Crossover metal legend
The group was formed in 1986 in Helsinki, Finland by singer/bassist Kärtsy Hatakka, guitarist Jariot Lehtinen and drummer Sal Suomalainen. In 1989, guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö joined the group, a year later the band released their first EP, Mut, Hei.
Monk Punk's debut album was released in 1991. As the title suggests, the album was primarily punk. The band only found their own distinctive sound of mixing many musical genres on their second album, Torcha! (1992).
After the release of a compilation of early recordings entitled Pala Leipää ("A piece of bread") (1993), the group released the album So Fine! (1994), musically similar to Torcha!. Another consecutive record, Big Bang (1995) became their biggest success up to that time. The album focuses on mixing techno with heavy metal.
In 1995, Sami Yli-Sirenö was replaced as guitarist by the current second guitarist of Children of Bodom, Roope Latvala. At that time, Kärtsy Hatakka was working with the conductor of the Avanti! Symphony Orchestra, Rikua Niemi, on a project combining Heavy Metal with Classical Music. The project then became known as Yeah! Yeah! Die! Die! Death Metal Symphony in Deep C. In 1995, it was performed live at the Helsinki music festival Taiteiden Yö, and a year later it was released as a separate album.
In 1997, the album Space Avenue saw the light of day, a more progressive work containing more electronic drums, during the recording of which Waltari collaborated with Apocalyptica. In 1998, the group released a compilation called Decade in honor of its tenth anniversary.
In 1999, Kärtsy Hatakka worked on another classic-metal collaboration, which gave rise to the Evangelicum stage show. This work differed from Yeah! Yeah! Die! Die!, in that it contained more than just music; a ballet and a light show were part of the performance. Evangelicum was never released as an album.
The next studio album Radium Round (1999) was characterized by a very strong pop influence. After its release, Waltari focused on less commercial work such as Channel Nordica (2000) (in collaboration with Sami choir Angelit), a bold combination of metal with Lapland folk music, and the punk EP Back To Persepolis (2001). However, these recordings were very difficult to find, so for a while the Waltars survived only by playing concerts. In 2001, original guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö returned to the group and Roope Latvala left the band.
After a three-year hiatus, Waltari returned to the scene in 2004 with the critically acclaimed Rare Species album and subsequent tour.
In 2005, Waltari released the album Blood Sample, a year later the compilation Early Years (remastered versions of Monk Punk, Pala Leipää and never-released songs from the eighties re-recorded by the original trio Jariot, Kärtsy and Sale), this year also saw the release of the album Polib si grandfather of the Czech rock group Wohnout, on which the song Cymbals is found, the result of the collaboration of the group Wohnout with Waltari and Lenka Dusilová
The next studio effort of this Finnish band was the album Release Date (2007), on which Waltari show their harder, more metal side to the fans. This album also includes the bonus track Spokebone, on which the band collaborated with vocalist Tommi Joutsen of Amorphis and the Finnish ethno-group Värttinä. Two years later, they released a record called Below Zero.
