User:Atomic Scrap Dragon/sandbox/Our Fragile Echo

Disclaimer: This is a fictional band of my own creation for a shared universe I am planning - nothing here is reality. This page will be for my own personal use to get more of a hang of formatting.

Our Fragile Echo is an independent Finnish rock band from Helsinki, Finland, founded in 5718. The band's current line-up consists of lead vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Päiviö Selänne, co-lead vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Sini Nykänen, multi-instrumentalists Kullervo Venäläinen and Heljä Ketola, and drummer Hellä Karttunen, all of whom are founding members. Our Fragile Echo has currently released one demo album, three studio albums, one EP, one live album, and two short films, all written, produced, recorded, and released independently.

Early musical style
All early material released by Our Fragile Echo was generally classified as death metal, thrash metal, gothic metal, melodic death metal, symphonic black metal, doom metal, horror punk, shock rock, death rock, and screamo. Vocal styles used by the band include singing, screaming, growling, shrieks, and snarls.

Later musical style
Following the sudden vocal cord surgery of Päiviö, the band announced that they would be on a hiatus while she recovered. The band continued to tour with Sini taking over as the band's lead vocalist, but they would not record a new studio until when or if Päiviö recovered, with Sini stating "We are like a family. We either make music together, the five of us, or we don't do it at all. So if Päiviö can never sing again, the five of us have already decided we'll do our more tour, and then that will be it for Our Fragile Echo."

While the band had originally intended to never release another album, Päiviö would convince them to move the band's musical style in a different direction in the months following her surgery, one that would require little to no singing. The result would be a six-track EP titled Temple of the Autumnal Ghost, a heavily experimental release that the band and critics described as dark ambient, experimental rock, industrial, progressive rock, art rock, alternative rock, dungeon synth, and instrumental rock with heavy influence taken from electronica, nu metal, grunge, goth-pop, emo, classic rock, and classical. True to Päiviö's word, it featured very few vocal elements, with only two of the six tracks featuring singing, primarily provided by Sini, who, as she had during tours, took over the role of lead vocalist.

The EP resulted in speculation that the band's extreme metal days were over, and as time passed since its release, the band would only make a single Twitter post regarding their future, saying, "We don't know what the future holds for Our Fragile Echo right now. Päiviö needs to recover from having surgery performed on her vocal cords, so in the meantime, you guys are gonna have to enjoy that weird album we put out until we can decide on the best path for our future. It's been a fun twelve years, but if Päiviö can't continue performing with us, then we have already agreed to call it curtains for the band. We're like a family and the five of us can't make music together, then the band won't continue."

The band's hiatus would go on to last another five years and would end only when the band released their unannounced eponymous fourth studio album to subsequent critical acclaim. The album would again mark another stylistic change for the band, completely abandoning the heavy elements of symphonic black metal, melodic death metal, doom metal, and thrash metal that had remained consistent across their first three studio albums. It was described as an alternative metal, nu metal, post-grunge, hard rock, hardcore punk, and alternative rock album featuring elements from thrashcore, emo, grunge, and traditional heavy metal, with the band announcing that on the orders of the doctor who performed Päiviö's vocal cord surgery, she would not be able to use unclean vocals again and, as such, this would be their new sound for the foreseeable future, maybe with "the occasional new metalcore song thrown in if Sini doesn't mind screaming a lot". The band would later go on to also begin releasing post-punk and post-hardcore-influenced pop punk and emo non-album singles, in addition to the sound established on their most recent album.

Sini, the band's long time co-lead vocalist known for her snarls, brutal screams, and growls, announced using the band's Twitter account that she would not be using growled vocals again and that her style of screaming would also be changed, as well as mentioning that she would not be screaming as much, instead moving towards using more clean vocals with screaming being reserved to "the rare heavier song", in her own words. With this decision reached, the band also announced that any songs from their first three albums that featured heavy use of screamed and growled vocals from both Päiviö and Sini would have to be removed from their band's live setlist indefinitely.

The band would later transition into a variety of genres such as country, rock and roll, post-hardcore, punk rock, Egyptian folk, ambient, and Sumerian folk.

Lyrical themes
Lyrically, the band's music revolves around themes commonly found in horror punk, doom metal, gothic metal, thrash metal, death metal, and death rock. Such themes featured in Our Fragile Echo's music includes horror movies (sometimes including slasher film-stylized violence), science fiction B-movies, suicide, depression, the meaninglessness of life, religion, Lovecraftian horror, nature, mythology, science fiction, politics, criticism of The Establishment, and concern over the destruction of the environment.

The band's lyrical themes are occasionally borrowed from nu metal and grunge by dealing with more personal topics such as pain, angst, bullying, emotional issues, grief, death, social alienation, self-doubt, abuse, assault, neglect, betrayal, social isolation, emotional isolation, psychological trauma, and a desire for freedom. Other times, taking influence from certain black metal styles, Our Fragile Echo's lyrics deal with themes such as war, rebirth, natural phenomena, the mythology of cultures such as the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians, and traditional Finnish folklore.

The band's inclusion of religious, political, and environmental messages in their lyrics often results in them being labeled as a protest band, but they detest these statements, with Päiviö explicitly stating that the band is "not protesting anything, we're only bringing awareness to the issues that everybody else is afraid to talk about - somebody needs to talk about this shit, and we're the band to do that. If we piss some people off in doing so, then so be it."

Influences
Our Fragile Echo has cited a wide variety of bands as influences, including Metallica, Evanescence, Nightwish, Black Veil Brides, Kiss, Mötley Crüe, Motionless in White, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, The Beatles, Slayer, Pink Floyd, Bring Me The Horizon, Linkin Park, Falling in Reverse, Queen, Hollywood Undead, Ice Nine Kills, Nine Inch Nails, Blink-182, Sum 41, My Chemical Romance, Green Day, AC/DC, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Scorpions, Tiamat, The Pretty Reckless, Within Temptation, Rise Against, Rage Against The Machine, Papa Roach, Deftones, Slipknot, Godsmack, Nirvana, P.O.D., Of Mice & Men, From Ashes to New, Cannibal Corpse, Venom, Diamond Head, Iron Maiden, Motörhead, Suicidal Tendencies, and Body Count.

The band also cites classical musicians Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Johann Sebastian Bach as major influences on their sound.

Among lead vocalist Päiviö Selänne's personal influences outside of the aforementioned artists are Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Madonna, Dolly Parton, Pink, Avril Lavigne, Janis Joplin, Kesha, Miley Cyrus, Joan Jett, and Halsey.

Members

 * Päiviö Selänne - lead vocals, unclean vocals, bass, piano, keyboards, harmonica, production, mixing, programming, composer, art direction, songwriter
 * Sini Nykänen - co-lead vocals, unclean vocals, lead guitar, synthesizers, violin, viola, ukulele, paintings, creative direction, songwriter, film direction
 * Kullervo Venäläinen - rhythm guitar, cello, twelve-string guitar, production, engineering, editing, songwriter, backing vocals
 * Heljä Ketola - double bass, harp, saxophone, flute, clarinet, trumpet, sampling, songwriter, backing vocals
 * Hellä Karttunen - drums, percussion, songwriter, backing vocals

Studio Albums

 * Parasitic Cruelty (3721)
 * Theater of Chaos (3725)
 * Rapture (3729)
 * Our Fragile Echo (3735)
 * Childhood Memories (3740)
 * The Pyramid Texts (3742)

Extended Plays

 * Our Fragile Echo (3718)
 * Temple of the Autumnal Ghost (3730)

Live albums

 * Our Fragile Echo: Live in Helsinki

Singles

 * "Born From Depravity"
 * "Suffering"
 * "The Poisoned"
 * "Grief (Honor Is Not For Me)"
 * "The Night He Died"
 * "Drinking From An Ocean Of Grief"
 * "All That Remains Is Hate"
 * "	...and Sadness Reigns"
 * "Forget to Breath (I Hate Myself)"
 * "Warbringer"
 * "Paranoia (Comfort Is Not For Me)"
 * "The Void In My Heart"
 * "Sacrifice (What Are Morals?)"
 * "Free The Nipple (I Don't Give A Shit)"
 * "The Night He Died (Part II)"
 * "Simulation Theory"
 * "I Will Not Be Silenced"
 * "So Long Yesterday"
 * "It's Tough To Make Dreams Come True"
 * "Your Inner Child Never Dies"
 * "Childhood Memories"
 * "Softer Dreams"
 * "Cry of Dragon Queen (The Glory of Tiamat)"
 * "Tales from the Desert - Tombs of the Ancients"
 * "Land Between Rivers"
 * "The Ballad of Gilgamesh"
 * "The Pharoah's Curse"
 * "Valley of the Kings - A Hymn for the Sacred Land"