Insania (Stockholm) is a Swedish power metal band based in Stockholm, Sweden. Insania was founded in 1992 by two musicians from Stockholm - Mikko Korsbäck (drums) and Henrik Juhano (guitar). The goal was to write and play music in the vein of Helloween, Gamma Ray and Blind Guardian. Henrik and Mikko had earlier played in various garage bands, but it was now they had the chance to play the kind of music they both wanted. In the early days of the b ... and there was also bassplayer Tomas Stolt who left the band after a short while to play with other acts, but eventually returned later. Mikko knew a guy from school whose name was Niklas Dahlin and he became the second guitarist of the band in 1992. Keyboardplayer Patrik Västilä joined in 1994 and the band had various bassplayers until 1996 when Tomas Stolt rejoined. Mikko had earlier handled the vocals, but wanted to concentrate on solely playing the drums since singing had become too tiresome to handle at the same time. After vocalist David Henriksson joined in 1998 from the northern parts of Sweden the line-up was complete. This is the point where Insania became a complete act. Insania released two demos shortly after the arrival of David followed by their first studio album in 1999 called World of Ice. It was recorded in at Sunlight Studios in Stockholm with the Swedish legendary producer Thomas Skogsberg. After the release the band came to play at Sweden Rock festival in 2000 and had several gigs around Sweden. The World of Ice album was then followed up by Sunrise in Riverland two years later. The bands second album was recorded in at Finnvox studios in Helsinki with renowned producer Mikko Karmila. After the release several gigs followed in Sweden and many festivals booked the band. It was a busy time for the band and things were looking bright for the future. Then disaster struck… In 2001 after a supporting gig for Saxon, singer David Henriksson decided to leave the band and return to his hometown in northern Sweden due to personal reasons. After a short search, the band found a new and very talented singer in Ola Halén. Returning to Finland and Finnvox Studios in 2002, the band started recording their third album. Mikko Karmila was once again producing and Fantasy - a New Dimension was released in February 2003 - almost half a year after the recordings. The recordings didn´t go really as planned and the band was quite torn by many events in the past so inevitably further changes occurred. Back home after the recordings late in 2002 guitarist Henrik Juhano told the band he would quit due to personal reasons. Shortly thereafter keyboardplayer Patrik Västilä told the band he wanted to quit to focus on his studies and fellow band member guitarist Niklas Dahlin stated also that he would leave. Suddenly the band consisted only of Mikko on drums, Tomas on bass and Ola on vocals. A very serious meeting was held between the remaining members and the band decided to stick together. New members had to be found and it didn’t take long before they arrived. The band found a new keyboardplayer in Dimitri Keiski, who was recommended by Ola Halén as he knew him since earlier. Dimitri showed immediately to be an amazing musician handling several instruments very well and had a tremendous voice. Shortly after Dimitris arrival Peter Östros joined the band as guitarist. After some time the band decided to continue with only one guitarist, so the keyboards could get more space in the songs. A new demo was recorded between December 2003 and January 2004 with four new songs, showcasing the abilities of the new line-up regarding the composing of songs and the versatility of musical skills. In the summer of 2005, the band signed a record deal with the Swedish label Black Lodge (Sound Pollution). The band recorded their fourth full-length album Agony - Gift Of Life during December 2005, but due to technical errors, it was not mixed and mastered until November 2006. It was released on 1st of June 2007 in Sweden and on 15th of June, 2007 in the rest of the world. The new Insania had many gigs from this point on and in November 2007 the band embarked on a 3 week long European tour as support act for Finnish metal band Ensiferum together with Taiwanese band Chthonic. It had been a busy time for the band for a few years and after the European tour the band felt it was time for a break. No one really knew how long it would be… During the break the members of Insania found other things to do which took their focus to other places. Singer Ola Halén had already a solo project he calls Shadows past that he was able to put full focus on and early 2013 the debutalbum A perfect chapter was released. Guitarist Peter Östros had joined the German band Jaded heart and has since he joined the band been part of releasing 3 albums. Jaded heart gained rapid success after releasing the album Sinister mind and came to play at several major festivals, touring Europe at many occasions and been playing in Asia a few times. Keyboardplayer Dimitri Keiski took part in a Swedish TV based singing talent competition called True Talent which he also won. The victory gave him a huge boost and he recorded a few albums under the name Expirience Dimitri Keiski. He came to tour around the Nordic countries with his solo act and perform in TV at a few occasions. He even visited China and performed in TV in front of hundreds of millions of viewers. Bassplayer Tomas Stolt joined the female fronted metal band Disdained that had been started by both former Insania guitarists Niklas Dahlin and Henrik Juhano back in 2005. Disdained came to release debutalbum Kill my only enemy in 2011. The band had several great gigs in Sweden and Finland at the time of the release. Drummer Mikko Korsbäck started playing with different renowned musician in different constellations and had gigs around the Nordic countries. Mikko being a versatile musician playing several instruments and singing was very popular to include in all kinds of projects. He would also participate in the recordings of one of the albums for Expirience Dimitri Keiski. In 2011 Mikko met up with Henrik Juhano that had quit the band Disdained and started talking about Insania again. They started writing new songs and talked to the old members of Insania for a reunion. Guitarist Peter joined in shortly after, but bassplayer Tomas and singer Ola decided to stay with their current bands for now. The band lacked a singer and bassplayer at this point so the simple answer was to ask ex-keyboardplayer Dimitri to handle both the vocals and bass. Patrik Västilä rejoined the band as keyboardplayer to fill the gap after Dimitri. This new line-up came to play at a few festivals and had some gigs around Sweden. This reunion lasted until about early 2012 when the band became idle again. The real reunion happened early 2013 when Mikko talked to the members of the last line-up to see who were hungry for more. Keyboardplayer Patrik Västilä and guitarist Henrik Juhano decided not to continue anymore. Guitarist Peter did join in again as his band Jaded heart would be less time consuming for him. Dimitri stated clearly that he wanted to keep singing, but wanted to skip playing the bass or keyboards. The band Disdained was at this time going through a rough period and both bassplayer Tomas and Guitarist Niklas Dahlin quit the act. After a short meeting with the remaining members of Insania both Tomas and Niklas came to rejoin Insania again. Now the band was almost complete with 2 guitarists again, but no keyboardplayer. At the present the band has no new keyboardplayer, but the idea is to have keyboards played on the new songs. Update regarding this matter will follow…See more [+]
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