Amberian Dawn is musically lead by keyboardist/guitarist Tuomas Seppälä, who exclusively composes all music for AD.
All members of the band have some form of extended history with music and have played in many different bands. Tuomas Seppälä, Heikki Saari(drums), Peter James Goodman (vocals), and Tommi Kuri played in a band called Virtuocity. As Virtuocity disbanded, they started working on songs composed by Tuomas. He started playing guitar, which he mastered as well as playing keyboards. Sampo Seppälä (guitars) and Tom Sagar (keyboards) joined to establish Atheme One.
It was in the summer of 2006 that Tuomas and Tommi decided to start looking for a female classical singer. Tuomas had composed dozens of songs that were not suitable for the voice of Atheme One's vocalist, Peter James Goodman. They didn't want to waste the songs, so they began searching for suitable singer.
After a few weeks search, almost at the same time, they found the same advertisement - a classical soprano singer Heidi Parviainen (from the band Iconofear). They listened to her sample and decided to organize a demo session. They were pleased with the demo and thought that Heidi would be a perfect match and they liked the fact that Heidi can write lyrics too.
Their first studio session was in fall 2006 in which they recorded two songs (River of Tuoni and Evil Inside Me) at the Rockstar Productions studio in Hyvinkää, Finland. Soon after, Heikki Saari moved to a band called Norther, being replaced by Joonas Pykälä-Aho (from the band Thaurorod and Lathspell).
After a while Sampo Seppälä decided to leave the band due to personal reasons. On August 1, 2007 the band introduced Kasperi Heikkinen (previously in Guardians of Mankind, Merging Flare, and Iconofear) as the new guitarist.
Amberian Dawn signed a record deal with Finnish label KHY Suomen Musiikki. Their debut album, River of Tuoni, was released in Finland on January 30, 2008 and hit the charts right after release in Finland.
In the summer and Autumn of 2008, they were the main support for Epica's European tour. In late 2008, they recorded their second album The Clouds of Northland Thunder which was released in June of 2009.
Third album End of Eden was released in October 2010 on Spinefarm Records
Their fourth album Circus Black was released in February 2012.
In late 2012, the band lost three members, vocalist Heidi Parviainen, drummer Heikki Saari and guitarist Kasperi Heikkinen. Parviainen made an announcement on Facebook, saying that "Early this year we noticed that we had reached the point where we didn't have much to offer to each other any more, and my own ambitions and Amberian Dawn's goals weren't coinciding any longer." Former members Joonas Pykälä-aho (drums) and Emil "Emppu" Pohjalainen (guitar) were announced to be rejoining to replace the two departing instrumentalists.
On December 21, 2012, the new singer was revealed to be Päivi "Capri" Virkkunen, and that she would participate in the creation of a compilation album. In the announcement, Tuomas Seppälä said: "Finding Capri and getting her to join AD is like a big dream coming true to me. Capri shares the same taste in music as I and that's why is obvious that our new partnership is like “match made in heaven”. She really makes my compositions to shine like never before and I'm so impressed about her every way. I'm as excited as back then, when I found our original singer Heidi. Now my main focus is to make the whole world to hear about Capri and start composing new songs for her. But first, we're all concentrating on recording this compilation album with Capri and then I'll start working with new material for the new studio album".
Their compliation album "Re-Evolution" was released on June 14, 2013 (Finland) and June 17, 2013 (Europe, USA, Japan, Asia & Australia). It features songs previously sung by Heidi Parviainen, but interpreted by Capri.
Official site: http://www.amberiandawn.com
River of Tuoni
Amberian Dawn Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The mother runs and tries to find her son
Searching for her lost hero
she wades the river deep
to her belt in mud
Oh! Heavy-hearted am I
Tuoni has taken my son!
Oh! Heavy-hearted am I
Tuoni has taken my son!
Fear in her heart she calls her son,
as she rakes the Tuoni river and sees the black swan
Now she wades the river deeper
to deathlands shoals and shallows
and finds her son
Oh! Heavy-hearted am I
Tuoni has taken my son!
Oh! Heavy-hearted am I
Tuoni has taken my son!
The song "River of Tuoni" by Amberian Dawn begins with a melancholic scene where a mother is searching for her son along the river in a land plagued by dark and ominous death. As she searches for her lost hero, she wades deeper into the river, finding herself waist-deep in mud. The mother's heart is heavy with fear and sorrow as she realizes that Tuoni, the personification of death in Finnish mythology, has taken her son.
The mother desperately calls out for her son as she continues to scour the river. Suddenly, she sees a black swan and wades even deeper towards deathland's shoals and shallows. Thankfully, all her efforts were not in vain as she eventually finds her son. The song beautifully describes the mother's emotions in this moment of reunion - a mixture of relief and heavy-heartedness.
Overall, the song is a poignant tribute to motherhood and the lengths that mothers go to protect and find their children. The use of Tuoni, a Finnish mythological figure, further highlights the themes of death and the mystical in this beautiful and moving piece of music.
Line by Line Meaning
Along the black death-land river
The mother is traveling along the river that runs through a land of death.
The mother runs and tries to find her son
The mother is on a mission to search for and find her lost son.
Searching for her lost hero
The mother is searching for her son whom she considers a hero.
she wades the river deep
The mother crosses the river by walking through its deep waters.
to her belt in mud
The mother wades so deep that the mud reaches her waist.
Oh! Heavy-hearted am I
The mother is expressing her grief and sorrow for the loss of her son.
Tuoni has taken my son!
Tuoni is the one responsible for taking her son and the mother is blaming him.
Fear in her heart she calls her son,
The mother is scared and calls out for her son while searching for him.
as she rakes the Tuoni river and sees the black swan
As the mother searches the river, she notices a black swan.
Now she wades the river deeper
The mother decides to move even deeper into the river.
to deathlands shoals and shallows
The mother crosses the river to reach the parts of the river where there are more rocks and shallow spots.
and finds her son
Finally, the mother successfully locates her lost son.
Contributed by Hannah G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.