For the prog fans under us who somehow missed this exciting news… Wheel is back with their third studio album ‘Charismatic Leaders’ in May via InsideOutMusic and launched a first single with ‘Empire’ a while ago!
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News Posts
Finnish modern melodeath powerhouse Numento dropped the brand-new single ‘The Solipsist’, the first track from their upcoming third album set for release this summer via Inverse Records!
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Tuska completed their 2024 line-up with the addition of Kerry King and 6 domestic acts with Kaunis Kuolematon, The Abbey, NightStop, Suotana, Malformed and Shereign. The Tuska KVLT bands still need to be announced, though! Get your tickets now!
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Today, Hellsinki Metal Festival confirmed the last 8 names for the 2024 line-up with Meshuggah, Abbath (performs Immortal), Soen, Emmure, Gutalax, Crownshift, Wolfheart, and Barathrum! Get your tickets as soon as you can!
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Tuska has confirmed 16 more names for the 2024 edition with Stratovarius, HEALTH, Lord Of The Lost, Eivør, Elvenking, Devourment, St. Aurora, Assemble the Chariots, I AM YOUR GOD, Swansong, Krypta, Sadistic Drive, Prestige, Putro In Black, SICK URGE and Dome Runner! Get your tickets now before the price increase in a couple of weeks!
What bands are you happy with this time? And what bands are you still hoping for?
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Finnish death metal outfit Soul Incursion shares the first single and title track of their upcoming EP ‘Eternal Darkness’, set for release next week on December 15!
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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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Helsinki-based progressive metal outfit Egres released a new, explosive single ‘Higher Beings’ via Inverse Records, possibly offering a glimpse of their future direction.
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Finnish noisemongers Goatburner shared an unsettling video for ‘Dismemberment’, the latest single of their upcoming album ‘Fatal’, set for release next week via Time To Kill Records!
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Lists
In Helsinki and still looking for something to do this weekend? Don’t hesitate and start your festival season early by going to Desert Hel 2024 that has a stellar line-up with Finnish bands Heezer, Orbiter, Polymoon, Kairon; IRSE!, Dome Runner, Skyjoggers, Mansion and Maan Tomu and excellent visitors from abroad with Italian doom rockers on the rise Messa and stoner rock legends Truckfighters! If that doesn’t convince you enough, be sure to read more details on why we think you should go!
Only a bit over a week until Tuska weekend is upon us! If you weren’t convinced yet you needed to go, here are 9 reasons we believe should be enough motivation! Going from a great line-up, to Tuska KVLT, and the biggest Tuska Expo ever, this is one for the books!
If you are still looking for a great summer destination, here are 10 festivals that might make Finland the ideal place to go for you with #Horizon23, Rockfest, Tuhdimmat Tahdit, Nummirock, Tuska, John Smith Festival, SaariHelvetti, Dark River Festival, Hellsinki Metal Festival and Flow Festival!
If you’re in the neighborhood of Helsinki, you like some proper hard beats and you don’t know what to do yet… in case you missed this completely and need convincing still, check out why we think you should go to Hellsinki Industrial Festival this weekend!
Helsinki’s renown metal festival Tuska is back and approaching fast! Let us tell you why you should be there with 7 reasons we’re pretty excited about the event…
Photo Reports
Sami Yaffa has worn multiple hats in various different bands such as Hanoi Rocks, Pelle Miljoona OY, New York Dolls, The Hellacopters, just to name a few but now in his 60s he is still going stronger than ever! This legendary bassist just released his second solo album in his illustrious career titled “Satan’s Helpers, Warlazer Eyes & The Money Pig Circus” and brought the album in its entirety to a packed Tavastia in Helsinki!
At the beginning of March, Amaranthe, Dragonforce and Infected Rain brought quite the spectacle to thousands of fans gathered in Helsinki’s Black Box Jäähalli venue!
Back in February on a cold Sunday evening, things in Tavastia got quite hot when a massive horror show took over with Wednesday 13 playing old Murderdolls tunes in the memory of Joey Jordison, culminating in with the headliner act, British extreme metal legends Cradle Of Filth.
The UK progressive metallers Tesseract were touring around Europe to present their latest release ‘War of Being’, bringing a visual and musical delight to a packed Tavastia in Helsinki! With them, they brought the German proggers of Unprocessed and US mathcore up-and-comers of The Callous Daoboys!
Avatar dropped by the legendary Helsinki venue Tavastia on their “The Great Metal Circus 2024” tour, bringing their visual spectacle and theatrics properly to Finland. With them they brought the US metallers of Æther Realm, really blowing up the night!
Welcoming events that try to bring something different and out of the norm to Finland, we went to the second night of the club festival Hellsinki Techfest with Sirkuit Preiker, Khroma, Balance Breach and Hacktivist back in September for some killer music and high energy!
Without question, the biggest deathcore band in the world, Lorna Shore made their stop at Jäähalli, the biggest venue in Helsinki, bringing their biggest stage production yet to a sold out crowd on their “The Pain Remains EU Tour”, and with them they had Rivers of Nihil, Ingested and Distant, resulting in massive pits from start to finish!
Smash Into Pieces have become quite the force to be reckoned with in the heavy music scene and together with Cyhra, they set Tavastia in Helsinki ablaze a couple of months ago!
Pictures of the visual spectacle that was Witch Club Satan in Helsinki.
The pictures of a wild night with Mors Subita, Shereign and I Am Your God at On The Rocks in Helsinki!
Gig Reports
With 3 bands being shining lights for (the future of) metal, and all 3 of them having a brand-new album in their pocket, Amaranthe, Dragonforce and Infected Rain turned Black Box Helsinki into a true celebration of heavy music about a month ago!
Tesseract came, saw, and absolutely conquered with a mesmerizing and mindblowing set of music at Tavastia in Helsinki, and with them they brought Unprocessed and The Callous Daoboys for a night of proggy delights!
“The Great Metal Circus 2024” landed in Helsinki, where Avatar turned being at Tavastia that night into something absolutely spectacular and memorable! And the support Æther Realm came all the way from the US to Finland for the very first time, doing a great job at warming up the crowd!
2023 was the year when you could say that Demolition 23. are back, and they are here to show what a true punk rock ‘n’ roll show is. This unit only released one album in 1994 with a lot of critical acclaim, achieving legendary status that still stays almost 30 years later, and they destroyed Tavastia in Helsinki back in October!
A report of the captivating performance piece that was the theatrical black metal show of Witch Club Satan!
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.
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.
Interviews
Back in 2023, when Leprous was last in Helsinki, we met up with Simen from Leprous to have a fun chat about touring, his highlights when being on tour and supporting your local live and cultural scene!
Since they’re playing in Finland again this coming week, we wanted to share this fun little bit from our archives, so enjoy and don’t miss out on their shows!
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A talk with Juan Brujo from Brujeria shortly before their show in Helsinki last summer, about their show at Obscene Extreme that started the Europe leg of the ‘Matando güeros’ anniversary tour, how crazy things get when they hit South America, and about the new album ‘Esto es Brujeria’ (out today via Nuclear Blast)!
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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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In the middle of the last hectic moments before opening their bar, we sat down with the guys to have a short chat about the concept, the road towards the bar and what they’re hoping visitors will get out of the place.
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Watch the chat we had with Anton Kabanen about the upcoming new album ‘Dark Connection’ and his cyberpunk inspirations!
Watch the interview with Joonas and Jyri from Oceanhoarse about their debut full-length studio album ‘Dead Reckoning’, out via Noble Demon Records!
Watch the chat we had with Vallu and Bini from the Finnish alternative rock outfit Blame Me! about their upcoming new album ‘The Invisible You’!
An old chat with Olly and Mike from Monuments we dug up from our archives because it was just too much fun to keep it from you!
A chat with Ariel Bloomer and Shawn Jump of Icon For Hire about their music and way of life just before they hit the stage in Helsinki!
The video of the talk we had with Wheel about their quick rise in 2019, some of their highlights of the year and what they think of the new Tool album…
