Impaled Nazarene was originally formed in November 1990 with the band soon starting to rehearse on their own material. In February 1991 they recorded their first rehearsal demo called "Shemhamforash" on a two-track deck with a resulting horrible sound. Antti Pihkala was at this time replaced by Harri Halonen on bass.

In April 1991 they played their first show as the opening act for Beherit in Kempele, Finland. In August same year they entered the well-known Tico Tico studio in Kemi to record their first official studio demo called "Taog eht fo htao eht". The band now started to become known in the underground scene and they also took part in the "Day Of Darkness" festival in Oulu with bands like Amorphis and Belial.

In October 1991 they recorded their "Goat perversion" 7" EP for an Italian label. In the winter/spring time of 91/92 Holappa and Halonen both left the band due to lack of interest. The band performed some shows in Finland as a threesome. They now signed a deal with the French black/death metal label Osmose Productions.

In the summer of 1992 Taneli Jarva joined the band as a session bass player while Jarno Anttila replaced the leaving Pääkkö for the upcoming recording of their debut album. In October they started recording "Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz" and the 7" EP "Sadogoat" at Tico Tico. Anttila and Jarva now joined in as full time members. In the winter their debut album was released and went straight up to number 40 in the Finnish charts.

The band started writing new material quickly and in July 1993 they entered Tico Tico again to record their second album "Ugra-Karma" and the "Satanic masowhore" 7" EP. They were both released in December with even better response than the first album. In January 1994 they went on their first European tour with Ancient Rites from Belgium.

In July 1994 they entered Tico Tico yet again to record opus number three which was at first meant to be called "Hail To Finland". The band decided to change the name in the last minute and the new and official title became "Suomi finland perkele". In December the album was released with mixed reactions from media and fans. In April 1995 they went on their second European tour with label mates Absu and Sadistik Exekution.

In August 1995 the band was supposed to record the MCD "Hamnasnas" at - guess where... - Tico Tico. However this was never achieved since Jarva and K. Luttinen ended up in a fight during the first night of work. The band went back home and K. Luttinen was replaced with Reima Kellokoski as the new drummer. In October it was time for a third tour through Europe with Krabathor and Ministry Of Terror. The band also got the chance to headline a Halloween fest at Astoria in London.

In February 1996 it was time to record again at Tico Tico with the cd "Latex cult" and the mcd "Motörpenis" (where do they get these titles from...?) as the final result. After recording these two Taneli Jarva decided to leave the band and in came Jani Lehtosaari. In Marh they recorded two videos in London which resulted in the "1999: Karmageddon Warriors" video.

The two new recordings were released in April 1996 and were followed by the band's longest European tour so far. Bands like Grave, Krabathor, Rotting Christ, Immolation, Cannibal Corpse, Vader and Dark Tranquillity were some of the show companions. In October they recorded an exclusive track called "I Am The Killer Of Trolls" for the label sampler "World Domination II". In November they played two festival shows in France and in December it was time to hit the rest of Europe again with Angel Corpse and Gehennah.

In 1997 the band recorded two instrumental demo tapes to analyse their new material and played two Finnish rock festivals in the summer. In September the band and their label Osmose Productions were sued by a group of Hare-Krishna members because of the cover of "Ugra-Karma" and a long legal battle was born.

In January 1998 "Rapture" was recorded at Tico Tico with a release in April. In February they played four very successful shows in Mexico. In July they shot a promo video for "Penis and Circes" at the Tuska Festival. The band also played in Dublin, Philadelphia, New York, the Montreal Metal fest (as headliners) and the Milwaukee Metal Fest in the US. In September they went to St. Petersburg to play a show with fellow countrymen Children Of Bodom. The hotel party afterwards resulted in Alexi Laiho joining Impaled Nazarene on lead guitars.

In November and December 1998 they went out to haunt Europe again together with Ritual Carnage and Driller Killer. Laiho was however unable to join the rest of the band since he had to be with his other band Sinergy (with his girlfriend Kimberly Goss in charge). In January 1999 the legal battle with Hare Krishna was settled outside the court and Osmose released a new version with another cover.

In February the band returned to Mexico to play another four shows. This time Laiho could go with them and he did his first live appearances with Impaled Nazarene. They also played San Francisco and Los Angeles as a four piece outfit since Laiho had to go back to Finland. Again without Laiho they left for Japan in March to play four shows. In April they played the third No Mercy Festivals in Europe with Morbid Angel, Emperor, The Crown, Limbonic Art and Peccatum, again without Laiho.

In June the band settled down to write new material and played at the Nummirock Summer Solstice Rock Festival for the first time, again without Laiho. Without the absent one they also headed down to Australia and New Zealand to play some shows in July and August. A show in Wollongong, Australia, was however cancelled due to pressure from local press and parents.

In August 1999 the band entered Astia Studio in Lappeenranta (now there's a surprise!) to record the next album "Nihil" as well as two tracks for a split picture 7" EP with Driller Killer. "Nihil" was mastered in late September at Finnvox Studio. In October Fournier, the artist behind the new "Ugra-Karma" cover started working on the cover art.

In December 1999 the split EP with Driller Killer was released by Solardisk, the label of the band's bass player Lehtosaari. "Nihil" was released worldwide on February 14th, 2000 and in March they played some shows in Finland with Finntroll and Throne Of Chaos, this time actually with Laiho. After these they went to New Jersey for the March Metal Meltdown.

In April they went on a French tour named "Assault The Weak". This time Laiho was replaced by Tomi Ullgren (Thy Serpent, Shape Of Despair). Some problems did occur on this tour and the French secret police follows them all the way through the tour. In Montauban the band was forced to perform their songs without announcing any titles including the word Satan. The police also forbids them selling any merchandise because of its nature.

In May 2000 Impaled Nazarene joined Children Of Bodom on a trip to Greece for the first time and on these shows Laiho performed with both bands every night. In June the band played two festivals in Finland (Valhalla Metal Fest and Provinssi Rock Festival), again with Tomi Ullgren instead of Laiho. In July the band played at the Tuska Festival in Helsinki where Jani Lehtosaari informs his friends that he has decided to leave the band to concentrate on his label Solardisk.

In July 2000 they also played their first Swedish show at the Dist 2000 Festival, the last one with Jani on stage. Luttinen now moved back to Finland from his temporary home in Belgium. In August Luttinen re-entered Astia Studio to compile the ten year anniversary album "Decade of Decadence" which was later mastered at Finnvox.

In the autumn of 2000 Impaled Nazarene found their new bass player Teemu Raimoranta of Finntroll. It also became clear that Laiho could not do any live appearances with the band in the future and he was therefore forced to leave the band. Teemu was then chosen to play lead guitars instead of bass and Mikael Arnkil (x-Antidote drummer) was chosen as the new bass player.

In November 2000 the anniversary album was released and in December they played their first sold out show in Finland at Nosturi, Helsinki. More than 9.0 fans had gathered to see the band. At this show Ullgren played since Arnkil hadn't had the time to learn the songs yet. In January and February 2001 they started rehearsing on new songs with the new line-up. In March they signed a new two album deal with Osmose Productions.

Source : tartareandesire.com