(Metal Heaven) Total time: 72.00
The story of Finnish band ALTARIA started in the beginning of year 2000 when Marko Pukkila and Tony Smedjebacka decided to form a new outfit. Both musicians were members of the band BLINDSIDE.. The first addition was singer Johan Mattjus, the Next member to join ALTARIA was a guitar player Jani Liimatainen, of SONATA ARCTICA. After the first studio session , a 3-track demo/promo cd called "Sleeping Visions" was distributed to media In the beginning of 2002 there were some scheduling problems with Mattjus, so Jouni Nikula was called to help the band during their 2 live shows. Because the gigs went extremly well Jouni became a permanent member of the band During the spring 2002 ALTARIA went again to the studio, recording eight songs. Four of them was released under the name "Feed The Fire demo. In four weeks people downloaded over 1700 MP3 songs of ALTARIA. In August, 2002, ALTARIA signed a contract with AOR Heaven and the debute album called "Invitation" were scheduled to be released in spring 2003. The Autumn 2002guitarist, Emppu, became a permanent member of ALTARIA. The release date of Invitation was set for April 28th, 2003.
Line-up changes were made after releasing the debute album Invitation. Taage on vocals ALTARIA was the new man, while Emppu left to become a full time NIGHTWISH member Since January 2004 ALTARIA has performed as four-piece band.Petri Aho, a guitaris joined the band After the Finnish tour in January 2004ALTARIA hit the studio to record Divinity. Jani Liimatainen and ALTARIA parted ways mutually in June 2005, and in July ALTARIA they've found the best possible replacement - J-P Alanen of Celesty
Now we have this compilation under the name of “Divine Invitation” of the band’s first two albums “Invitation” and “Divinity” plus two unreleased, new songs with the current line-up incl. new singer Marco Luponero (ex Terrorwheel along with seven bonus tracks from their demos “Sleeping Visions” and “Feed The Fire”. Most of them even the demo versions of the songs are interesting. The result is an excellent melodic power metal compilation album, showing the best of a band in the vein of HELLOWEEN, STRATOVARIUS, DEEP PURPLE, RAINBOW with excellent use of the keyboards to add extra depth and dimensions to their music. The guitarists are really worked as a team, reminding of the good days of HELLOWEEN and IRON MAIDEN guitar twins with a tone of Michale Schenker in melody. The vocals are among the best ever delivered in the Finnish scene despite the change of vocalists, emotional, passionate, high pitched when needed with a feel of NWOBHM, like a mix between DEMON and HEAVY LOAD. The biggest advantage of the band is that they have a great sense of song writing. You can find elements from the early CRIMSON GLORY, HEIR APPARENT albums in a more European version. This compilation is a great opportunity for all those who didn’t get ALTARIA from the start to find more about such a promising band.
