1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the musical project?
-Well.. We wanted to make black metal music, which ain’t the fastest or most brutal nor lyrical themes aren’t that common in genre. We wanted to have more melodic and “catchy” approach to our music, but still have the darkness and heaviness there too. TUIKKALA
2.You have your first full length coming out in November, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style that you went for on the recording?
-This might come as a surprise, but 90% of the material was actually composed on acoustic guitar. My philosophy has been for years that “if it sounds good on acoustic guitar, it will work on electric guitar as well.”. I listen to lot of different music from jazz to black metal so if you listen carefully you can find little surprises here and there. All in all it is melodic black metal with some hints of death and even doom metal there.
TUIKKALA
3.The band has been around since 2017 but waited until 2023 to release any music, can you tell us a little bit more about the long wait?
-The oldest songs are actually from late 90’s (Lohduton Kylmä Polku for example), which have been lying around in my head and old demos I recorded alone. My first idea in 2017 was to run this as my solo project, but then I noticed that I have full album worth of music written, but lyrics for one and half song. In 2022 I started recording the songs and still had no lyrics nor inspiration to write any, I thought to show few songs to Janne (Partanen) if he had any ideas and also knowing his Uhriristi background if he had any interest to join in as a vocalist. Lucky me he was interested of this and we started working together. Which has been really inspiring. Through the years we had discussed about doing stuff together and about decade ago we almost did some death metal together, but I can’t recall why that withered. Probably my laziness.
TUIKKALA
4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band has explored so far with the music?
I wanted to make something that sounds like my writing and something different than normal to this type of music. So i studied some old Finnish folklore and horror story's and use them as a inspiration. Janne (Tuikkala) had wrote some lyrics to two songs that were used with few modifications. PARTANEN
5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Verilehto'?
-Finnish black metal heads would guess this right away, but it comes from Horna song “Verilehto”. Funnily though I realised it afterwards. I thought it would be really great name for Finnish black metal band and didn’t realise that my subconscious mind had collected it from Horna song. Verilehto translates to “Blood Grove”.
TUIKKALA
6.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
-Thanks to Social Media, Finnish dark-artist Awinita Alm was found from Instagram. She had the artwork for sale and we thought it would match perfectly to music we had done. She was kind enough to sell the original illustration to us.
Awinita Alm is super talented on making dark art that fits on this type of music perfectly. TUIKKALA
7.Currently there are only 2 members in the band, are you open to expanding the line up or do you prefer to remain a duo?
-I think that as for studio we’ll remain as duo. Maybe better bassist than me could be brought in - I don’t know? As for live purposes we have been working with many players throughout the years, that we can quite easily find bassist and guitarist. But live shows are not our main focus with this band. TUIKKALA
8.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black metal?
-Great question, haha! So far, so good, I guess. What I think, is that our stuff will be liked more outside Finland than here in Finland. Finnish stuff seem to have extra mysticism to it for people who haven’t been here or haven’t heard the language. We havent really think about would people enjoy out music. We enjoy making this album and that is enough. TUIKKALA
9.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?
-I play guitar in Muria and drums in Alpha Noir, also I have my Dawn of Everwinter soloproject. What comes progress of those, I think with Muria we are going to record bunch of songs in not so distant future. Alpha Noir, we’ll see and Dawn of Everwinter is something I work slowly with, no rush with that. I guess Verilehto is my “main” thing to do as in Muria and Alpha Noir I don’t need to contribute writing that much music, just to get my ass to rehearsal and play my parts.
TUIKKALA.
I have lots of stuff going all the time. My main band is Hautajaisyö that plays Finnish death metal. We play gigs and are making our 5th album. I also sing on industrial metal band Alfa Pentatonik and melodic death metal band Marraskuun Lapset. Both of them are releasing new music soon. I also have some soloprojects and featuring stuff coming when i have time to focus on them. Verilehto has become one of my main bands that i cant wait to do more. PARTANEN
10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
-Glad you asked. We actually have our second full length maybe 50% done. I have recorded already 7 songs and Janne (Partanen) has written lyrics to them. Next step is to record vocals, once schedule allows. Musically the next album is bit faster in general, bit more aggressive, but also quite melodic at the same time. Awinita is hired for cover art so things are coming up good.
TUIKKALA
11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
-For me the biggest influence have been Iron Maiden, Testament, Dissection, Mayhem and Satyricon what comes to writing this kind of music. As mentioned before I listen to lot of different music from jazz to black metal. Currently I have been listening lot to DHG’s “Black Medium Current”, Azaghal’s “Teraphim” and Testament’s “Low” - such a great record that I always return listening since 1995.
TUIKKALA
My vocals influences are in 90s Finnish & Swedish black metal and Florida death metal. I have always been a huge Black metal and Death metal fan. Horna, Uada, Naglfar, Mgla, Shining, Azaghal, Sargeist, Deicide, Benediction, Asphyx, Dark Funeral and Belphegor are somethings i listen. PARTANEN
12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
-Thanks for having us! Mark November 10th to your calendars!
Albums comes as a digital release through Inverse Records.
You can follow us on Instagram & Facebook for more info. TUIKKALA
https://www.facebook.com/verilehto
https://www.instagram.com/verilehto
https://verilehto.bandcamp.com
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