Espoo

Heikintori is a shopping centre in Tapiola, Espoo, Finland. Heikintori is the oldest shopping centre in the entire country of Finland. It includes... many shops including clothes and electronics shops, many restaurants, and a barber's shop. There are about 187,000 inhabitants in Heikintori's sphere of influence. The number of households is about 81,000. The annual consumption power of the area is almost 3.1 billion euro .
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Innopoli is a large and famous office building in the district of Otaniemi, Espoo, Finland, near the main campus of the Helsinki University of... Technology. Innopoli provides housing for many newly founded Information Technology companies, and some famous successful companies such as SSH Communications have started there. A new office building, called Innopoli 2, was constructed later near the original Innopoli building.
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Sello is a shopping mall in the Leppävaara district of Espoo, Finland. The mall contains more than 170 shops and services including a concert... hall and a library. The Sello is separated into three parts: the oldest part , the second part and the newest part . The oldest part of Sello has two supermarkets, three banks, contains Espoo City's main library, a concert hall, gym, restaurants and cafes, pharmacy, an Alko and a music academy. The second part of Sello has many restaurants and smaller stores, and multiple sport stores such as Intersport and Stadium. Sello's third and newest part was designed to have a movie theater, several restaurants and a bowling alley. Sello also has a hotel named Hotel Sello, property of the Palace Kämp Group. It is served by Leppävaara bus station and Leppävaara railway station immediately to the north, with Ring I running just to the east. On 31 December 2009, five people were killed during a shooting spree in the mall.
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The Espoo Cultural Centre is a culture centre in Tapiola, Espoo, Finland. It is most famous for hosting the central library of Tapiola. Near the... culture centre is the Tapiola swimming pool and the Tapiola Garden hotel. The Espoo Cultural Centre hosts arts events, hosts activities to further culture in Espoo, offers cultural and public services, and hosts parties, meetings, fairs, and private events. The cultural centre houses the Espoo musical academy, the Espoo city orchestra Tapiola Sinfonietta, the Tapiola library, the Espoo city cultural office, the Tapiola general service point, and the Espoo folk high school. Among others, the Espoo city theatre, April Jazz, the Espoo Ciné film festival, the Espoo international piano week and KuoroEspoo have hosted events in the Espoo cultural centre. According to the web page of the city of Espoo, the cultural centre is "the main stage for performing arts and cultural life in Espoo". The Espoo cultural centre is located next to the Tapiola central tower, between the cultural square and the central pool.
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Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho is a Finnish singer, composer, and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead guitarist as well as lead vocalist for... melodic death metal band Children of Bodom, and he is also the guitarist for Sinergy and Kylähullut. He has previously played with Thy Serpent and Impaled Nazarene on occasion, as well as Warmen and Hypocrisy. Laiho was ranked #96 out of 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time by Guitar World. Guitar World magazine has also ranked him as one of the 50 fastest guitarists in the world. In addition, Roadrunner Records ranked Laiho at #41 out of 50 of The Greatest Metal Frontmen of All Time. In addition to this, Total Guitar did a voting poll to determine the greatest metal guitarist of all time, and he was voted #1 out of 20 metal guitarists. In 2004, Laiho founded a side-project called Kylähullut, which was assembled together with Tommi Lillman and Vesa Jokinen 69er . The band was created merely for the entertainment of the musicians, and takes a carefree approach to their music. The band's discography includes two EP's, and two full-length albums.
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Alexander Kuoppala is a Finnish musician. He was the rhythm guitarist from the Finnish heavy metal band Children of Bodom from 1995 to 2003. He... played on their albums Something Wild, Hatebreeder, Follow the Reaper, and Hate Crew Deathroll. He also plays on the Timo Rautiainen album Sarvivuori. Children of Bodom's first world tour began in 2003 and lasted until late 2004. The tour had many sold-out concerts and marked the consolidation of the band in North America, but was also accompanied by an unexpected announcement: Kuoppala decided to quit Children of Bodom for personal reasons right in the middle of the tour without giving previous warning. In an interview, when Alexi Laiho was asked why Kuoppala left the band, he stated that, "Well, I try to be careful about what I say about him because there is no bad blood between us. He told me that he just got sick of touring and the whole band/rock 'n roll lifestyle living in hotels and tour buses and stuff. For me it was really weird because he was always the one who was SO into it! He was a die hard rock 'n roller and suddenly he made a quick 180 turn in his whole life.
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Janne Viljami Wirman is a Finnish musician; he is the keyboardist for the bands Children of Bodom and Warmen. Born in the town of Espoo, Finland,... Janne Wirman began playing the piano at the age of five. For most of his early life he focused his style on jazz, switching his main interest to heavy metal music once he joined the metal band Children of Bodom in 1997. He graduated from the Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory at the age of sixteen and was subsequently invited by Jaska Raatikainen to join Children of Bodom, due to their previous keyboardist – Jani Pirisjoki – being fired from the band. Janne was the deciding factor for them to truly begin their professional career. Not only did he bring his talent to the band, but after a single practice he also became able to play in sync with lead guitarist and vocalist Alexi Laiho. This synchronization can be observed during their live performances, or on the recorded tracks Bed of Razors, Lake Bodom and Downfall. His primary influence is keyboardist Jens Johansson from Stratovarius from whom he has adopted the style of playing his keyboard tilted forward.
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Henkka Blacksmith Henri Samuli Seppälä , is the bassist of the Finnish metal band Children of Bodom. Henkka is responsible for backing... vocals both on studio and live. Henkka is a very common nickname for Henri and seppä means blacksmith in English. The reason he has a T. in the middle of his name is his nickname being Torso. Henkka was born in 1980 in Espoo, Finland. He first started playing guitar at the age of eleven. He got into the heavy metal scene through his brother, who listened to bands such as Slayer and Pantera with his friends. Before that, he had only had contact with glam metal/hard rock bands such as Guns N' Roses and Poison. As time passed, his interest started leaning towards heavier bands, until in the early 90s he discovered black metal and death metal bands of the likes of Burzum, Dissection and Cannibal Corpse. He played drums in his first band at the age of 13. The band was called Aivokasvain . He was part of the band for two years, and then quit, switching his main instrument to the bass.
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Jaska Raatikainen is the drummer of the band Children of Bodom. Jaska Raatikainen was born in the town of Lappeenranta, in Finland. His first... instrument was the piano, and during most of his childhood also played the French horn in a big band - a fact which later led him to be introduced to Alexander Kuoppala. It was only at the age of 12 that he began playing drums, he had his first double bass pedals before he owned a drum kit. He was inspired by musicians such as Scott Travis and Mikkey Dee . He has two brothers; Jussi Raatikainen, who plays for numerous professional Finnish metal bands, as well as Julius Raatikainen, who plays for melodic death metal band Kauna. When Jaska met Alexi Laiho at school in the year of 1993, they realised that they had similar ideas and musical taste. Thus, they began playing together and idealizing the band which would one day become Children of Bodom. Jaska played a vital role in the formation of the band, since he was the one who brought both Alexander Kuoppala and Janne Wirman to their line-up. He also contributed some keyboards to their first demo, Ubiquitous Absence of Remission.
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Tuomas Planman is the keyboardist for the Finnish Melodic death metal band Norther; he also played in the black metal band Gramary. All of the... information in this article was found at the Official Norther website and the EndlessWar member information page. Photo found at the Spinefarm press area.
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Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho is a Finnish singer, composer, and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead guitarist as well as lead vocalist for... melodic death metal band Children of Bodom, and he is also the guitarist for Sinergy and Kylähullut. He has previously played with Thy Serpent and Impaled Nazarene on occasion, as well as Warmen and Hypocrisy. Laiho was ranked #96 out of 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time by Guitar World. Guitar World magazine has also ranked him as one of the 50 fastest guitarists in the world. In addition, Roadrunner Records ranked Laiho at #41 out of 50 of The Greatest Metal Frontmen of All Time. In addition to this, Total Guitar did a voting poll to determine the greatest metal guitarist of all time, and he was voted #1 out of 20 metal guitarists. In 2004, Laiho founded a side-project called Kylähullut, which was assembled together with Tommi Lillman and Vesa Jokinen 69er . The band was created merely for the entertainment of the musicians, and takes a carefree approach to their music. The band's discography includes two EP's, and two full-length albums.
more

Alexander Kuoppala is a Finnish musician. He was the rhythm guitarist from the Finnish heavy metal band Children of Bodom from 1995 to 2003. He... played on their albums Something Wild, Hatebreeder, Follow the Reaper, and Hate Crew Deathroll. He also plays on the Timo Rautiainen album Sarvivuori. Children of Bodom's first world tour began in 2003 and lasted until late 2004. The tour had many sold-out concerts and marked the consolidation of the band in North America, but was also accompanied by an unexpected announcement: Kuoppala decided to quit Children of Bodom for personal reasons right in the middle of the tour without giving previous warning. In an interview, when Alexi Laiho was asked why Kuoppala left the band, he stated that, "Well, I try to be careful about what I say about him because there is no bad blood between us. He told me that he just got sick of touring and the whole band/rock 'n roll lifestyle living in hotels and tour buses and stuff. For me it was really weird because he was always the one who was SO into it! He was a die hard rock 'n roller and suddenly he made a quick 180 turn in his whole life.
more

Janne Viljami Wirman is a Finnish musician; he is the keyboardist for the bands Children of Bodom and Warmen. Born in the town of Espoo, Finland,... Janne Wirman began playing the piano at the age of five. For most of his early life he focused his style on jazz, switching his main interest to heavy metal music once he joined the metal band Children of Bodom in 1997. He graduated from the Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory at the age of sixteen and was subsequently invited by Jaska Raatikainen to join Children of Bodom, due to their previous keyboardist – Jani Pirisjoki – being fired from the band. Janne was the deciding factor for them to truly begin their professional career. Not only did he bring his talent to the band, but after a single practice he also became able to play in sync with lead guitarist and vocalist Alexi Laiho. This synchronization can be observed during their live performances, or on the recorded tracks Bed of Razors, Lake Bodom and Downfall. His primary influence is keyboardist Jens Johansson from Stratovarius from whom he has adopted the style of playing his keyboard tilted forward.
more

Henkka Blacksmith Henri Samuli Seppälä , is the bassist of the Finnish metal band Children of Bodom. Henkka is responsible for backing... vocals both on studio and live. Henkka is a very common nickname for Henri and seppä means blacksmith in English. The reason he has a T. in the middle of his name is his nickname being Torso. Henkka was born in 1980 in Espoo, Finland. He first started playing guitar at the age of eleven. He got into the heavy metal scene through his brother, who listened to bands such as Slayer and Pantera with his friends. Before that, he had only had contact with glam metal/hard rock bands such as Guns N' Roses and Poison. As time passed, his interest started leaning towards heavier bands, until in the early 90s he discovered black metal and death metal bands of the likes of Burzum, Dissection and Cannibal Corpse. He played drums in his first band at the age of 13. The band was called Aivokasvain . He was part of the band for two years, and then quit, switching his main instrument to the bass.
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Petri Lindroos is a death melodic/folk metal guitarist and vocalist. He is currently the lead vocalist in Ensiferum and, prior to this, was a... founder and lead vocalist for Norther. At 14 years old, Petri began to play the guitar. In 1996 he founded the melodic death metal band Norther with drummer Toni Hallio. In 2004, he joined the folk metal/Viking metal band Ensiferum as lead vocalist and continued to perform and record with Norther until March 3, 2009, when Norther's official website announced his departure from the band to focus more on his duties with Ensiferum. Petri said later in an interview that he did not want to quit the band, and on the contrary, the band members forced him to. In 2008, Lindroos fell sick and was subsequently unable to perform on the planned Russian tour. For the duration of the tour, bass player Sami Hinkka took over Lindroos' vocals while ex-bassist Jukka-Pekka Miettinen filled in as a sessional guitarist. Musically he was influenced by Jeff Hanneman and Marty Friedman. Petri's favourite bands are primarily Megadeth and Slayer.
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Jaska Raatikainen is the drummer of the band Children of Bodom. Jaska Raatikainen was born in the town of Lappeenranta, in Finland. His first... instrument was the piano, and during most of his childhood also played the French horn in a big band - a fact which later led him to be introduced to Alexander Kuoppala. It was only at the age of 12 that he began playing drums, he had his first double bass pedals before he owned a drum kit. He was inspired by musicians such as Scott Travis and Mikkey Dee . He has two brothers; Jussi Raatikainen, who plays for numerous professional Finnish metal bands, as well as Julius Raatikainen, who plays for melodic death metal band Kauna. When Jaska met Alexi Laiho at school in the year of 1993, they realised that they had similar ideas and musical taste. Thus, they began playing together and idealizing the band which would one day become Children of Bodom. Jaska played a vital role in the formation of the band, since he was the one who brought both Alexander Kuoppala and Janne Wirman to their line-up. He also contributed some keyboards to their first demo, Ubiquitous Absence of Remission.
more