Biography
With two Finnish gold albums and singles, radio hits and successful tours in Europe and Asia under its belt, NEGATIVE is now ready to release its third album, ANORECTIC.
"It's a rollercoaster ride", says Jonne Aaron, NEGATIVE's lead singer. And going through the record's peaks and valleys it becomes clearly evident that NEGATIVE's combination of hard edge and beautiful melodies has never been better defined than on this album. The songwriting has a sense of classic rock and roll grandiosity, yet it feels fresh and inspired.
You get the feeling the band really knows what it wants to say with its music. Add to that the all-important element of surprise, which comes from imaginative arrangements coupled with the sonic mastery of producer Hiili Hiilesmaa (HIM, THE 69 EYES, SENTENCED, LORDI), and you've got one hell of a rock album in your hands. From the beautifully unfolding melodies of the single "Planet Of The Sun" to the heavy bursts of "One Last Shot", this is inevitably the best work the band has done so far. A ride you don't want to miss.
So, how did NEGATIVE get here?
NEGATIVE played their first real shows in 1998. After getting the current line-up together things started to fall into place like a true rock and roll dream. NEGATIVE signed a record deal with Tampere-based Gbfam Records in 2002 and started the recordings of their debut, War Of Love, with producer Lex Luthor at Cosmic studios.
"All the songs on War Of Love were written in a six years' time span. The oldest ones are from 1997, I guess. Because of this the album sounds slightly chaotic. But I still like War Of Love very much; it gives a very good overall picture of NEGATIVE's early career. And I'm extremely glad that War Of Love opened some doors to foreign countries too. I never would have expected that", Jonne says.
War Of Love definitely opened many doors for them. Today it has sold gold and is very close to platinum in Finland. The first single "The Moment Of Our Love" became a massive hit. War Of Love has also been released in Scandinavia, Italy, Russia and Japan.
NEGATIVE's second album took shape under the overseeing eye of veteran producer TT Oksala (HIM, THE 69 EYES, LORDI etc.) during the spring of 2004.
"Sweet & Deceitful revealed totally fresh sides of NEGATIVE! We thought out and planned the new songs carefully from the beginning of the process to the very end of it. The album is a tight entity, the sound is more powerful and we were much better musicians by then, too. In my opinion we took a big step forward in finding our own style with this album," says Jonne.
An important part of NEGATIVE's tighter sound was their new keyboardist Snack.
"We chose Frozen To Lose It All to be the first single because the song reveals Snack's skills. We want our fans to know that Snack will be a very important part of NEGATIVE's sound in the future. And I guess that Frozen sounds pretty familiar to old NEGATIVE fans. But hey, Frozen is one of the poppier songs from our second album", Jonne says.
Soon after Sweet & Deceitful came out in Finland, NEGATIVE signed a worldwide deal with Roadrunner Records, which was again a big step ahead on their career. Jonne Aaron was even voted rockstar of the year in the 2004 readers' poll of the Japanese magazine Burnn!.
With the release of ANORECTIC, NEGATIVE is now ready to take their rock and roll circus to the next level. The power of their music and the energy and attitude of their live shows will be heard all around the world, so stay tuned.
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