BIOGRAPHY

The first version of the band was formed back in 1992 by drum player Mikko Korsbäck and guitar player Henrik Juhano. Bass player Tomas Stolt was also added to the line-up shortly after and a few different other musicians were also part of the band for short periods. The band started off by playing covers of their favorite bands such as Helloween and Iron Maiden but were not producing their own music at this point. Bass player Tomas came to leave the band after a while but came to return in 1996. During his absence Mikko´s classmate Niklas Dahlin became the band´s second guitar player and the band started writing their first own tunes. The band then added keyboard player Patrik Västilä to pursue a more melodic vein which all the members agreed upon. Mikko took it upon him to sing even if he was playing the drums at the same time as the band had not found a vocalist to match their ambitions. The band came to play several local gigs with their own songs mixed with covers but always felt a bit inhibited having their singer sitting behind the drums. Even though Mikko is a good singer the band wanted a front man to lean against and develop even further.

The big step came in 1997 when the band approached singer David Henriksson that recently had moved to Stockholm from the rural northern parts of Sweden. The match between the bands ambition and David’s vocals was a complete success. The band felt complete now and sought to find a way to reach a bigger crowd. What happened next could have been taken from a fairytale. The band had recently written a handful of new songs that started to match their full potential at the time and a demo tape was recorded in Stockholm shortly after the arrival of David as vocalist. The demo was sent to several record companies and not long after the band was offered a deal with House of Kicks (later known as MNW and then Sound Pollution).

The debut album World of Ice was released in 1999 and the same year the band got the chance to play at several bigger venues and at several bigger festivals. The peak was playing at Sweden rock festival at the same time as Manowar was playing at one of the major stages. The size of the crowd was impressive for a new band like Insania and it became the starting point for bigger things for the band. The band toured and played in Sweden mostly and grew their reputation for each performance. The success of the first album led to a second album 2 years later.

The band got a much bigger budget to work with on their follow up to the debut album and chose to go to Finland this time to record. The band had been struck by the music and sound of the excellent Finnish power metal band Stratovarius and wanted a sound that was resembling the recordings of albums such as Visions. Producer Mikko Karmila at Finnvox studios, that had worked with Stratovarius, was hired to conduct the recordings and Mika Jussila, also part of the Stratovarius albums, were hired to handle the mastering. Over 4 weeks of full time in the studio the band had created their highly appraised second album titled Sunrise in Riverland. The release of the album was in 2001.

A very hectic time began for the band as they played now even more shows than before and at even bigger venues. One of the finer moments was being the special guest to Saxon when they played in Sweden. The high intensity that the band was working at came to take its toll on some members. Unfortunately, it led to singer David Henriksson leaving the band and moving back to his birth town in northern Sweden. This happened not long before the band was scheduled to enter the studio again for a third album. The band started an intensive search for a replacing vocalist that would meet all the criteria the band had. Soon the band found Ola Halén that was an up and coming singer with a fantastic voice. He was looking for a band in the same genre as Insania already was in and at the first rehearsal it was clear that this was a perfect match.

The band went to Finland yet again to record at Finnvox studios and with the same great people as before. The pressure on the band was higher yet again to produce a great album to match or surpass the previous album that is held by many as maybe the best album of the band so far. The members of the band pushed themselves further than before at the cost of their own wellbeing. Fantasy – A new dimension was released in 2003 and the band should have been in a great place by now but…

A short break was taken from live gigs and rehearsing to find some time to reflect. When the band got back together again to discuss the future a big change happened. Both guitar players Niklas and Henrik left the band for personal reasons and keyboard player Patrik left also to pursue his academical studies. Left was original founder Mikko, long time member Tomas and newly added singer Ola. A crises meeting was held between the remaining members to find if there still was a hunger to carry on. A unanimous decision was taken that the band had more to give.

Singer Ola had several friends and acquaintances that he felt would be a great addition to the band. He introduced the remaining band to Dimitri Keiski and Peter Östros. Their personalities and skill as musicians were a breath of fresh air for the band. The band added Dimitri as keyboard player and Peter as guitar player shortly after meeting them for a trial rehearsal. After some rehearsals, the band pondered if the band should change to just one guitar player to find a bit of a different tune from before. Dimitri had brought in a whole different arsenal with his keyboard playing as he had started to add Hammond organ and was also a very talented singer. Peters skill as a guitar player was beyond what the band was used to so the band went from 6 to 5 members.

New songs were being written where all current members got more space to add their own touch and feel to the songs. The song writing was much more spread out and more influences seeped through as the band built a bit of a new sound but where the roots were never forgotten. In 2007 the band released their fourth album Agony – Gift of Life after several weeks of recording in Studio Underground in Västerås (pronounced Westeros), Sweden. After a big bump in the progress of the band the cogwheels of Insania were working again. A good number of gigs were being played after the release of the album and the music scene started taking notice of the band again. It all culminated with a 5-week European tour as supporting act to Finnish folk metal heroes Ensiferum and Taiwanese Chthonic. The tour carried over 11 countries in November/December 2007.

After the tour, the band felt they needed a break to attend to other things in life and other musical opportunities. Some members became parents, and some joined other musical acts to widen their musicianship. After their departure, former members of Insania, Niklas, Henrik and Patrik, had taken a longer break from music but later started a new band called Disdained. A female singer was added, and the music was much heavier, more riff based and modern than they had played with Insania. The drummer at this point was the highly talented Joakim Wallgren that later joined Viking metal giants Amon Amarth. Bass player Tomas was asked to join and did as Insania was on a break currently. Disdained went through some changes where guitar player Henrik, keyboard player Patrik and drummer Joakim left the band. New members were added, and the band released a single full-length album before the act unfortunately fell apart.
Guitar player Peter had during the break with Insania been asked to join the well renowned German/Swedish AOR act Jaded Heart to replace the spot as guitar player.
Keyboard player Dimitri applied to join the Swedish talent show True Talent that was broadcasted several months on TV in Sweden. Not only did he pass the trial rounds, he went and won the whole competition as a singer. His success led him to release several solo albums and later moved to Finland to pursue a career there.
Singer Ola had started working on several solo projects which he has released over the years that passed. Among them is his solo project Shadows past that has gained quite a lot of attention.
Drum player Mikko took part in many different musical opportunities both solo and as a guest. One of which he took part as the drummer for Dimitris solo album Karhu.

After a few years of the break with Insania Mikko met with guitar player Henrik to play some music. Henrik had left Disdained recently and both started writing songs that were in the vein of old Insania. Guitar player Peter joined in shortly after to participate in the band’s efforts again. Singer Ola was heavily invested in his own projects at this point, so singer Johan Fahlberg from Jaded Heart was tested as a singer for the new material that had been written. Johan came to leave Insania after a while as he wanted to put all his time to Jaded heart solely. Dimitri came back to the band and with his fantastic voice he took the role as singer and bass player. Keyboard player Patrik was asked to join again to fill the gap after Dimitri. The band played with this constellation several gigs throughout the Nordic countries and kept writing new songs for a possible future album. When Disdained had fallen apart, bass player Tomas and guitarist Niklas formed a duo to write some songs together. Both had still a hunger to carry on with the musicianship and take influences from both Insania and Disdained combined.

Dimitri took a break from Insania again to attend to his solo career in Finland that was rapidly evolving for him. Insania took at this point contact with Tomas and Niklas to ask them to join the band again to participate in the song writing and continued efforts. A semi-serious period followed where no one really carried the torch to drive the band closer to a fifth album and a return to the bigger stage again. Many other distractions such as family and life changing events took place.

In the latter part of 2018 the real spark got lit again. Left in the band at this point was drum player Mikko, bass player Tomas and guitar players Niklas and Peter. Many of the songs that had been written in the past few years and many of the new ones that were being composed gave the band material for many albums. A big question was asked of who will sing so both Dimitri and Ola were contacted. Both were interested, focused and motivated. A decision was taken that both singers will handle the vocals on the upcoming album. It is a new and exciting chapter in the bands history as Ola is already known for his fantastic vocal skills and the band can´t wait to fully introduce Dimitri as a vocalist. Dimitri has some solo parts on the fourth album Agony – Gift of life but will now get even more exposure. For the first time both guitar players Niklas and Peter will work together in the thin string section which is very exciting.

The band recorded some of the new songs as a demo and sent them to several major record labels to find a new partner to work with for future albums. Soon a few opportunities arose and after some negotiations the band found the right partner. A record deal has recently been signed with the amazing record company Frontiers Music SRL and it is scheduled that album no 5 will be released in 2021. The band is not done yet, by far and would like to make a statement by saying:

“As a fallen kingdom, we will rise again!”

Current members

Mikko Korsbäck – Drums (1992–)
Tomas Stolt – Bass guitar (1992–1994, 1996–2010, 2013–)
Niklas Dahlin – Guitar (1994–2003, 2013–)
Ola Halén – Vocals (2002-2010, 2019-)
Dimitri Keiski – Background vocals, keyboard (2003–2010), Bass guitar (2012), Vocals (2012, 2019-)
Peter Östros – Guitar (2003–)

Former members

Patrik Västilä – Keyboard (1994 –2003, 2012)
Henrik Juhano – Guitar (1992–2003, 2010–2013)
David Henriksson – Vocals (1997–2002)
Johan Fahlberg – Vocals (2011)

Discography

World of Ice (1999)
Sunrise in Riverland (2001)
Fantasy – A New Dimension (2003)
Agony – Gift of Life (2007)
V – Praeparatus Supervivet (2021)