Heavy Christmas Raskasta Joulua

Raskasta Joulua, (Heavy Christmas) is a music project founded by producer and guitarist Erkka Korhonen in 2004, which performs Christmas carols in heavier arranged versions. As soloists project features well-known Finnish metal and rock singers such as Marco Hietala , Tony Kakko , Ari Koivunen , Tommi Salmela (Tarot), Ville Tuomi (Leningrad Cowboys), Kimmo Blom , Antti Railio , JP Leppäluoto , Pasi Rantanen, Antony Parviainen and Jarkko Ahola.

The first album of the project, which was influenced by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Raskasta joulua (Fi), appeared in 2004, published by T2 Productions. In December 2005, the project embarked on a three-concert tour, the interest it generated led to a record deal with Warner. The follow-up album Raskaampa joulua (Fi) was released in 2006.  The tour has since become an annual tradition, and in 2014 it was organized for the tenth time.

The 2013 Raskasta joulua (Fi) album published by Spinefarm has reached the platinum mark in its sales. and is the project's most successful album. Thus, the year 2013 was a significant time for the project to rise towards greater country-wide popularity. Starting from the same year, Raskasta joulua has cooperated with the Kauneimmait Christmas Carols event. In 2014, two new albums were released, Ragnarok Juletide (Fi) and Raskasta joulua 2 (Fi), the former of which is in English. In 2015, Tulkoon joulu – akustisesti was released , which, as the name suggests, was an acoustic record.

In addition to Erkka Korhonen, keyboardist Vili Ollila (2005–), bassist Erkki Silvennoinen (Ari Koivunen) (2006–), drummer Mirka Rantanen (2008–) and guitarist Tuomas Wäinölä (Kotipelto) (2008–) play in the Raskasta joulua band.

Raskasta joulua IV (Fi) was released on November 17, 2017 by Spinefarm Records. It is the sixth album released by the project. The record has been sold in the amount that entitles it to a gold record .

The album was re-released in October 2018 , including two new songs. Additionally, the album was released as a vinyl version on November 16, 2018.

The project got a "summer version" in 2018, when Raskasta iskelmäa (Fi) with soloists Tony Kakko, J.P. Leppäluoto and Antti Railio performed on June 29 at the Iskelmä festival.  On the same day, a single of Tony Kako's interpretation of Freeman's song "Ajetaan tandemilla" was released on June 14 2019  the Raskasta iskelmää album was released , with Kimmo Blom, Tony Kakko, Marco Hietala, J.P. Leppäluoto, Antony Parviainen, Antti Railio, Tommi Salmela and Ville Tuomi as soloists.  In the summer of 2019, in addition to the Iskelmä festival, Raskasta iskelmä performed on the IskelmäKesä city festival tour and other festivals.  At the Suomipop festival, the group performed under the name Raskasta suomipoppia (Heavy Finnish pop).

Viides adventti (Fi) (The fifth advent) was released by Gramophone Records on November 18, 2022. The album is dedicated to the memory of the late Kimmo Blom. A music video was released for the song "Kehtolaulu", which is Kaisa Korhosen's Finnish version of Queensrÿche's "Silent Lucidity".