Sakara Records is an independent Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 metal / rock record label.
It was founded in 2003 by the Finnish metal group Mokoma

Mokoma

Mokoma is a Finnish thrash metal band formed in Lappeenranta in 1996. Their music also has grindcore and death metal influences with traditional Finnish melancholy....

.
Since then the label has added the Finnish bands Stam1na

Stam1na

Stam1na is a Finnish heavy metal musical group native of Lemi, South Karelia. Their music is arguably best described as progressive metal with some thrash, death and alternative influences, and is sung in Finnish language.-Name:...

, Rytmihäiriö, Black Bile, Diablo

Diablo (band)

Diablo is a Finnish melodic death metal band, formed in 1995 as Diablo Brothers. The band cite Testament, Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, Opeth, Death, and Meshuggah as influences, but influence from several Gothenburg bands, including Dark Tranquillity, Hypocrisy, and In Flames, is also evident in...

 and YUP

YUP (band)

YUP is a Finnish rock-music group. The band arose amongst three students of the Savonlinna senior high of arts in 1987 and played some rather primitive, progressive hard-core punk with English lyrics...

.

Mokoma was formed in Lappeenranta

Lappeenranta

Lappeenranta is a city and municipality that resides on the shore of the lake Saimaa in South-Eastern Finland, about from the Russian border. It belongs to the region of South Karelia. With approximately inhabitants Lappeenranta is the largest city in Finland...

 in 1996, initially as a traditional rock band, and released two records on the EMI

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

 label. Neither record sold well, and EMI was not supportive of the band's plan to move into thrash metal

Thrash metal

Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...

, so the band formed Sakara Records in 2003 to produce their own music.
The Finnish metal band Stam1na, formed in 1996, was also struggling to gain interest from mainstream labels, and became the second group to sign up with Sakara, releasing their self-titled debut in the spring of 2005.
In January 2008 the Finnish metallers Diablo signed up with Sakara Records to record their fifth album "Icaros

Icaros (album)

Icaros is the 5th album by Finnish melodic death metal band Diablo.-Track listing:# "Trail of Kings" – 4:54# "Living Dead Superstar" – 4:19# "Bad Sign" – 3:34# "Resign From Life" – 4:38# "Icaros" – 3:38# "Light of The End" – 4:46# "Chagrin" – 4:06...

".
Sakara Records next signed up Black Bile, and in April 2008 issued Black Bile's debut album “Great Ape Language“.

In 2006, the label issued Sakara Tour 2006

Sakara Tour 2006

Sakara Tour 2006 is a live DVD from the 2006 joint tour of the Finnish record label Sakara Records. It contains live performances from the label's three bands Mokoma, Stam1na and Rytmihäiriö at Nosturi in Helsinki, Teatria in Oulu and Rytmikorjaamo in Seinäjoki.-Mokoma:# "Sirppi" # "Vade retro,...

, a live DVD from the 2006 joint tour of the label's three bands Mokoma, Stam1na

Stam1na

Stam1na is a Finnish heavy metal musical group native of Lemi, South Karelia. Their music is arguably best described as progressive metal with some thrash, death and alternative influences, and is sung in Finnish language.-Name:...

 and Rytmihäiriö at Nosturi

Nosturi

Nosturi is a culture and music hall and a nightclub in the Punavuori district of Helsinki, Finland. It is owned by the Association of Live Music ....

 in Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

, Teatria in Oulu

Oulu

Oulu is a city and municipality of inhabitants in the region of Northern Ostrobothnia, in Finland. It is the most populous city in Northern Finland and the sixth most populous city in the country. It is one of the northernmost larger cities in the world....

 and Rytmikorjaamo in Seinäjoki

Seinäjoki

Seinäjoki is a city located in Southern Ostrobothnia, Finland. Seinäjoki originated around the Östermyra bruk iron and gunpowder factories founded in 1798. Seinäjoki became a municipality in 1868, market town in 1931 and town in 1960...

.
By the end of 2009, the company had issued six records that made it to number one on the Finnish charts.