As a representant of the melodic metal music genre Arkadia has since its birth in spring 2003 made music in its own terms, but its musicians are not denying the influence of such bands as Iron Maiden, Metallica, In Flames, Sentenced and numerous other bands onto their style of play.

Arkadia plays somewhat guitar-dominant metal, its riffs wandering from catching ethereal leads to really heavy moshing riffs - this would be because most of the songs are composed by lead guitarist Migi Järvenpää and drummer Love Ala-Louvesniemi, who started his musical career playing guitar and still does so proficiently.

Arkadia’s vocalist AJ Valkama interprets the multifaceted texts with originality, his singing voice changing from Bruce Dickinson –kind-of high singing parts to convincing roars. Most of Arkadia’s lyrics are made by him and Järvenpää, and in the lyrics the listener can hopefully notice a more profound meaning, that rises from the writers’ personal experiences in life.

Arkadia’s unique rhythm section consists of drummer Love, his brother Vesku Ala-Louvesniemi (bass) and Aapo Rikala (rhythm guitar). Aapo has the longest experience in the band as a musician; he has played guitar since the year 1997 – for 9 years now. That explains the indisputable accuracy of his sharp riffs. Vesku joined the band’s four founding members in the year 2005, when AJ decided to leave the bass and concentrate on vocals alone. Since his joining, the band’s sound has become in a noticeable degree more stable and deep.

Arkadia has made about 15 gigs between the years 2003 and 2007 mostly in the region of Western Finland in small rock festivals and bars. Arkadia’s live act is energetic and straightforward, and it is characterized by both remorse and hatred, thereby reflecting the cruelty of life. Arkadia’s gig is a show one has to see to really know what it is about.

Arkadia has also made three demos on the consecutive years 2003, 2004 and 2005. They represent the more-and-more confident and metallic sound of Arkadia. The two latest demos, Cancelled and The Krossing Point, are available for download for free in the Finnish music portal Mikseri.net.

As the future plans are concerned, Arkadia is planning to release an EP in May 2007 before summer, and that EP will be something big. The band has trained on new songs since the releasing of The Krossing Point, and soon will release what the members think is the best record the band has ever produced, accumulating the best sides of every single player and style of play. With that EP the band hopes to finally receive some attention it deserves in the Finnish media and metal community.

As a final thought, I would like to say that Arkadia is all about heart. Arkadia makes its records, gigs everything related to music with the utmost passion for music. We don’t want to hide a single feeling from anything we do. We would like to represent our feelings to you, our listeners, as they are, using music as the channel of distribution. For success is not an end in itself for the musicians in this band. Success is something that will come for our heart-blood. No matter what comes our way, we’re creating and playing music and having a blast while doing so.

Migi for Arkadia, spring '07