NORTHER has reunited, ending a 14-year silence with the announcement of its first concert since disbanding — a slot at Wacken Open Air in Germany, set for July 2027.
The Finnish melodic death/black metal band will reassemble with the lineup that carried it through its most productive stretch: vocalist and guitarist Petri Lindroos, guitarist and clean vocalist Kristian Ranta, keyboardist Tuomas Planman, bassist Jukka Koskinen and drummer Heikki Saari. The band's last show came at the 2012 edition of Brutal Assault in the Czech Republic, before the members cited "complicated and time-consuming life situations" and went their separate ways.
NORTHER's roots trace back to 1996, when Lindroos and bandmates formed a group initially called REQUIEM before settling on the NORTHER name and signing to Spinefarm Records. Between 2002 and 2006 the band released four albums that built its reputation in the Finnish melodic death metal scene, later moving to Century Media in 2008 and touring alongside genre peers like DIMMU BORGIR and HYPOCRISY. Across its run, NORTHER put out six full-length albums, two EPs, a handful of singles, a DVD and a film soundtrack contribution.
A single festival date doesn't confirm what comes next — no word yet on new music or a fuller run of shows — but a Wacken slot puts NORTHER back in front of one of metal's largest audiences on its very first night back, giving the reunion considerably more weight than a quiet one-off club date would have.