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!

Interviews

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!

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!

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!

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!

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)!

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!

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.

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’!