Sotajumala surprised me last year with their second album ‘Death Metal Finland’ on which they displayed themselves as a fast, brutal and unstoppable Death Metal machine. I dropped a line and plans were made for an interview, but it seemed the Sotajumala guys are constantly busy with all sorts of things, so this took somewhat more time than planned. So with a little delay here’s the story on Sotajumala. Otsala and Häkkinen both took care of the questions and tell you all about this Finnish war machine.
Hi guys. Could you start off by giving a short introduction to Sotajumala, who you are and what you are all about.
Otsala: Sotajumala was founded in 1998 with the intention to play “Finnish Death Metal”, meaning music being in the vein of US (Florida) bands but with lyrics in Finnish. The idea was probably born as well as evolved in the sauna, hehe. We all have been into Death Metal for a long time so it was just a natural thing for all of us to do.
What does Sotajumala mean, and how does it reflect on you guys?
Otsala: It’s hard to explain what the word Sotajumala really means, but the English equivalent could be ‘war god’. It’s just the name of the band, it’s not meant to reflect us as human beings or our ways of thinking or anything. It’s sort of a symbol for all of us as individuals writing and performing this music. I guess you could say that it’s even some sort of a role, which isn’t present in the everyday living so much. Just jovial and fun.
How did you get in touch with Woodcut Records and what kind of deal did they offer you? Were there other labels interested in signing Sotajumala?
Otsala: Woodcut actually got in touch with us. They’re a Finnish label and at that time they were pretty much the only label in Finland releasing extreme music. They offered us a deal that we thought was fair, so no reason not to take up the offer really. We have a 2 album deal with them and nothing to complain really so far. Things are going well with them.
It seems Woodcut only signs Finnish bands. Do you think of this as a good thing or a bad thing or don’t you care? Do you get the proper promotion in Europe or worldwide?
Otsala: That’s how it seems to be, though I don’t know about the way they profile themselves. I think it’s really great that Woodcut signs Finnish bands and thus allows people to hear what’s going on in here. Woodcut is a relatively small label and thereby resources for promotion aren’t as great as you would have on a bigger label, but what can you do really. Hopefully we’re getting enough promotion abroad too. I believe they’re doing their best.
Your debut album ‘Death Metal Finland’ is a very good and brutal piece of violence if I may say so. How have the reactions of both press and fans been since it’s been released?
Otsala: Thank you! Reactions and reviews have been extremely good and feedback generally speaking has been very positive, almost overwhelming, so and in a way also surprising. In Finland things have been a little easier because all the songs are in Finnish. As for foreign reviews and feedback I can only say that I’m very happy that people haven’t cared too much about the language barrier, but have listened to the album as a whole and judged us by the music we play. That’s something I admire in reviews.
Häkkinen: Hey, I’m glad to hear you liked it. As Tomi said, reactions and reviews have been truly and utterly great. I’m quite stoked really, hehe. People really seem to love it and that truly feels really great. Thank you to everyone for their kind words and support. Much appreciated!
Why did you name the album ‘Death Metal Finland’? It’s a cool title, though it reminds me a bit of ‘Suomi Finland Perkele’ by Impaled Nazarene, though that means something different. Can you tell us why specifically this title was chosen?
Otsala: It has nothing to do with Impaled Nazarene’s ‘Suomi Finland Perkele’. It was just a natural choice for us to call it ‘Death Metal Finland’ as it has been sort of a ‘slogan’ for us throughout the existence of the band. Good name for the debut album.
Also, can you tell us the reason why the album title is in English? I mean, everything also around you (band name, titles, releases, lyrics) are in your native tongue?
Otsala: It describes in a nutshell what the album is all about, even to people who don’t speak Finnish. Quite a self-explanatory title, ha!
And on the other side, apart from the fact that it’s a good thing to do, can you tell us why all your songs are sung in Finnish? Finnish is a very difficult language and a lot of people will not understand what the songs are about’
Otsala: When we started planning Sotajumala we made the decision to sing in Finnish. Death metal hadn’t really been done in Finnish before, so it was/is a new thing to do. In a way I feel that we’re pioneers in this and it’s nice to see younger musicians and bands in a way following our footsteps and creating their own style where you can see/hear some traces of Sotajumala. We might also write lyrics in English in the future, we haven’t excluded that option by any means. I totally agree that in a way singing in Finnish is also a bit restrictive, as it might be a little harder for foreign people to get familiar with our music. Lyrics always have an important role in music, and many people can’t understand what we’re singing about. We’ll see?
Speaking of which, can you tell us what the songs of Sotajumala are about, what topics they deal with? I heard they deal about Finnish war history or (fictive) war in general, so can you tell us what to expect from both topics?
Otsala: Well that’s basically it, hehe. Some of them are based on Finnish war history, some are purely product of imagination (or the lack of it, haha). We also have some lyrics with a message and which do take a stand, so it’s not all about just killing and then killing some more.
Häkkinen: And the future is still open. We might cover some other topics too, not just war. It’s too early to say, but I think it’s quite likely to happen. I think there will always be lyrics dealing with war one way or another, but that probably won’t be the only subject.
Everytime I hear or read about your choice of topics there’s the statement that it has nothing to do with politics or racism of any kind. Did you had problems with this in the past, or do you still have problems with this?
Otsala: In the past we’ve feared that we might be connected to those things you just mentioned, so we’ve wanted to play it safe. Some of the lyrics which are war stories from Finnish history are patriotic and they show that we are proud of our roots. Some idiots have thought that they mean that we don’t tolerate others and that we’re some nazi band! Well there will always be those idiots, but we don’t really care too much about them. We just want to make sure that people who buy our albums/get familiar with us know what’s the truth. We aren’t racist/right wing people at all. None of us. In fact, quite the contrary!
Häkkinen: Calling us a nazi band just because of the song titles or topics which we sing about is stupid. I think there’s always the chance of getting labelled like that because of the topics we sing about, but what can you do if people are stupid and don’t bother to find out about the truth. Playing it safe with this subject just feels like the best thing to do, really. I don’t think it would take too much effort from people to find out about the truth seeing how we’re commenting on this subject in just about every interview and it’s on the cds as well. I bet we’d be the lousiest nazi band ever too, as we’re denying it on every chance we get, haha! We’re definitely not nazis/racists/right wing people. Period.
Musically Sotajumala is a very brutal Death Metal band. Where do you guys get your musical influences from? Different corners of the world perhaps?
Otsala: We can’t deny that it has started from all of those classic bands from the USA, but there are influences from other things/bands/places too. Different elements and things that you hear somehow just evolve into Sotajumala riffs and songs.
Häkkinen: I listen to a variety of music, not just Death Metal and Grindcore. As much as I love the brutality of Death Metal, I do listen a lot of “softer” stuff too. As for musical influences, being a drummer, just from different drummers I see and hear all the time. In my personal opinion, I didn’t get too creative on ‘Death Metal Finland’ yet because of time limitations. Now that I’m in the band full-time I have much more time to work on my parts and I’m quite sure you will hear that on the next album. Just a matter of getting familiar with the songs/riffs and then listening to what you’re hearing in your head, what the songs call for? Or alternatively stealing everything from guys like Longstreth, Roddy and Hahto, haha.
Though we already know what your lyrics are about, where do you get your inspiration from’
Otsala: I think it all comes from that fact that making music is fun and we love it. Death metal is a nice thing, ha!
Häkkinen: Music generally, as well as other drummers. On top of those; my own life, views, beliefs, thoughts, experiences and goals motivate me.
Your album is filled with hyperfast pulverizing Death Metal tracks. What I find very cool is that among these little obliterations there are two slow tracks that ser a different sphere on your album and lay down a very threatening vibe. Has this been done on purpose or not, and can we expect more of these slow killers in the future?
Otsala: The songs on ‘Death Metal Finland’ have been written over a longer period of time. During that time span we wrote fast songs. Nowadays we have a lot more in our songs than just going as fast as you can all the time. There’s much more variations. There will definitely be some slower songs in the future as well.
Häkkinen: Hyperfast? Well yeah, it’s fast alright, but it’s usually faster live, haha. Not that speed actually means anything to me anyway. And faster songs only sound fast if there are some slower ones too, you know. If you have ten really fast songs, the first two will probably sound as fast as they really are, but after that the speed simply loses its power. The slower songs were written and put on the album on purpose and I think it worked out really good. Like Tomi said, there will probably always be slower songs among the faster ones. We’re not a grindcore band, yet, hehe.
The cover displays a pulverizing tank. Is this just a relation towards your lyrical subjects or is their also a relation to the album title or to the band perhaps? If so, can you tell us more about this?
Otsala: Well yes, it’s in a way a theme of some sort. There was a tank on the cover of our mcd ‘Panssarikolonna’ so you can see the cover of ‘Death Metal Finland’ as a continuum between the mcd and the debut full-length. Personally I feel that it sort of ends the era between the mcd and the full-length and with the next album we’ll have another theme and a new bag of tricks.
How does the rehearsing go with Sotajumala? Do you guys rehearse a lot or do you all live far each other which makes it difficult or something? And does everybody help with writing songs or is this the task of one or two persons?
Otsala: We try to rehearse as much as we can as a band. We’ve always had long distances between the members in this band, but it hasn’t really slowed us down, the other way around if anything really (the drummer takes care of that, hah hah). At the moment things are quite easy, as I’m the only one living further away, so it has gotten better from what it used to be. What comes to writing songs, we all work on them together. We all make the final song. Of course the guitarists and myself write riffs, but the final song is always a band effort.
Häkkinen: Things are definitely better now. Kosti (Orbinski) and I now live in the same city, so it’s quite smooth for us two to play together and Tomi (Otsala) and Pete (Lapio) join us as often as they can. Things are definitely going to a better direction all the time. There are other priorities as well, like work, school, other bands and personal life which all do take their time too, but playing music is what we all love and we try to do it as much as we can. As for writing songs, of course they usually start from riffs. The songs on ‘Death Metal Finland’ were mostly written when I entered the picture. Now that I’m in full-time I think that’ll change something as well.
Since some time now Timo has joined your ranks permanently, which is a good thing, but unfortunately your vocalist 105 is going to leave, which is a bad thing. Can you tell us why he’s leaving, and do you already have got a replacement?
Otsala: Yes, Timo joining the band was a real stroke of luck for us. We tried to get him to join already when he worked with us on the album, but he wasn’t interested back then. Luckily he changed his mind and he’s now with us. I feel that he is 110% into what Sotajumala is doing.
105 leaving on the other hand isn’t as unfortunate as you might think, even though he had a great voice. And it wasn’t so much that he left the band. The reason that he isn’t in Sotajumala anymore is purely just that he didn’t seem to have the motivation (to rehearse for example) anymore and he didn’t seem to contribute anything anymore.
At the moment we’re working on new material as a four-piece and we have a session singer to handle all the gigs we will be doing before we settle with a full-time singer. We don’t want to rush things. We’ll take our time and see what the future brings. Even though we don’t have a full-time singer in the band, we are in a really good situation here. We will see what alternatives we have and then make our pick.
Häkkinen: Haha, I take that as a compliment. Danke schön.
Can you tell us more about your live situation? Do you play live very often and is there a good scene in finland to play live’ How do you see the scene in Finland anyway?
Otsala: It’s a bit seasonal, so to say. We were on Grind Declaration of War tour with Rotten Sound (Fin) and Defleshed (Swe) in March 2004. After that we’ve done some gigs in Finland and we have three shows booked for the first half of 2005 so far. Not too much, but we’re not complaining. It’s better than nothing. There are a few larger venues in Finland for this type of music, but also some really nice smaller places.
The scene itself over here is quite a small one, but there are some really good bands. You all should check out Torture Killer!
Häkkinen: Playing live is always nice. Hopefully we’ll get to do it plenty, both in Finland, as well as abroad. I see the Finnish Death Metal scene really small, but hopefully that’ll change.
Did you ever play outside of Finland or will this perhaps happen (again) in the near future? What’s a Sotajumala gig like?
Otsala: On the Grind Declaration of War tour, which I already mentioned about, we did seven shows in Sweden on top of the Finnish dates. Our first show ever was also in Sweden. Other than that, no, we haven’t been abroad but hopefully we’ll get plenty of chances in the future. We’re looking forward to it. Ours shows are basically just brutal Death Metal without too much talking or “You’re so sweet, we love you all”, hehe. Just brutal, ruthless and heavy! That’s it.
Häkkinen: Hopefully it’ll happen again! The sooner the better.
Can you tell us about your plans for the future of Sotajumala concerning gigs, recordings etc?
Otsala: Right now we’re just slowly starting to work on new material. No tours in sight, at least not yet, and well’ more recordings when it’s time. Too early to say yet.
Häkkinen: Yep. Now that there’s a full line-up it’s time to start planning the future. See where we want to go and then just the get on to the hard work. The songs on ‘Death Metal Finland’ were written during a longer period of time, so we now have a clean table. I think it’ll sound a bit different, but if anything, only much better. We’ll see what happens. We’ll take our time and I think the outcome should please those who liked ‘Death Metal Finland’.
We abort the interview here man. Thanks for taking the time and any last words or the call for a new growler can be placed here?
Otsala: Thank you for a very nice interview.
Häkkinen: Last words’ Bitte anschnallen! Hahaha. No but seriously. Hopefully we’ll get to play in Germany soon. I would really like to do that. Oh, by the way, Burst from Sweden kick an awful lot of ass. Thanks a lot for a very nice interview and for your support ‘ appreciated!
