Riivaaja's History
1992
In autumn 1992 Sultan (Cadaver's big brother) borrowed Deicide's first album
"Deicide" from Oulu Library. Cadaver and Dominus listened to this album
intensively at school and at home, while playing Crime Wave (TM).
Cadaver had played guitar since spring 1992 and when Dominus heard Deicide
he decided to play bass, like Glen Benton.
1993
However, Dominus didn't get the bass
until autumn 1993 and meanwhile Cadaver practiced neoclassical metal guitar
techniques and wrote his own bad metal songs.
After this they started to play Metallica covers badly. Guitar tuning and
playing skills were almost non-existent. Cadaver started to write his own
bad death/thrash songs.
1994
Inspiration struck in autumn 1994, as senior high had started. At that
time they wrote their first own song together, called "Astral Struggle",
and took the name Gehenna for their duo. After that new songs erupted
rapidly from their sick minds. Classics, like "Tales From The Land Of No Return"
and "Open The Book Of The Worm" were written during this time.
1995
Cadaver & Dominus also tried to play with a drummer, Toni Järvenpää, but
this produced no results. In May 1995 they played their first gig (as a duo)
at their school.
During summer they jammed with Joni Jokirinta & Jarkko Viinamäki
(both guitarists) and wrote, just before the start of school, the infamous
"Baptized In The Name Of Satan". Joni took up playing drums and they
experimented with various line-ups, finally ending up as a trio. This line-up practiced intensely
during autumn 1995...
1996
...and spring 1996, and
made crude recordings at school and at Joni's home. Though, at this point Gehenna also played
shitty Paradise Lost & Millencolin covers. Also,
three questionable songs were written: "Behind The North", "Vermis Mysteriis" and
"Gehenna", which weren't played much later.
The trio line-up climaxed to a gig played at Rotuaari, Oulu in May 1996.
The setlist was: "Dogma", "Tales From The Land Of No Return",
"Turned Priest", "Suicide Candidate" and "Baptized In The Name Of Satan".
In the beginning of summer Joni moved to Oulu and sold his drums. Gehenna
was back in duo format. They started to write angry and weird songs like
"Viha" & "Law Of Osiris". In the autumn they changed their name to Riivaaja
and sent their first demo to Soundi for review.
Next the style changed towards simple verse-chorus-metal, as shown by
"Lapin Sota" and "Kylväjä". The new songs were also short.
In December 1996 they recorded their second demo "Lapin Sota" which was
never released. At the same time they made their first CD "Inho ja Viha" that
wasn't released either (Dominus has the only survived copy). That included
both demos, Rotuaari gig and a live version of "Lapin Sota" with the
Messinkimuna-lineup (Keijo Goman on drums).
1997
After finishing high school Riivaaja re-recorded the material of the first two
demos and also recorded their old songs. The result was their second CD
"1994-1997", which had much better quality. This CD can be borrowed from Ii
library.
After this was the time to write new songs, this time in a weird rock-style.
"Lento 666 Helvettiin" and "Kostaja" are good examples of this.
"Kolmas Valtakunta" was a typical fast Riivaaja-song again, and "Aamunkoitto"
was a haunting insane asylum ballad. These four songs form their third demo,
which was sent to Soundi for review in summer 1997. As the end of the summer
closed in they wrote more songs in the same style: "Massa Psykoosi", "Erakko",
"Ockulta", "Tuska" and "Filosofi". These songs along with the songs from the
demo formed their third CD, "Filosofi".
1998
In the beginning of June 1998 Riivaaja finished its fourth demo "Liha" and
Dominus moved to Tampere. A compilation CD, "Vihasta Lihaan", containing all the demos so far
was added to the CD catalog.
In the end of 1998 Dominus visited in the North and Riivaaja wrote four new
lyrics. No composing was done at this point.
1999
In July 1999 Dominus came to visit again. Two more lyrics were written, and
the accumulated six songs were composed and recorded. The result was the
CD-EP "Pappi".
In December 1999 Cadaver visited Dominus, 7 lyrics were written:
"Joosef", "Vartija", "Yhtye", "Tauti", "Paskan Jälkeen", "Oppilas"
and "Kosminen Yhteys". "Yhtye" was also composed, it represented the rock
style once again, as a kind of tribute to Dire Straits.
2000
In July 2000 Cadaver visited again. More lyrics were written and most of
the songs so far were composed. In August Einherjar joined the band, the
remaining songs were composed and the new CD, "Riivaaja", was recorded in
six days.
2001
After this it was a time for a long break, to wait for inspiration to rise
again. Lyric ideas were collected during this time, but nothing was composed.
It was decided that the next recording should contain oldschool death metal
and occult topics, in the good old style. In summer 2001 Cadaver wrote the
first lyric for the new CD, "Uhrieni Sielut".
2002
Collecting lyric ideas & lyrics continued until Spring 2002, when composing
was planned to take place. In the end of May 2002, Cadaver visited Dominus at
Tampere and the songs of the CD were composed in 3 days.
During summer 2002, Cadaver programmed drums and recorded his guitars for the
coming CD. Einherjar was supposed to record his guitars, but ran out of time
as he moved to Joensuu for studies, in the beginning of August. In September,
Dominus was summoned to the North for bass & vocal recordings. These took
2 days and after that, the "Jälleensyntymä" CD was mixed + booklet designed in a matter of
hours.
2004
A long time passed without any blasphemous Riivaaja activity. But in December
2004 Dominus got ideas for several songs, and Cadaver also had one. So, it was
time to summon Cadaver to Tampere again.
2005
In the beginning of January 2005, during an intense 3-day session, lyrics and music were
written to 5 songs (originally only a demo of 4 songs had been planned). Like many times
before, several of the songs dealt with religion, and the Ancient Ones weren't forgotten either.
After returning from Tampere, Cadaver recorded internal
rehearsal-versions of the songs. Then there was a month's pause from evilness, after which
it became apparent that Dominus would relocate himself to Oulu starting from the end of February,
and also Einherjar would be free for drum recordings in the beginning of March.
When Dominus appeared, lyrics and music to two more songs (both having a religious theme)
were immediately composed. Then it was time to prepare for the actual recording sessions.
All instruments, including blasphemous lead bass, were recorded during 11th-13th March and
evil vocals were done in two separate sessions on the 15th and 17th. The name "Seitsemän"
(Seven) was chosen for this CD-EP, and it contains the following songs: "Jumala", "Saatana",
"Taistelija", "Sankari", "Peto", "Enkeli" and "Orja". This production was released on 25th March,
marking another fine chapter in Riivaaja's perverse tradition!
Because Dominus would stay in Oulu until the end of May, it didn't take long for inspiration to develop again.
Now it was time to make a concept-demo of 3 songs, commenting the Finnish society from three
different perspectives. The new songs were of experimental nature and contained harmonica
played by Dominus. Recordings took one day and the production, called "Trilogia", was released
on 18th May. Also, just before it was time for Dominus to move, a blasphemous occult song "Seitsemän" was
written & recorded.
During the summer Dominus journeyed North for two short visits. In July, a song called "Pyhättö",
featuring chromatic harmonica, was written. On 6th August, the song was recorded and released.
In the end of December, Dominus visited once more. The song "Järjestys" had been composed earlier,
now it was time to record it. Another song "Tutkija" was composed and recorded. These two songs were then
immediately released as the "Järjestys"-single on 18th December, marking the end of an extremely productive
year in Riivaaja's history!
2006
In September 2006 Riivaaja was requested to play live at the Iik! horror film festival after-party club 4th
November, at Ravintola Iisakki. This blasphemous opportunity was not to be missed and so practice sessions
began with guest guitarist Fakiiri to beef up the live sound. Because of distance, Dominus attended only some
rehearsals (during the first visit, lyrics were also written for future use) but this didn't matter as a true
evil show was played to a satanically noisy crowd! Riivaaja thanks everyone who was present.
2007
Plans for making new evil Riivaaja music started in the beginning of 2007. Two finished lyrics were already
left over from previous sessions, and in March a weekend-long lyric writing session was held in Tampere,
yielding three more lyrics. Gehenna recordings "Saatanallisia Äänityksiä" & "Saatanallisia Säkeitä" were also
digitally remastered yet again and put online.
In July 2007, the "Stadion"-single, containing the songs "Stadion" and "Kulkija", was composed and recorded in
less than 12 hours.
2008
In March 2008, Riivaaja composed and recorded their longest epic so far, "Syvä Jää II", in the space of 24 hours.
Clocking in at almost 7 minutes, this song features several mood changes and guitar/bass solos. It was released
on 9th March on a single bearing the same name.
During the summer, ideas materialized for an evil collection, with the cover art depicting an occult seal.
These ideas were put to reality on 13th September, as the "Avain Ja Portti" (Key and the Gate) -CD was released.
It contains songs from the period 1999-2008, spanning Riivaaja's catalogue from "Pappi" -EP to "Syvä Jää II" -single.
2009
During Spring 2009 ideas materialized for one more blasphemous production, as Dominus was moving to Thailand in the
autumn, and further Riivaaja activity would therefore be improbable. Ideas were put into reality in May 2009, when the
"Hulluuden Vuorilla" (At the Mountains of Madness) -CD-EP was composed and recorded during one weekend. It is a
violent, insane and occultistic production, in true Riivaaja tradition.
2014
In Spring 2014 Riivaaja raised itself from the grave during Dominus' visit in Finland. An epic single bearing the name
"Simulaatio I (Stanford)" was composed and recorded, and finally released in the autumn.