History & Biography Metal De Facto was founded in Helsinki, the capital of Finland, in late 2017. Guitar player Esa Orjatsalo, who used to play in Dreamtale, had been composing music on his own in order to create an ancient Rome-themed album. He met bassist Sami Hinkka while being a roadie for the latter's folk rock band Ensiferum. Drummer Atte Marttinen (Kivimetsän Druidi) completed the line-up in the spring of 2018. The group adopted the slogan 'Make Power Metal Great Again' despite having a keyboardist itself. The motto was inspired by the US President Donald Trump a favourite of nativists and the uneducated. The group supported Ensiferum on the latter's acoustic tour in 2018. The debut album was commemorated by a concert in Finland in February 2020. Silver Bullet opened. Metal De Facto presented a song by Kiuas, which featured the band's guitarist once.
Finland-based rock band Metal De Facto commemorated the one-year anniversary of its debut album Imperium Romanum with the release of a new five-track digital EP called Legionnaires' Oaths. The EP featured a studio and acoustic version of Legionnaires' Oaths and several cover versions. More concerts with Ensiferum followed. With the singer of the band Mikael Salo ill, Aleksi Parviainen (the brother of Ensiferum's Aleksi Parviainen), Tomi Kurtti (Mysterizer) and Marko Skou (Bloody Hell) stepped in. Spaniard Aitor Arrastia took over the vocals. The man had his own studio and could record there remotely and independently. The band opened a concert for Beast In Black. The boys jumped on the "Japanese culture" bandwagon (members' other act Everfrost, as well as Iron Maiden, Holy Martyr, Sabaton's Shiroyama, Fuck-Ushima, the Princess Ghibli albums, Persefone, Voivod, Houkago Grind Time, Ripped To Shreds, Matsunaga Was Right, Ibaraki, Yomi, Soul Dissolution, Henker, Abiotic, Tales Of The Tomb, Dragonforce, Powerglove, Hayaino Daisuki, Shadow Warrior, Oxygen Destroyer, Ronin, Onchocerciasis Esophagogastroduodenoscopy, Formalist, Et Moriemur, Shogun, All For Metal, Subfire, Kingcrow, Wintersun's Time II, Enemy Inside, Ante-Inferno's Haiku tour, Bütcher, Whispered, Project Kasha/Nekomata, Gojira, Kami No Ikari and Hanormale among others) that was in and announced a 2024 album called Land Of The Rising Sun Part I. There was a track called 47 Ronin, which was based on a story Hollywood had adapted and made into a movie. The band reported it now had a vision for seven albums, which would focus on cultures - even though the initial idea was the theme and history of Rome. The boys announced separate gigs on the release weekend with Dreamtale (Esa's old band) and Everfrost in Finland. Satans Fall was also added. Guitarist Mikko Salovaara was absent in Helsinki and Petri Lindroos also of Ensiferum filled in. The same man had made a cameo at the band's debut gig in 2020. Metal De Facto appeared at Prizren Fest Rock & Blues festival in July 2024. The act was recording a new album in the autumn of 2024.
Despite the band's name there is a keyboard player. Moreover, it releases acoustic tracks and covers Shakira (this was a Finnish must-do with a bunch of musicians doing 1980s' pop covers as Northern Kings, Everfrost having a covers' EP and doing Kesha the rapper's Die Young, Omnium Gatherum covering Maniac, Sonata Arctica covering Martika's Toy Soldiers, Him covering Chris Isaak's Wicked Game, Frozen Land covering Angels Crying by someone called E-Type and Children Of Bodom dancing to Oops I did It Again). Each member was involved in half a dozen other acts making this a de facto side-project.
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