An ambitious female-fronted Finnish metal project founded in 2006 by multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Tuomas Seppälä and bass player Tommi Kuri, Amberian Dawn offers up an evocative blend of symphonic/neo-classical power metal that invokes names like Epica, Nightwish, and Within Temptation. Fronted by powerhouse lyric soprano Heidi Parviainen, the band issued their debut studio long-player River of Tuoni in 2008 via Finnish label KHY Suomen Musiikki. Fresh off a successful tour with Epica, the band headed back into the studio and began work on their sophomore outing, 2009's The Clouds of Northland Thunder. After inking a deal with Spinefarm Records the group issued a third studio album, 2010's End of Eden, followed by Circus Black in 2012, the latter of which was the first Amberian Dawn LP to utilize a full choir, and the last to feature vocalist Parviainen, who left the band shortly after the album's release to pursue other musical projects. 2013's Re-Evolution saw the band rebooting with a set of re-recordings featuring new singer Päivi "Capri" Virkkunen, and 2014's Napalm-issued Magic Forest offered up the first new set of original material from the group with Virkkunen at the helm. Ever prolific, Amberian Dawn wasted little time getting back to the studio, and released their seventh long-player, Innuendo, in the fall of 2015. October 2017 saw the release of the single "Maybe" in anticipation of the arrival of the group's eighth full-length, Darkness of Eternity, which arrived later that November. ~ James Christopher Monger