AURI, the project featuring NIGHTWISH mainman/keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen and his wife, popular Finnish singer Johanna Kurkela, will release its third studio album, “III – Candles & Beginnings”, on August 15, 2025.
Propelled by the celestial voice of Kurkela, the lush sonic landscapes of Holopainen, and the boundless instrumental artistry of Troy Donockley, AURI once again invites listeners into a world that defies genre. Fusing elements of folk, progressive and symphonic music with touches of world, pop, and avant-garde, “III – Candles & Beginnings” promises an immersive journey for the senses.
The creative process for this new chapter began in 2023, shortly after the completion of NIGHTWISH‘s 2024 opus “Yesterwynde”. While Troy composed in the serene landscapes of Yorkshire, Tuomas and Johanna crafted melodies and lyrics from their home base in Kitee, Finland — bridging worlds both musically and geographically.
As a first glimpse into AURI‘s evolving soundscape, the hauntingly beautiful lead single “Shieldmaiden” is available now, accompanied by a stunning cinematic video directed by longtime collaborator Ville Lipiäinen.
Donockley comments: “Our new album ‘Auri III’ is waiting to be released, and one of its songs, ‘Shieldmaiden’, has already escaped. It’s a mysterious song, obscured by its own slow rising power. AURI thrives on mystery and ambiguity so all is well…”
The drums for “III – Candles & Beginnings” were laid down in January at the Petrax facility in Hollola, Finland by Kai Hahto, best known as the drummer of NIGHTWISH and WINTERSUN. Hahto will also tour with AURI when the band hits the road later this year.
AURI released its second album, “II – Those We Don’t Speak Of”, in September 2021 via Nuclear Blast. The effort was the follow-up to AURI‘s self-titled debut LP, which came out in March 2018 via Nuclear Blast.
AURI began its life with three people, united through their shared need to hear a kind of a music which can’t be described by words alone. The first song born of this mindset, “Aphrodite Rising”, appeared in 2011.
Kurkela lent her unique voice, while Holopainen and English composer and multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley (also of NIGHTWISH) cast their spells with various other instruments. Now complemented by the dynamic percussive talents of Kai Hahto (NIGHTWISH),the threesome carves fantastical worlds entirely their own.
In a 2018 interview with Dead Rhetoric, Donockley stated about AURI‘s formation: “It was always there for us, since 2010. We decided back then that the three of us wanted to do something together. Tuomas and I are huge fans of Johanna‘s voice. I had been involved in one of her albums as a guest musician, and Tuomas had written a song for her on a solo album. So the three of us realized pretty early on that we wanted to do something together, musically. It was obvious that it couldn’t be like NIGHTWISH. But it was something we felt really strongly about, that we had to release this atmosphere we all felt, and were tuned into. I know that sounds fairly vague, but that’s truly what it was. It was a kind of music that we wanted to get out of ourselves. We are close friends and have very similar tastes and attitudes towards life so we made our plans, but NIGHTWISH is a behemoth. We have our commitments there and we did ‘Imaginaerum’ and ‘Endless Forms Most Beautiful’ after our decision to work together on some music. As it turned out, fortune smiled on us with a sabbatical year. We decided to dive in and work on it.”
Asked how he would compare the spirit/essence of AURI with that of NIGHTWISH, Donockley said: “We don’t see it as very different from NIGHTWISH at all. Sonically it is, for sure. We were struggling to find a label for it, as it usually happens, so I just tossed out ‘celestial metal.’ So this Polish journalist said to me, ‘I know what you mean about celestial metal. It’s kind of heavenly music. It has the metal attitude, but without all of the electric guitars and bass.’ Metal is an attitude. The metal scene — the metal fans are open-minded, as I said before. The Italian [NIGHTWISH] fan club, I did an interview with them, and this was brought up and she told me that she was a fan of DIMMU BORGIR as well as Ed Sheeran. That’s it right there! So I think the NIGHTWISH connection is inevitable because of Tuomas and I are in it, so there are those elements. But I think the spirit is the same as NIGHTWISH. It does cover a lot of the same themes, it’s just not obviously NIGHTWISH. It’s down to the sonic side, honestly.”
Holopainen and Kurkela have been married since October 2015.
Having been a studio endeavor in the past, AURI is finally going on tour, with its first-ever live European trek kicking off in August 2025. Check out the dates below.
AURI‘s “A Trail Of Candles & Beginnings” tour dates:
Aug. 13 – FI – Kitee, Kiteesali
Aug. 14 – FI – Kitee, Kiteesali
Aug. 16 – FI – Tampere, Tampere-talo
Aug. 20 – FI – Oulu, Madetojan Sali
Aug. 22 – FI – Vaasa, Ritz
Aug. 23 – FI – Helsinki, Helsinki Festival / Huvilateltta (+ Eye Of Melian)
Sep. 12 – UK – Manchester, RNCM Theatre
Sep. 13 – UK – Edinburgh, Queen ́s Hall
Sep. 15 – UK – London, Union Chapel
Sep. 16 – BE – Gent, Theaterzaal Vooruit
Sep. 17 – FR – Paris, La Cigale (+ Eye Of Melian)
Sep. 18 – NL – Utrecht, Tivoli Vredenburg (+ Eye Of Melian)
Sep. 20 – CH – Zürich, Volkshaus
Sep. 21 – DE – Stuttgart, Liederhalle
Sep. 22 – DE – Cologne Theater am Tanzbrunnen (+ Eye Of Melian)
Sep. 23 – DE – Essen, Lichtburg
Sep. 25 – DE – Mannheim, Capitol
Sep. 26 – DE – Munich, St. Matthäuskirche
Sep. 27 – AT – Vienna, Simm City
Sep. 29 – HU – Budapest, MOM Kult
Sep. 30 – CZ – Prague, Hybernia
Oct. 01 – DE – Berlin, Passionskirche
Oct. 02 – DE – Leipzig, Kupfersaal
Oct. 04 – PL – Warsaw ,Palladium
Oct. 06 – DE – Hamburg Laeiszhalle
Oct. 07 – DK – Copenhagen, Amager Bio
Oct. 08 – SE – Stockholm, Nya Cirkus
Oct. 09 – NO – Oslo Sentrum Scene
Oct. 10 – NO – Bergen Grieghallen
AURI is:
Johanna Kurkela – voices, violin, viola, keys
Tuomas Holopainen – keys & backing voices
Troy Donockley – guitars, bouzouki, mandola, uilleann pipes, low whistles, aerophone, bodhran, keys, voices
Photo credit: Pete Voutilainen
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