"This is not a project band! I have my heart and soul in Poisonblack", Ville Laihiala claims repeatedly; this is exactly what he has to do, since the the public is used to regard Ville as the lead singer of Sentenced and nothing else.

Ville Laihiala came up with the idea to create a new band in 2002. Back then, he wrote several songs which suited Sentenced neither musically nor concerning the subject matter of the lyrics. Ville showed those songs to his old pal, Janne Kukkonen who liked them and eagerly supported the idea to create a band. They called the band Shadowlands at first, and a bit later they came up with the name Poisonblack.

Right from the start Ville Laihiala claimed that he wanted only to write songs and play guitar in the new band, whereas somebody else should do the singing. Thus, the active search for a vocalist began. They needed someone with a beautiful, clear, deep, soft and passionate voice. After Sentenced's Finland tour together with a band called Charon they finally found such a singer. It was Charon's lead singer, J.P. Leppaluoto. Soon the band got the other musicians - Marco Sneck, the keyboard player, and Tarmo Kanerva who has already proved himself as a drummer once, when he replaced the Sentenced's drummer who had broken a leg.

The newly founded band did some rehearsing, gathered enough songs and played two try-out gigs in Oulu and Jyvaskyla. The new project was a smash, the tickets for both dates were sold out. The record label of Sentenced, Century Media Records, showed interest in the new group. Thus it came about that on February 17th , 2003, the Escapextacy album was released (our review). The album was wonderful - one song more passionate and sensual than the other. A model, Miss Violet, was invited for Poisonblack's booklet and promo pictures. Sentenced's drummer, Vesa Ranta, did the layout for the album.

The new band which was originally just a semi-joke for minor sessions turned out to be popular to such an extent that the musicians simply were not ready for it. It was especially hard on J.P. who was literally torn between Charon and Poisonblack. There were even some situations where the concerts of either one of the bands had to be cancelled. In the summer of 2003 J.P. decided that Charon had been and will remain his top priority, that he could not divide himself between two bands anymore and that he didn't have a right to slow Poisonblack's progress...In short, he decided to leave. Poisonblack has been searching for a new singer since.

It is interesting that since that time the Love Infernal video featuring J.P. Leppaluoto (to download this video from the Century Media site, click here) was released, and Posionblack went on a European tour where J.P. sang as well. They were touring together with some famous bands, namely Lacuna Oil, Moonspell and Passenger. There was a total of 14 concerts in Germany, Belgium, UK, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, Italy and France.

Even though Poisonblack has formally stayed without a singer for half a year already, Ville Laihiala and Janne Kukkonen keep on looking for their new voice and writing songs for their new album. Some songs are already finished, as they say. Naturally, they are about life, sex and love.

Well... actually after 2 years of searching Ville decided to sing himself and... to give up. After killing Sentenced Ville Laihiala recorded and in summer 2006 released the second album Lust Stained Despair. That was the last album both for Poisonblack and Ville Laihiala as a vocalist. In december 2006 Poisonblack will die after short tour in Finland.

	Lust Stained Despair [2006] 01. Nothing Else Remains 02. Hollow Be My Name 03. The Darkest Lie 04. Rush 05. Nail 06. Raivotar 07. Soul In Flames 08. Pain Becomes Me 09. Never Enough 10. Love Controlled Despair 11. The Living Dead ltd. Digipak edition: 12. Bleeding Into You
	Rush [2006] 01. Rush 02. The Poison I Crave (exclusive non-album track)
	Escapextacy [2003] 01. The Glow Of The Flames 02. Love Infernal 03. The State 04. All Else Is Hollow 05. In Lust 06. The Exciter 07. Lay Your Heart To Rest 08. With Her I Die 09. Illusion/Delusion 10. The Kiss Of Death

Poisonblack's Official Site - Poisonblack

You can read the latest news about Poisonblack in the news section on our site
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The forthcoming tour dates are in the on tour section

Posionblack picture galleries:
Poisonblack @ Tavastia, Helsinki, Finland (16.08.2003)
Promo pics 2002

Our interview:
Interview with JP Leppaluoto (Ilosaarirock, 12.07.2003)

last update: 23.10.2006