Emerging from Finland, Diablo attained their greatest commercial heights at home throughout the mid-2000s. The metal band formed in 1995 with Rainer Nygård on vocals and guitar, Marko Utriainen on lead guitar, Aadolf Virtanen on bass, and Timo Kemppainen on drums. Heikki Malmberg replaced Kemppainen on drums in 2001. Under contract with Poko Records, the group issued their first full-length album, Elegance in Black, in 2000. Their follow-up, Renaissance, appeared in 2002 and reached number fourteen on the Finnish albums chart. The 2004 release Eternium climbed to number three on that same chart, while its single “Read My Scars” also peaked at number three. Mimic 47, released in 2006, became Diablo’s first album to top the Finnish albums chart; the title track likewise marked their first number-one single. Capitalizing on that breakthrough, the band toured Germany in 2007 in an effort to reach listeners outside Finland. For Icaros in 2008 they moved to Sakara Records, yet the album still entered the Finnish chart at number two and the title track was released as a single. A subsequent European tour found them sharing stages with Children of Bodom and Cannibal Corpse.
