Finland’s White Death set the release date for their new album ‘Iconoclast’ for December 29th via Werewolf Records and reveal the first tracks!
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News Posts
Finnish rock institution Suburban Tribe is back, and will make a return to the festival stages next summer with John Smith Rock Festival as the firstly announced event!
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Industrial doom act Ωblivion Gate announces their third album ‘Thrill Kill Noir’ to be released next year via Inverse Records and unveiled a fist single with the apocalyptic love song ‘Acolyte’!
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Finnish Rioghan shared a stunning version of the King Dude track ‘Sweet Death’, a second single from their upcoming EP ‘Covers III’, set for release in December via Inverse Records! If you want to catch them live, this Wednesday they’re having their very first gig at On The Rocks in Helsinki!
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Last week, the Finnish melodic modern metal band Weightless World officially unleashed their sophomore full-length album ‘Sleepwalker’ upon the world via Inverse Records! We recommend you to give it a listen!
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A couple of days ago, Tuska announced a 2nd batch of confirmed names for the 2024 edition, and they got us even more excited about next summer! With Bad Omens, Zeal & Ardor, Tarot, Sonata Arctica, Warmen, Annisokay, Solence, Beyond The Black, Ankor, Rytmihäiriö, and I Am The Night! Go get your tickets now!
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Hellsinki Metal Festival, the most exciting new player in the Finnish summer festival season this year, is throwing down the gauntlet with a really exciting first batch of announcements for next year’s edition!
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Finnish blackened death metal band Saasta released the first song and video ‘Sickness’ from their upcoming EP ‘Black | Death | Doom’, set for release via Inverse Records next month!
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Finland’s Vargrav set release date for the new album ‘The Nighthold’ on December 15th, to be released via Werewolf Records, and starting the second era of the project with some new members from legendary acts like Satanic Warmaster and Moonsorrow!
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The Finnish monsters of Lordi announced the first dates of their “Unliving Pictour Show 2024” coming for you all over Europe!
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Photo Reports
The Polish black metal institution Batushka brought their unholy sermon to the halls of Helsinki’s Vanha Ylioppilastalo and brought with them the Russian pagans of Arkona, the pretty epic Canadian Aeternam and Latvian vikings of Varang Nord!
Hexvessel turned, with the support of Unfyros, Kuudes Linja in Helsinki into a magically doomy place filled with smoke, and darkness.
On Thursday November 16, Mors Subita made it to Klubi, Tampere for one of their ‘Origin of Fire’ release shows, in good company of Marianas Rest. Nem Agency presented a nice evening of Finnish metal.
We also took some pictures of Brother Firetribe coming to town on their “Band On A Mission” Finland tour, where they rocked the G Livelab venue in Tampere, brought there by Master Events!
Today, they’re starting their extensive “Shake Your City” European tour at a sold out Tavastia in Helsinki, but earlier this year, to celebrate the release of their new album ‘Electric Sounds’, the Canadian rockers of Danko Jones dropped by in Helsinki. For a private rock party where only a select amount of fans and music professionals had a great time seeing them in a small club stage setting!
Last Friday, Psychework hit the last stop of their ‘Spark Of Hope’ tour at Hönö Baari in Tampere, where they were presenting their new album of the same name. Support was provided by Scars of Solitude. Although this gig by MasterEvents wasn’t very packed, it was still quite the night of good Finnish music.
Before setting out to take over Europe with their co-headline tour, Before The Dawn and Wolfheart hit several cities throughout Finland, and we were there when they dropped by Tavastia in Helsinki, with the support of Brymir!
After several times of rescheduling and years of waiting, Deathstars finally hit the stage of Olympia-Kortteli in Tampere on October 30th, together with Priest and King Satan on this event by TuskaLive and Grey Beard Concerts & Management.
Poisonblack reunited for a couple of show in honour of the 20th anniversary of their Escapexstacyn album and Fullsteam Agency did a great job with the sold out show at Klubi, Tampere.
Kvelertak and Cancer Bats started quite the riot at Kulttuuritalo Helsinki some weeks ago!
Gig Reports
Last month, we got to go to the very last stop of the Polish black metal collective Batushka “Black Pilgrimage tour 2023” at Vanha Ylioppilastalo in Helsinki, with the good company of Arkona, Aeternam and Varang Nord!
Earlier this year, Hexvessel released their new album ‘Polar Veil’ via Svart Records, taking the psychedelic folk rock towards the black metal origins of their leader Mat “Khvost” McNerney. And to celebrate the release, they did a few release shows in Finland, of which we got to enjoy the captivating Helsinki show in Kuudes Linja, with support from Unfyros.
Poisonblack returned for a couple more shows in October 2023, organized by Fullsteam Agency. We were present for the gig at Klubi in Tampere, a true celebration of the gothic metal legends they are.
After a long wait we finally got a regular Sonata Arctica gig again in Finland as they kicked off their “Arctic Storm Finland tour 2023”. At the end of September, they hit the stage in Tampere’s Pakkahuone, together with Reckless Love and Luna Kills. A great night organised by TuskaLive and Grey Beard Concerts and Management.
Lost Society and Amorphis played at Logomos Terassikesä in Turku, Finland last Friday and although there were some issues it was still a very enjoyable show from two great Finnish bands.
Ice Nine Kills finally made it to Finland for 2 sold out shows, and we were at the Helsinki show in Vanha Ylioppilastalo back in May with support from special guests SKYND and openers Lansdowne! They quite literally killed it!
HIDE is easily the most oppressive, yet mesmerizing live performance I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing, and a couple of months ago at Kuudes Linja in Helsinki I got another chance of being blown away by them. Support came from the gloomy metalpunk locals of Keretik.
Grave Pleasures came to Korjaamo in Helsinki at the end of April to celebrate the release of their latest album ‘Plagueboys’, and with the band we danced our way into the weekend. But not before we first got an intense show from the industrial metal support act Dome Runner.
Ne Obliviscaris came to Tavastia in Helsinki to kick off their tour promoting their recently released ‘Exul’, and proved that they can overcome anything with an intense and masterful performance! Supported by their Andorran friends of Persefone and the Italian instrumentalists of Asymmetric Universe, they gave us a night of mind-bending prog music!
The French symphonic melodic death metal outfit Aephanemer came to On The Rocks, saw a wild crowd and conquered everyone’s hearts! Here’s for hoping that they get to come back to Finland some time really soon! And local up-and-comers Numento definitely got us warmed up properly for the main event!
Album Reviews
Finnish symphonic black metal collective Vargrav presents its third opus entitled “The Nigthold”, and resuscitates the principles of symphonic black metal with superior quality, out via Werewolf Records on December 15th.
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Finnish melodic black metal stalwarts Moonlight Sorcery paint shimmering landscapes of winter on their first studio album “Horned Lord of The Thorned Castle” which amalgamate the fantasy style of Scandinavian melodies with a sense of fantasy. Out now via Avantgarde Music!
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The Finnish veterans …And Oceans have delivered one of their best works to date ‘As in Gardens, So in Tombs’ which stands as their most accomplished album since their masterwork debut ‘The Dynamic Gallery of Thoughts’. This is simply a feast for fans of symphonic and melodic black metal. Out via Season of Mist.
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Smoulder’s sophomore record ‘Violent Creed of Vengeance’ continues the epic quest of this Canadian-Finnish fellowship through the realm of epic heavy metal doom. Out via Cruz Del Sur Music.
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Finnish post-punk revivalists Grave Pleasures have released their new record ‘Plagueboys’ with Century Media Records a couple of weeks ago. A celebration of bleak early goth as if it were a lost record from the eighties, while still being remarkably upbeat and danceable.
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Finnish black metal quartet Ondfødt has refined its craft on the fourth album “Det Österbottniska Mörkre”. The songs are packed full of tremolos and blistering tempos, showcasing an outstanding songwriting talent from these Finns. Set for release via Black Lion Records on May 26th.
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The debut offering “The Ravening” of the Finnish symphonic black metal project Argenthorns shows the unique flair from the sole composer Lord Vrăjitor (Warmoon Lord). The album presents the imaginative and creative art of baroque symphonic black metal that aligns with bands like Bal-Sagoth, Limbonic Art, and Tartaros, released via Avantgarde Music.
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With ‘Anno 1696’, Insomnium created a new refreshing album that shows a different kind of style than what they have released of late. It became a raw, blackened and fierce release that really embodies the dark part of history that it’s based on. Out this Friday via Century Media Records!
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With “Aamongandr” Satanic Warmaster retains its status in Finnish and European black metal, every nuance of the following eight tracks makes the new album close to a masterwork. The sheer brilliance of the effective riffs and the stellar production, and the addition of the orchestration will make you behold the greatness of the composition. Released via Werewolf Records.
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After Volume 1 of ‘Acoustic Adventures’ came out in January via Atomic Fire Records, its follow up wasn’t far behind. Volume 2 focuses more on the faster tunes in Sonata Arctica’s catalogue, but is just as filled with tender emotions.
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Interviews
We talked with June and Eemeli from Mors Subita about their new album ‘Origin of Fire’ (released recently via Out of Line Music) and how taking more time to record and working with Tue Madsen for the mixing and mastering resulted in a more organic, full sound that was aggressive with a touch of old school heavy riffing.
And we laugh about their drummer possibly regretting asking for a song with blastbeats and a fan knowing the lyrics of a new song better than Eemeli at one of their recent shows…
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Last Spring, we sat down with Julius and Matti from I Am Your God to talk about their new album ‘SINister’ (released in May via Out of Line Music), how it shows their growth as a band, what they did differently this time and why the album title is written the way it is.
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An extensive and interesting talk with King Aleister Satan, vocalist for the Finnish industrial metal outfit King Satan, about their touring with Deathstars and Gothminister, unveiling a bit about the upcoming 4th album, and his vision behind the “Spiritual Anarchy” concept and on Satanism as a whole!
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A chat with Bloodred Hourglass about their pretty amazing year thus far, and the new album ‘How’s the Heart?’, how they’re not afraid of trying out any ideas or leaving things out when a song calls for it, and how they’ve stepped up their game yet again with this record.
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A chat with Jukka from Omnium Gatherum about their recent US tour, how they got their new EP ‘Slasher’ together with the first track featuring their new guitarist and a cover of the famous 80s song ‘Maniac’, a hint at new music that is in the works and upcoming festival shows and European tour with Paradise Lost, Primordial and Harakiri For The Sky.
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A good week ago at Rockfest 2023, shortly before his set at the festival, we met up with Finnish rock ‘n’ roll icon Michael Monroe, where he talked candidly about meeting Vince Neil for the first time, reconnecting with Nikki Sixx, an upcoming Michael Monroe album, the documentary about his life that is coming really soon now, the recent Lords Of The New Church reunion show and more!
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A talk with the guys of Balance Breach about their new album ‘ABYZMAL’ (released on May 26 via Out of Line Music), and how they really stepped up their game by allowing the songs to dictate what direction they were taking it!
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A chat with Mr. Lordi about the new Lordi album ‘Screem Writers Guild’ (out since March 31st via Atomic Fire Records), how he was inspired by the “Universal Monsters”, a couple of things he did differently for this album and how the process was to get to their new looks. He also gives us a brief update about a translation of his recently released monster of a book about everything Lordi!
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A chat with Jaakko and Niko from Marianas Rest about their new album ‘Auer’, set for release via Napalm Records on March 24, and how they’ve tried some new things with their music without losing the band’s soul, by having the courage to follow where the songs were taking them, bringing in clean vocals and a guest vocalist for the first time.
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A chat with Pressure Points about how they’re happy with the new line-up of the band and their brand-new album ‘The Island’, released on Art Gates Records last Friday. Make sure you catch them live at one of their future dates, like for instance the Kaamos Cruise in September!
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