Sentenced was formed in Oulu, Finland, back in 1989. The founding members were Miika Tenkula, Sami Lopakka and Vesa Ranta. At this point in time Sentenced were playing pure European death metal. Their first demo entitled When death joins us? (1990) saw the light of day early next year. Soon after the recordings of the first demo, the band also enlisted the services of a new vocalist and bass-player named Taneli Jarva. Not long after Sentenced signed a record deal with a small French label, which released their debut album entitled Shadows of the past in 1991.
     
      For their next album North from here (1993) Sentenced changed labels to the more well renowned Finnish company, Spinefarm records. Their music now taking a turn from the traditional sounding death metal to a more technical style, leaning towards the kind of melodic death metal nowadays known as the Gothenburg-style. Later the same year Sentenced also released a MCD called The Trooper (1993), which included a now classic cover of Iron Maidens 1983 hit song The trooper. This was to be their last release for Spinefar... (More SENTENCED Biography)