Helsinki-based progressive metal prodigies Egres have released their new single and music video ‘Retrieval’, out now on all streaming platforms!
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News Posts
Helsinki-based alt-rock band Wrecking Lizzy shared the melancholic Christmas single ‘Christmas Lights’, out now!
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Helsinki-based rock outfit East Electric released their latest single ‘Killer On The Run’ a while back, a third track from their upcoming debut album!
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Gothic metal outfit The Eternal revealed the new standalone single ‘Everlasting – MMXXIV’, an upgraded re-recording of their classic song ‘Everlasting’, out via Reigning Phoenix Music!
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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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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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Gig Reports
August 30 20224 was like an unholy pilgrim for any and all metalheads around Finland (and even beyond) when Beherit, one of the most revered Finnish black metal bands of all time, played one of their rare live shows at Ääniwalli in Helsinki. The greatest black metal concert our reporter has ever witnessed.
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.
Interviews
At Tuska 2024, we had a quick chat with Lotta from Luna Kills about their first ever show at the festival, how they’ve been doing since we last talked a couple of years ago, their first tour outside of Finland in support of Dear Mother and hints at what’s next…
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We met up with Dante, Gian and Pavel from the Mexican metal outfit Anima Tempo while they were in Finland and talked about their present European tour, which also will take them to our own venue Asgaard in Belgium, their unique take on their music, trying to find some new approaches every time both in recordings and live, how they love the energy from the European crowds and what they’re working on of new music and concept!
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We sat down with Kriss and Aaron of Starbenders right before their headline show at On The Rocks in Helsinki, Finland to talk about their present European tour, their road and struggles of the past decade to get where they are right now and things to be looking forward to, like their brand-new single coming out this Thursday, September 26 with Sumerian Records!
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We sat down with Jessie and Eleni of Ankor after their show at this year’s Tuska Festival, the last stop of a crazy weekend that took them to 3 different countries in 3 days, and had a short chat about their busy summer, the way they like to release new music and how 2024 really seems to be a big year for the band.
Yesterday, they announced a major European tour for 2025 which will take them to most countries of the continent. You won’t want to miss out on that, tickets are available starting tomorrow!
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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!
Photo Reports
Within Temptation dropped by in Helsinki on their “Bleed Out tour 2024” that is taking over arenas all over Europe and treated us to a visual and musical spectacle like only they can deliver. With them they brought guest artists to do some songs with them and support band Annisokay!
1349 and Kampfar joined forces to invade Europe with their Norwegian black metal onslaught and brought along the Danes of Afsky, and we caught them at their stop at Ääniwalli in Helsinki for a much needed black metal fix at the start of our week!
GHØSTKID came back to Finland to play an excellent show at Tavastia in Helsinki, and they brought with them Within Destruction and SETYØURSAILS for a splendid night of modern metal and metalcore!
The second night of this year’s edition of HKI SKEPU FEST in Helsinki was yet another (skate) punk party you shouldn’t have missed with the Danes from Uphill Struggle, the Polish party machine that was CF98 and Finnish acts Lame Duck, Teresa Banks and headliner Against It All!
Last month, the 6th edition of HKI SKEPU FEST took place in Helsinki to celebrate (skate) punk and everything surrounding that scene with on the first night bands like Critical Low, Glass Wipe, Malvina and Snuff!
This past summer, Assemble The Chariots released a monumentally epic debut full-length album, a concept album that is the first chapter of a massive world they’re building. And there was only one way to properly celebrate this: by having a release show, playing the album from start to finish live as it’s intended to be listened to. And with the addition of supporting guests acts IA and Lightbearer, it was truly a mind-bending night to remember for a long time! If you want to catch Assemble the Chariots live, this weekend is your shot with their show at Helsinki Techfest this Friday and their first ever arena show with Lost Society in Järvenpää this Saturday!
A couple of months ago, Elektrik Products satisfied our need for some good beats to dance to yet again by bringing the popular Swedes of Priest back to Helsinki for a crazy night at On The Rocks! And with them came the intense industrial duo Ambassador21, a special “old school electro” set of Freakangel and an opening show of Teknohirvi, the electro version of thrash outfit The Hirvi!
In the beginning of last week, a sold out On The Rocks in Helsinki truly got warmed up for the upcoming Tuska Festival when the legendary Suburban Tribe played their first show in over 13 years! If you’re at Tuska today, they are a must-see… see you at the Radio City Stage by 19:15!
Apocalyptica came, saw and conquered our hearts with their renditions of even more Metallica songs from their latest album, brought to us in the middle of the chaos that was Metallica weekend in Helsinki!
Back in March, we found the popular Danish black metal outfit Afsky teaming up with the just as popular Finns of Havukruunu for a co-headline tour in Finland with the support of Qwälen, bringing one of the most progressively welcoming black metal shows to On The Rocks in Helsinki!
