Country of origin: Finland Location: Helsinki, Uusimaa Status: Active Formed in: 1996 Genre: Black Metal Themes: Death, Evil, Paganism, Satanism Current label: Svart Records Years active: 1996-2012, 2016-present Ajattara is an ambient black metal side project for Amorphis singer Pasi Koskinen, who here goes by the murky pseudonym of Ruoja and handles vocals, guitars, and keyboards. Begun in 1996 to occupy his spare time (of which, apparently, there wasn't much), Ajattara only got around to recording their debut album, Itse, in 2001, at which time the trio was rounded out by bassist Atoni and drummer Malakias. Like its predecessor, 2003's sophomore Kuolema was released by the Spinefarm label, and once again boasted aggressive but atmospheric black metal sung entirely in Finnish. Ajattara is an evil god of forest in Finnish mythology. The female form of that deity is Ajatar. In May 2005, some sources incorrectly announced that the band had split up. Ajattara had not released such information nor had they been about to split up. The incident was just a sum of misunderstandings. The band made an announcement on its Facebook page on April 15th, 2012 that it had split up. From the ashes of the band, Datura Nemesis was formed. Ajattara is a six-piece dark metal band from Helsinki, Finland led by Pasi Koskinen (ex Amorphis). They formed in 1996, split up 2012 and reformed in 2016. They were signed to Spinefarm Records and have released eight albums, their most recent being Lupaus, which was released in May 2017. Ajattara formed in 1996 as a side project of Amorphis singer Pasi Koskinen. Their first release was a demo tape entitled Helvetissä on syntisen taivas which was released in 1998. The band then signed to Spinefarm Records and went on to release three albums – Itse in 2001, Kuolema in 2003 and Tyhjyys in 2004. These albums were met with largely good reviews. Ajattara then went on to release a Christmas Single in the Novembers of 2004 and 2005, which is a tradition they have done for the last three years. The