It is impossible to pinpoint the exact moment when Soulwound was formed, as the nucleus of the band has existed ever since the Huusari brothers took up their instruments in their hometown of Anjalankoski sometime in the 90’s. They eventually found more guys to play with, practicing classic metal covers from Black Sabbath to Slayer. The lineup kept changing over the years, and somewhere along the way the band began writing original songs.
The name Soulwound was chosen in late 2005 when the band prepared to record their debut demo in their basement practice room. At that time the lineup consisted of Niko Huusari (guitar), Olli Pétas (guitar), Joni Järvenmäki (bass), Janne Huusari (drums) and Teemu Laine (vocals). Featuring five songs, the demo (entitled The Severance) was released in January 2006. That year the band also played their first seven live shows.
In late 2006 the band began recording another demo with the same lineup. The process, which took place in Joni Järvenmäki’s bedroom, lasted nearly three months, as every member of the band was either studying or working in different shifts. Scheduling recording sessions was far from an easy task, but the five-song demo (entitled Wasteland) was finally released in late January 2007. The band continued playing live shows whenever possible, until vocalist Teemu Laine decided to quit after the tenth show due to motivation issues. He was soon replaced by Ilkka Valkonen, who after witnessing the last performance with Teemu made the decision to join.
With a new vocalist and new song material that had become more technical and uncompromising, the band began recording yet another demo in December 2007. The scheduling difficulties the band had experienced last year were present again, and thus the record (entitled Dystopia, featuring three songs) wasn’t released until April 2008. This time the band chose to aim for a more polished recording, and so they decided to record the drum tracks and vocals in professional studios. The mixing and mastering was done at an up-and-coming studio called Madmix, and the final product sounded so impressive that the word ‘demo’ seemed no longer suitable.
At the moment the band is scheduling more live shows and getting ready to write new songs.