1. For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
The band started to take shape around 2025. At the time, I was playing in a rock band where the songwriting duties were shared, but I wanted to write music entirely of my own and move in a more metal-oriented direction. I’ve always been interested in black metal and the underground scene, so I started looking for the right vocalist for the project, as my own vocal skills are rather limited.
I’m not a particularly technical guitarist either, but I trusted my ability to write strong, emotionally affecting melodies and concise, coherent songs. I found our vocalist Arttu through social media and listened to his solo project. What immediately caught my attention was his extremely clear articulation, which is surprisingly rare. Even when people sing in their native Finnish, it can sometimes be difficult to understand a single word without reading the lyrics. With Arttu, I could understand everything without them.
More importantly, the emotions in his voice genuinely affected me. There is a tendency in extreme metal to simply try to sound as monstrous, frightening or aggressive as possible, and to me that can easily come across as artificial or even naive. Arttu sounded believable. I contacted him, and we began working together remotely. I would create the instrumental foundations, Arttu would comment on them, and once we felt the music was strong enough, he would start fitting lyrics and vocals to the songs.
We worked this way for at least a year, possibly closer to two, before we even met in person. In fact, SYSI initially existed almost entirely remotely. The record was made in much the same way, and all the musicians actually met each other for the first time at the promotional photo shoot.
The idea from the beginning was to first find out whether we could actually make good songs together. If we could do that, playing them live would not be a major problem, because everyone already had live experience. I had previously played with Sami and Heikki in another band, and Arttu had performed live as well. For us, it was much more important to find out whether the songwriting collaboration worked and whether we could create something worthwhile than simply getting together to hang out at rehearsals.
2. So far you have released an EP, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style that you went for on the recording?
We deliberately didn’t want to define the genre beforehand, because we didn’t want people to dismiss the music based on preconceived ideas about a particular label. Now that the EP has been released, though, it seems to be consistently described as depressive black metal.
Our intention was never to make depressive, dark music that pushes people further down. Quite the opposite. Arttu and I wanted the music to validate those emotions—to make people feel that they are not alone with them and perhaps give them some strength to keep moving forward. So “depressive black metal” may describe the phenotype, in the sense that the music can sound depressive, but we feel that “melancholic black metal” is perhaps more accurate. There are melodies of sorrow, longing and nostalgia. Someone even described some of the melodies as having an Eastern quality. For us, melody and emotion are really the key elements.
You can call it DSBM, but not in the sense that SYSI encourages or glorifies self-destructiveness. We do deal with self-destructive thoughts and behaviour, because those are also part of the human experience. Hiding or being ashamed of such feelings does not help anyone move forward. We would rather acknowledge that they exist and convey the idea that it is possible to live through them and to get help.
Musically, we also wanted to leave space. The songs are relatively slow rather than being a constant barrage that eventually numbs your ears. We wanted room for the melodies, rhythms and groove.
Another important part of the sound was that we specifically wanted the record to feel live. We weren’t aiming for a flawless recording. We recorded complete takes: the drums from beginning to end, the vocals from beginning to end, and so on. Almost everything was done this way. The exception was the lead guitars, where we allowed ourselves to obsess over the details and record them in sections so that certain elements would be exactly where we wanted them.
That organic, natural quality can be heard on the record. It was a great idea from Arttu that we really wanted to follow through with, and judging by the feedback we have received, it has become one of the things that distinguishes SYSI from a lot of modern music that is heavily processed and corrected.
3. Can you tell us a little bit more about the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
The EP was intended as a complete work, including thematically. We spent quite a long time considering whether to call it a demo or an EP, but it is definitely an EP. Even though it is short, it forms a coherent whole rather than being just a random collection of three different demo songs.
There is an arc running through the record. It begins in hopelessness and ends with rediscovering the beauty of life and finding a way to keep moving forward, even though the burden still rests on your shoulders from time to time.
The lyrics deal with waiting for your own death, self-destructive feelings, experiencing yourself as something bad or dark, and letting go of relationships and addictions. Ultimately, though, it is up to the listener to interpret the songs. I believe they can resonate with people from very different perspectives.
These experiences are part of being human, and we wanted the themes to be accessible beyond Finnish-speaking listeners. That is why we carefully made English translations for the YouTube lyric videos. The original Finnish lyrics are presented line by line alongside the English translation, so non-Finnish speakers can follow in real time what Arttu is singing.
4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name ‘Sysi’?
SYSI comes from a Finnish word with two related meanings. Sysimusta means “pitch-black,” while sysi itself means coal. So the name refers to something pitch-black or coal-black. It reflects both the sound of the band and our roots in black metal.
5. Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the EP cover?
It was important to us not to use AI for the artwork. We wanted everything to be made by hand, and the cover painting is something I made myself. I, Lauri, originally painted it in 2019, in the middle of a major upheaval in my life.
I found a piece of spruce plank on my property and painted directly onto it. I didn’t use brushes at all, only my fingers and painting knives. The original painting was predominantly red, with a kind of red mass raining down over what appears to be a group of people. For the aesthetics of this EP, however, it worked better to photograph the painting and convert it into black and white.
Apart from that and cropping the image to emphasize the human-like figure in the lower left corner, there was no other processing. Interestingly, there were never actually supposed to be any people in the painting. It is an abstract work. Many people see a face in the lower left, but in reality it is simply the imprint of my thumb creating a three-dimensional effect.
People are free to make their own interpretations of it. I remember that when Arttu first saw the painting, his impression was that one person had somehow been left outside everything else, while the others were passing by through some kind of rain.
6. Has the band done any live shows or is this strictly a studio project?
We haven’t played a single live show yet, and in fact we haven’t even had a single band rehearsal. We are still focusing on songwriting, and at the moment we are working on our next EP, which will probably consist of around four songs.
Once we have roughly ten songs, we will start playing live. That will probably happen within the next year. Until then, our focus is on writing music and finding a record deal. Our thinking remains the same: there is no point in rehearsing if you don’t have good songs to rehearse. We want to establish the concept and build a strong body of material first. The actual playing will come naturally, as everyone already has the necessary experience. We already developed good chemistry during the recording process.
SYSI will absolutely become a live band. Performing in front of an audience is enormously rewarding and important to us. The feedback we have received from the EP has already been extremely moving and rewarding, particularly when people have described their own emotions while listening and told us how the music affected them.
We definitely need to get on stage, but first we want to take our time and create an excellent set of songs. In the end, even a year is quite a short time to take a completely new band from its beginnings to the stage. We just have to be patient, even though we are already very eager to play live.
7. What are some of the band’s plans for the future?
At the moment, the EP is completely self-released, and we have applied for a grant to help cover some of the costs. Our goal for the next release would be to have either a co-financing agreement with a label or to have the release fully funded.
Our intention is not to make money for ourselves through this music. We all have our own day jobs, but at the same time, SYSI is more than a hobby to us. Our goal is to eventually work with a larger record label that could help us bring this music to a wider audience. As a completely independent band, it is extremely difficult to become visible without the promotional power that a label can provide.
We hope our music reaches the right people and that a record label might hear something in SYSI that makes them want to contact us and start a conversation. We fully understand that taking on a marginal band like ours is a financial risk, and we would deeply appreciate a label placing that kind of trust in us and giving us the opportunity to release music under their name.
Our next concrete goal is to begin recording the new EP in January, here in my home studio where we recorded the first EP. We also intend to continue working with Hiili Hiilesmaa for mixing and mastering. He did an excellent job of preserving the organic, 1990s atmosphere we wanted, and he has also been a major personal influence on me in metal music. Many of the Finnish metal records that have meant the most to me were mixed by Hiili.
Making records at this level is quite expensive, though, so having a label or financing agreement behind the next release would be very valuable to us.
8. What has the response been to your music so far?
I have personally been surprised by how much contact and feedback we have received from outside Finland. I originally thought that our music would mainly appeal to Finnish-speaking listeners, but it actually seems that there is at least as much interest abroad as there is in Finland. We have received messages from Greece, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Latvia, the United States and Israel, just to name a few.
Finnish is quite a percussive language, which I think makes it particularly well suited to metal. It can sound rough and aggressive even when the actual words being sung are not angry at all. In that sense, Finnish feels almost made for metal music.
People have particularly appreciated the fresh, natural sound of the EP compared with a lot of modern production where everything can feel overproduced. We have also received positive feedback about the songwriting being coherent and the atmosphere coming through strongly.
Some of the most meaningful comments have come from listeners who have recognized their own emotions in Arttu’s voice—people saying that they have felt exactly what they hear being expressed in the vocals. That kind of response means a lot to us.
Within the first two weeks of the release, we have also already been added to several playlists and online radio stations.
9. When can we expect a full-length and where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
At the moment, it looks like we will make three EPs first. We have now released the first three-song EP, and the plan is to make two more EPs of three or four songs each. After that, we intend to start playing live, and hopefully by then we will have a proper record deal that allows us to make a full-length album.
We want each EP to be a coherent work with its own thematic identity. The theme for the next EP has already been decided, and songwriting began this week. The idea is to write a lot of material and then select the strongest songs. We did the same with the first EP: we wrote more than twice as many songs as eventually appeared on it, and then chose the compositions that we felt were both the strongest and worked best together.
I tend to write what you could call “mini-songs,” where the main musical themes are already there. If they don’t speak to Arttu, I don’t continue developing them. It is important that the music creates a strong emotional response in him. Only then do I finish writing the song.
So, realistically, we will make a full-length album once we have a record deal. Before that, we also hope to find some form of co-financing for the upcoming EPs. We may still be able to continue releasing the EPs independently if necessary, although outside support would obviously make things considerably easier.
A full-length album is a different matter financially. In practice, producing one song costs us around 700 euros when marketing and the costs of producing physical media are included, so funding an entire album ourselves may not be realistic. To make a full-length at the level we want, we will need the support of a record label.
10. What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music?
As a composer, I have been particularly influenced by bands such as Sentenced, Thy Serpent and Paradise Lost. What has influenced me most is their sense of melody, but also their minimalism and sincerity.
Arttu’s vocal style, on the other hand, has been influenced by La Dispute and hardcore punk.
11. Outside of music, what are some of your interests?
We all share a love for dogs. I also work as a psychiatrist, so both in my work and through music I deal a lot with themes related to mental health and questions about human existence.
Ever since I was a young man, I have been interested in psychology, philosophy and theology, and music is simply one way for me to explore these subjects.
Arttu is studying to become a firefighter, and helping other people is also something that is meaningful to him.
12. Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
One of my dreams in life was to make a record of music I had composed myself, with a great vocalist and a rhythm section that really grooves. That dream has already come true.
It feels incredible to me that I am now answering questions for an interview coming from outside Finland, and I am deeply touched by that. I’m looking forward to what happens next with some uncertainty, but also with a lot of excitement. Will people find us? Will we find the support we need to make the next EP and eventually a full-length album?
I believe that art can help people in situations where, for example, medicine cannot always reach them. Art can create profound changes within a person and even provide something to hold on to in the middle of great confusion and hopelessness.
But none of that can happen if the music never finds its listener. I hope this interview reaches the eyes of someone for whom it was meant.
https://www.instagram.com/sysi.metal/
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