Vine

Finnish atmospheric rockers The Man-Eating Tree was formed after Vesa Ranta's previous band Sentenced decided to call it quits in 2005. Vesa began to overcome his post-Sentenced battle fatigue and lack of musical motivation by concentrating on a fresh project that would continue expanding his renowned dark themes and melodic compositions. Said musical motifs are very evident on 'Vine', The Man-Eating Tree's debut album.

"After Sentenced I was in regular contact with my old band mate and friend Miika Tenkula. We spoke about establishing a new band and tried to make it happen for a while. However, finding a competent singer turned out to be difficult. Miika and I rehearsed only once. During this jam-session we drafted up and recorded one song. Unfortunately Miika's life came to a sudden end in February of 2009. I remember the moment I received the call from a relative of Miika. I was far up North, in the middle of a photo-session and could do nothing. It was impossible to believe the news - and it is difficult to this date. Still, life is full of surprises. One turn just happened only a few days after Miika's funeral. An acquaintance of mine knew that I was looking for a singer and sent me a link. It was the website of Fall of the Leafe with Tuomas on vocals. It felt like some strange fate had steered life for a moment, because his voice was exactly what Miika and I were looking for - we found Tuomas right after Miika had left us. I approached Tuomas and asked if he would be interested, as I felt that the long fermented idea of a new band needed to be taken to the next level straight away. Not tomorrow, but now. Thinking about it, this was a part of my own mourning process. I contacted another friend of mine, Janne Markus, with whom I had discussed working on a new band over a couple of years. Janne had already written several songs that suited Tuomas' voice perfectly. Only a few weeks down the road the line-up was completed and we were working in full gear."
-VESA

Produced by the acclaimed Hiili Hiilesmaa (Sentenced and H.I.M), 'Vine' should appeal to fans of Opeth, Poisonblack, and Katatonia... or pretty much anything on the Kscope label. ;-)

The Man-Eating Tree are: Tuomas Tuominen: vocals, Janne Markus: guitars, Mikko Uusimaa: bass, Heidi Määttä: keyboards, and Vesa Ranta: drums.