordic Band 	Themselves 	Nominated 	[28] 	 	
Best Finnish Album 	Carnival of Rust 	Nominated 	[28] 	 	
Muuvi Awards 	Bronze Muuvi Award 	Carnival of Rust 	Won 	[17] 	
Muuvi People's Choice Award 	Carnival of Rust 	Won 	 	 	
Emma Awards 	Best Rock Album 	Carnival of Rust 	Nominated 	[27] 	
Helsingin Sanomat 	Most Beloved Finnish Rock Song 	Late Goodbye 	Nominated 	[113] 	
2011 	Emma Awards 	Best Music Video 	War 	Nominated	[97]
== In other media ==
Song 	Featured in 	Type of media 	Annotations
Late Goodbye 	Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne[114] 	video game (PS2, Win,Xbox) 	Serves as the ending theme of the game and was written specifically for it. It is sung, whistled and even performed on piano by multiple characters throughout the game.
Lift 	3DMark 05[115] 	benchmarking software 	The song is credited as "Lift Me Higher".
Locking up the Sun 	Heroes 	TV series 	Advertisements of the show in Finland.
Carnival of Rust 	Suden vuosi (The Year of the Wolf)[116] 	movie 	
Themselves 	Phoenix Effect – King See No Evil 	music video 	
War 	Alan Wake[114] 	video game (Xbox 360, Win) 	Ending theme of episode five (The Clicker). During the episode, it is played by Pat Maine on his radio show during a combat sequence in a warehouse. The song is also included on the in-game soundtrack.
Children of the Elder God	POTF are credited as the fictional in-game band Old Gods of Asgard. The song was written specifically for the game and can be heard during a combat sequence taking place during episode four (The Truth), as well as during the beginning of the second downloadable-content-episode The Writer. In the latter, the song's guitars and vocals are edited to sound off key. The original version of the song is included on the in-game soundtrack.	 	
The Poet and the Muse 	Also performed as Old Gods of Asgard, it serves as the ending theme to episode four (The Truth), and is included in-game, as well as on the Limited-Edition Soundtrack. 	 	
Late Goodbye 	referenced in the manuscript page The Sudden Stop 2 at the beginning of episode two (Taken). 	 	
Themselves 	The band can be seen briefly on the Harry Garrett Show which can be watched by turning on the television in Alan Wake's flat at the beginning of episode six (Departure). 	 	
Can You Hear Me 	Death Rally[44] 	video game (iPhone, iPad,Win)	End credits theme
Grinder's Blues 	Rochard[117] 	video game (PSN, Win,Linux) 	
Balance Slays the Demon 	Alan Wake's American Nightmare[118] 	video game (Win, XBLA) 	With the band credited as Old Gods of Asgard, the song can be heard in Act 1, Part 3 in the drive-in's back office on a radio.
The Happy Song 	Plays whenever Mr. Scratch appears. 	 	
Category:Band