Prestige (9)

Formed in Tampere in 1987, Prestige is considered one of the pioneers in the old-school Finnish thrash/speed metal scene. Despite their mostly humorous lyrical themes, Prestige participated in the shaping of Finnish metal music as we see it today alongside important bands like Stone (9), Airdash and Dethrone. During their career so far, Prestige has released three studio albums under Poko Rekords between years 1989-1992 titled (1989), Selling The Salvation (1990) and (1992) as well as an self-released EP titled 900707 (1990). The band's original line-up consisted of bassist/vocalist Aku Kytölä, drummer Tero Karppinen as well as two guitarists: Ari Karppinen and Jan Yrlund. After their third album in 1992, the band didn't show much activity at all until a little after the turn of the century when Prestige started doing different gigs together. In 2007, Poko Rekords released a compilation album titled Decades Of Decay including digitally remastered songs from their three studio albums and EP. Years went by and the original line-up lasted all the way until 2019 when drummer Tero Karppinen left the band. A year later in 2020, the band announced a record deal with Massacre Records. It didn't take long after signing to the new record label when Prestige put out their newest single "Exit" marking 28 years since the band has released any new music. The single introduced their new drummer Matti Johansson (2), also formerly known from Korpiklaani. A new album is expected to be released by 2021 and future plans indicate upcoming gigs.