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Lordi is a Finnish hard rock and heavy metal band.

Formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu), Lordi are known for wearing monster masks and using horror elements with pyrotechnics during concerts and music videos.

Lordi was formed in 1992 as a solo project by Mr Lordi.

Lordi's very first demo album Napalm Market was done in 1993.

The album included the song "Inferno", which also got a music video, all done by Mr Lordi.

In the music video, Mr Lordi performed unmasked but he had made monster make-up for his friends who played secondary roles in the video.

After the video was done, Mr Lordi got an idea of a band of monsters.

"Inferno" was later released in the Finnish "Rockmurskaa" compilation album in 1995.

In 1996 Mr Lordi organized a Kiss cruise for Finnish Kiss fans from Finland to Sweden.

During the cruise, he met musicians Amen and G-Stealer and told them about his music project called Lordi.

After the cruise, they joined the band.

One year later Enary joined the band on keyboard and the band recorded their first album, Bend Over and Pray The Lord.

At the time when the album was recorded, the band didn't have a drummer and they used MIDI drum tracks in place of a real drummer.

Ari Tiainen, the owner of their record company, had originally planned to publish the album; however, the company did not have sufficient resources to market it.

Tiainen recommended Lordi to the record label Kimmo Hirvonen's Records, owned by Anaconda.

The album was planned to release in early 1999, but Anaconda Records went bankrupt shortly before the planned release date and the album was never released.

The band never performed with the original line-up, though they had been promised a record release gig in 1999.

During the same year, G-Stealer left the band because of work commitments and was replaced by Magnum, whom Mr Lordi had met via Kiss Army Finland.

In 2000, drummer Kita joined and the band got their first drummer.

The band rose to fame in 2002 with their hit single "Would You Love a Monsterman?", and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with their song "Hard Rock Hallelujah".

Lordi has toured and recorded actively since 2002, and Mr Lordi upgrades the band's costumes and masks for each album.

The band has gone through several line-up changes with Mr Lordi being the only consistent member of the band since their foundation.

Members of Lordi have stated their desire for their unmasked faces to remain private.

However, they have made a number of unmasked appearances in several news outlets.

After several failed attempts at obtaining a recording contract, Lordi signed a record deal with Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) Finland in 2002.

In July, the band released their first official single, "Would You Love A Monsterman?", which rose to number one in Finland and spawned a music video.

During the summer the band went under the auspices of producer TT Oksala's Finnvox Studios to record their first official album, though the debut recording ran into several problems.

In the autumn of 2002, bassist Magnum was fired and replaced by Kalma.

Though Lordi's debut album had already been recorded when Kalma joined, he appeared in the album art and the composition of the accounts.

Their debut album Get Heavy was released in November, with a cover design loosely based on Kiss's Love Gun album.

The original first sketch of the cover was based on Kiss's Destroyer album.

Lordi played their first gig on 8 December 2002, in Helsinki at the Nosturi Club.

The album won the 2003 Emma award for best domestic hard rock or heavy metal album, and Get Heavy has sold more than 67,000 copies.

It was certified platinum in Finland in 2003 and multi-platinum in 2006.

In 2003, Lordi appeared at several music events in Finland and abroad, especially in Germany, where they played as a part of the Wacken Road Show.

During some of the Germany tour, Lordi played as Nightwish's support act.

The tour boosted both bands' popularity in Germany and helped them sign a recording contract with the German record company Drakkar.

Nightwish had already achieved solid success with joint concerts in Germany and Lordi also raised their profile in Germany.

At the beginning of 2004, Lordi began recording their second studio album.

This time the album was produced by Hiili Hiilesmaa, with whom the band got along well.