Are you hungry for some fierce and straightforward Death Metal from the Land of the Thousand Lakes? Sotajumala are here to prove that Finland should not be linked only with melodic Power Metal and tragic Gothic Rock. Check out this interview with Sotajumala’s drummer Timo Häkkinen and what he has to say about the band, the music and the Finnish extreme Metal scene…….
Greetings! Sotajumala are not among the best known Metal bands from Finland so as a start will you please say us something more about the history of the band? When and why did you create Sotajumala?
The band was originally born in 1998 although it took a few years before there was an actual, full line-up. From the start the idea was to play uncompromising Death Metal with lyrics in Finnish. The name was also decided right away. Little by little things started moving forward. In 2001 first self-released MCD, some shows and line-up changes. This MCD found its way to Woodcut Records who signed the band the next year and in early 2003 ‘Panssarikolonna’ MCD was released. More line-up changes and in spring of 2004 debut album ‘Death Metal Finland’ was released. Again some line-up changes, lots of shows promoting the album, a split with Torture Killer and in finally in 2007 we released our sophomore album ‘Teloitus’ in Finland. The reason we are doing this band and the reason this band was originally put together? We just love playing Death Metal, plain and simple.
Your last album ‘Teloitus’ was released in 2007. What were the reactions of both fans and press to it? Was it well received or there were negative reactions as well?
We spent a lot of time working on this album and in the end we just knew we had something we would be forever proud of. In that light we all honestly that it didn’t matter if people liked it or not. We knew it was different compared to our debut album but we were really proud of what we had accomplished. Turned out reactions were extremely positive from both fans and press alike! In Finland we got only good or extremely good reviews and judging by the amount of coverage that we have gotten, the reactions at shows, from what I’ve read online and the chats I’ve had with fans, it seems like people like this album as much as we do. Couldn’t be happier!
Which studio did you use to record ‘Teloitus’? Are you completely satisfied with the final result or there are things that could have been done better?
We recorded the album in two studios in Vaasa, Finland. Drums and bass were recorded at Nordic Audio Labs and guitars, vocals and mixing were handled at Biotech Audio Solutions. We worked with Samo Koivisto at both of these studios. I think there are always things you could do a little better but with this album it really doesn’t matter as those are just tiny, tiny things. We did the best we could within the little time we had, we worked long days and we actually completed the album a week or so ahead of schedule haha. We are extremely proud of the way it turned out!
How do you see ‘Teloitus’ compared with your debut album ‘Death Metal Finland’? Where is the difference between these two records?
The difference is actually quite big. Our debut was a collection of songs written over the years, some recorded before as well and there were some line-up changes before the studio. With ‘Teloitus’ we had the same line-up for 3 years, we had a lot of shows promoting the debut album and so on so it’s safe to say that we are a much tighter band nowadays. All songs on ‘Teloitus’ were written specifically for this album and none of them had been released before.
As far as songs go we have matured a lot as players and song-writers. The songs themselves are a bit longer and more suitable for live setting and the album really sounds as an album, not just a collection of songs like we feel ‘Death Metal Finland’ was, to some extent. These are all changes that happened naturally within time – we didn’t plan anything really. These are the songs that came out this time – we’ll see what happens next time.
An interesting fact is that all your lyrics are in your native Finnish language. Why did you choose to write only in Finnish and what are your lyrics about? And what does Sotajumala mean?
-Sotajumala translates to Wargod. The decision to sing in Finnish was made at the same time the band was put together. It’s not a definite decision, it’s just something we’ve so far felt too comfortable with to change, you know? A year or so before we started writing ‘Teloitus’ we actually talked about possibly having a song or two in English, but in the end we just felt it wouldn’t have been fitting and sticked with the idea of having all songs in Finnish.
The lyrics used to be mainly about war but these days we do cover other objects as well even though they mainly deal with death, war, dying – all horrible things, thus extremely suitable for Death Metal. On ‘Teloitus’ all lyrics have been translated in the booklet.
What inspires you to write your music and lyrics? Where do you gain your inspiration from – real life situations or something else?
We love playing this kind of music. As simple as that. As long as we love doing this we’ll continue, that’s for sure. I don’t really know if there is something specific that inspires us to write music, it just comes from the heart, you know. We want to outdo ourselves. We want to get better at what we do and at the same time, we really don’t make changes to our music, they happen naturally. We just write what we feel like writing. As for lyrics I can’t say much seeing I don’t participate in that, but you just come up with a suitable setting or a storyline for lyrics and start working on it. It might come from a real life incident, it might be the product of imagination or something in between.
At your MySpace profile there is a video of Sotajumala’s performance at this year’s Tuska Festival. Tell us something more about your participation at the biggest Metal festival in Finland?
It was the best show we’ve ever played and we are still stoked about it! We had waited for our chance to play Tuska for quite a while and with ‘Teloitus’ we felt we had earned our slot and seems like the organizers felt the same way, haha. We played on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 and after soundcheck there were a handful of people there. When we go on stage an hour later, it was packed! The audience was the biggest one we’ve ever had, they were extremely loud and they loved being there as much as we did! Insane moshing, circle pits and even a wall of death! I tell you, it was an insane feeling seeing and hearing that many people going nuts in front of you! The festival itself is extremely well organized and we met a lot of friends during those three days – and saw a bunch of amazing bands – so all in all it was an amazing festival for us.
Have you played somewhere outside Finland? Which is the best and respectively which is the worst Sotajumala live experience ?
We’ve played Sweden and Estonia on top a lot of shows in Finland. There have been many, many great shows over the years but luckily not so many bad ones. Sure there have been situations where you’re just thinking “What the fuck is going on here honestly?” and usually it’s due to something the organizer has done (or hasn’t more likely) but in the end you are there for the show, you have the passion to play the music, you’re there to play and even though some things might be totally fucked up, you tend to forget about them. Some of the best experiences for sure have been the Tuska show this year, playing two shows with Nile in Finland last November, our one-off show in Estonia in 2005, playing Nummirock festival in 2004 with Rotten Sound and Morbid Angel and so on. Also some smaller, local shows have been just killer because of the crowd. We’re also playing with Obituary in a few weeks and that is a huge, huge thing especially for our bass player Tomy.
Who are the bands that have inspired you to start playing Death Metal? Can you remember which was the first extreme Metal record that you bought and the first Metal gig that you visited?
The first influences for this band were Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Nile, Obituary and Hate Eternal. There’s just something about Death Metal that caught our interest and there was no turning back. I really can’t explain it, I guess it’s the sheer aggression. The first Death Metal/extreme Metal that I bought were probably from Napalm Death, Entombed, Cryptopsy, Nile, Hate Eternal and Nasum. The biggest early influences for me to actually start playing Death Metal were without a doubt the following three albums: ‘Whisper Supremacy’, ‘Black seeds of Vengeance’ and ‘Conquering the Throne’. Later on came ‘Informis Infinitas Inhumanitas’ which kicked me in the face harder than anything had ever before and it completely changed the way I thought Death Metal could be played. That album changed a lot of things for me and it’s still one of my favorite Death Metal albums ever.
How do you see the Death Metal scene in Finland? Are there enough brutal and dedicated bands from the Underground? Will you recommend us any new and promising Finnish Death Metal acts?
It’s getting better all the time and I’m happy to see that! There have always been bands doing this type of music but the fact that more and more bands are putting out releases and doing more and more shows is what makes me happy. Shameless self-promotion as I played drums on this one but Kataplexia’s third album ‘Supreme Authority’ was released in early June. If you are into brutal Death Metal do check out this one! Other bands worth mentioning are Torture Killer, Ydin, Scent of Flesh, Inimicality, Lithuria, Goresoaked, The Zombi and Estrangulados for example.
What are you doing in your time outside the band? Do you work something to pay your bills or you are doing only things connected with music?
Just playing music as living would be nice but that’s not happening in a country as small with music like this,haha. Most of us do have other bands and then it’s the usual work and family life that takes your time.
Your final words to the readers of VM?
Believe it or not, but Finland really has some amazing Death Metal bands and the sooner you check us out, the sooner we will kick your ass, haha! Take it easy and hail the blastbeat!
