ARCTORA - FINLAND

The Storm Is Over - 2022 - WormHoleDeath
Dressed in Golden Sunlight - 2026 - Art Gates

Arctora image
  
 
Members
Vocals
Aeonian Sorrow, Earthblood>>JOEL NOTKONEN>>Aeonian Sorrow, Earthblood - Diregod, Earthblood>>NIKO KAUHANEN>>Diregod, Earthblood

Guitar
As The Sun Falls, Ondfødt, Diregod, Outlaw>>JOEL NOTKONEN>>As The Sun Falls, Ondfødt, Diregod, Outlaw - Hexing, Trial By Fire, Blood Red Delusion, Apocrypth, Sikovuori, Phobia Ride, Earthblood, Disguised Malignance, Asphodelus>>TUURE SUOMALAINEN>>Apocrypth, Sikovuori, Phobia Ride, Earthblood, Asphodelus

Bass
Ondfødt, Phobia Ride, Tenebrae Aeternum, Earthblood>>Joel Notkonen>>Ondfødt, Phobia Ride, Tenebrae Aeternum, Earthblood - JDiregod, Earthblood, Ondfødt>>ERE "PIHVI" HALONEN>>JDiregod, Earthblood, Ondfødt

Drums
Joel Notkonen - Spell Of Torment, Void Of Hope, Kvaen, Outlaw, Ondfødt, Dispyt, Moonlight Sorcery>>TOMMI TUHKALA>>Spell Of Torment, Void Of Hope, Outlaw, Ondfødt, Dispyt, Moonlight Sorcery




History & Biography
This melodic death metal band was founded in Finland in 2021. Joel Notkonen was the sole member. An album called The Storm Is Over emerged in late 2022. There was a video for the song I Am Human. Art Gates Records signed Arctora to its roster at the beginning of 2026. The band had already independently recorded its album. The full line-up boasted members from Earthblood and Ondfødt. Dressed In Golden Sunlight was slated for December of 2026.

The band's monicker is a mixture of 'Arctic' and the Finnish word 'Torahammas', which translates into Fang.


Reviews

ARCTORA - DRESSED IN GOLDEN SUNLIGHT - ART GATES  
Superb speed, incredibly tight, hard-hitting drums, good production and metal soloing (think late Carcass or Arch Enemy)... Double-checking… this can't be… these guys are Finnish… But hold on… what's this? Clean chants, a synthesiser background… They are Finns! Keyboards, violin and clean commercial backing chants, throaty spoken word trying to sound affected while being unable to hold the line on heaviness for longer than 30 seconds before reverting to the same old commercial poseur-o-rama trash… this, my friends, is as good a genetic test for Finnishness as any. Superfluous, unwanted pop music elements to water down a good thing. Congratulations, you are in fact Finns!
Similarly, the second song White Shores is a mix of Children Of Bodom, mid-period Atrocity and To/Die/For. It's goth rock with blast beats. No wonder the band photo has a member showing his backside to the lens. That is what Finland is to metal: the middle finger. Clean singing backed by some screams… oh boy, what a cliché . Hey, End Of Green and Green Carnation fans. I've got something for you. It has a great distorted bass and pounding drums, but cliché upon clichés of modern Finland remind us why the country is a clown parade. This one even has multiple acoustic guitars jamming and prancing on the lilac lake so the girlies (or latest hip tapas restaurant patrons who booked their table 3 months ago) don't get left out. Heroic rock and goth with extreme metal mixed in. Based on momentary snippets, Dressed In Golden Sunlight could have been a serious metal album, but apparently the genes always win out. The song Huku even introduces mallcore to the mix.
And so it goes. Every song heralds its potential and waters it down with one extraneous element or another.
The issuing label, Art Gates, calls it death metal. And despite being from Finland, they had us fooled for a minute or so too. In fact, Arctora is a keyboard-damaged pop rock band with elements of extreme metal. It's just that the boys like to hide the keyboardist title from the ranks. Rest easy, tapas fans, however. The keyboards are present.
The last song is called Far Away From This World - good news, goth fan girlies, the Peter Steele vocals dominate - and that's exactly where betrayers and pretenders need to go. "Oh how I wish I could turn back time," the singer whispers on the album and it was as if he took the words right out of this reviewer's mouth. - Ali "The Metallian"


Interviews







Arctora