My Fate

Finland's My Fate is among the numerous bands that came out of the Scandinavian metal underground in the early 2000s. Their alternative metal (which incorporates elements of death metal/black metal, thrash metal and hardcore) is full of contrasts. At times, My Fate can be melodic (in a dark, haunting way), but other times, the Finnish outfit will pound listeners into submission with vicious sensory assaults. If My Fate is being melodic one minute, there is a very good chance that they will take a nasty turn the next minute and demonstrate just how dense, ferocious and brutally harsh they can be. And Antti Ojanen, My Fate's lead singer, is quite appropriate for the band because of his ability to handle both the sane and the insane. Some of Ojanen's lead vocals with My Fate are clean and conventional, but the Nordic singer can easily switch to the sort of demonic, guttural growling that death metal/black metal and grindcore are known for.

My Fate (which, like most Scandinavian metal bands, writes in English exclusively) was formed in Tampere, Finland during the spring of 2000 by three headbangers who were in their late teens at the time: guitarist Jaakko Jarvensivu (b. Sep. 12, 1981), bassist Roope Lehtinen (b. June 17, 1980) and drummer Vilho Rajala (b. Nov. 18, 1981). Before My Fate, Rajala and Lehtinen had been with Wompuco, an obscure Finnish metal band that was formed in 1997 and called it quits in early 2000 not long before My Fate's formation. (Two of the people Rajala and Lehtinen knew from Wompuco, guitarists Janne Kykkänen and Risto Katajisto, have since played in a band called Superstar Suckers). In August 2000, Jarvensivu, Rajala and Lehtinen hired Ojanen (b. May 10, 1981) as My Fate's lead singer — and the group officially became a quintet when a second guitarist, Mikko Lehtinen (b. Dec. 12, 1982), was added in November 2000. Occasionally, Jarvensivu has played some keyboards with My Fate, but he is a guitarist first and foremost. My Fate's first release was an EP titled Bloodstains, which they followed up with their second EP, Sinking, in 2001. The band's first full-length album, Happiness Is Fiction, was recorded in 2002; after being released in Finland on the Firebox label in 2003, Happiness Is Fiction was distributed in the United States by the Phoenix, AZ-based Crash Music in 2004.