UHRITULET interview

 Hail! The label describes UHRITULET as “Finnish by geography but German in sound”, which I understand, especially with Luror and Hellfucked mentioned. But when I listen to Ruumissavotta, I don't always hear Germany first. Some of the colder and more miserable melodies sound very Finnish to me. Do you actually recognise this split yourself, or is the whole Finnish/German comparison something that other people have put on the band?

Yes, the whole comparison is something that other people have come up with.

Luror is a pretty specific name to throw into the description, too. What is it about Luror that really matters to you? I mean beyond the obvious “old German black metal” connection. Is there a particular record or period of the band that you keep coming back to?

That's also not my view of Uhritulet. I don't see the connection with Luror or German sound in general. I only hear the bands that have influenced me, and they are not tied to any specific country. But I don't mind the comparison!

And then there is “BEATDOWN BLACK METAL”. :) I have to admit, that one made me laugh. I can hear what they mean - some riffs on the album really do stomp rather than fly - but would you ever describe UHRITULET that way yourself?

No. I don't know the term "beatdown". It sounds like some Limp Bizkit type of stuff. I think the slow parts come from Black Sabbath, Candlemass, Celtic Frost, Darkthrone... those kinds of bands.

A lot of black metal seems to have this strange obligation to become faster and faster. You don't seem particularly interested in that game. There are even parts here where slowing a riff down makes it sound much more violent. Was that something you were deliberately aiming for, or did the songs simply come out that way?

Well, I have had my share of fast tempos with other bands and projects I've played with. When I'm playing drums in a band, they always want me to play as fast as possible. I need to balance that with my own projects. There are exceptions too. Ancient Obscurity's Nimettömät Maat is not that slow.

The first album was rougher, while Ruumissavotta has a much clearer sound. I like that you haven't confused clarity with cleanliness. Did you have a very specific sound in your head this time, or did you just keep working until the guitars finally sounded the way you wanted?

I wanted to recreate and refine the sound I had on the first album, using the knowledge and instruments I had while recording this one.

There are also quite a few riffs that are easy to remember. Not “catchy” in the stupid modern sense, but they stay there after the record is over. Do you actually think about memorable riffs when writing, or is that something you only notice afterwards?

Uhritulet is all about riffs and being catchy. It just turned out a little darker this time.

Those clean vocals caught me immediately. Isengard was the first comparison that came into my head, especially because they don't sound like some modern metal band suddenly deciding that the song needs a clean-vocal “break”. Was Isengard actually in your head when you did them?

I am very flattered by the comparison with Isengard, but no, I had no intention of doing those clean vocals. They came about through improvisation, in the moment.

The Finnish melancholy is interesting because you don't seem to force it. There aren't obvious folk instruments or melodies telling the listener, “Look, this is Finnish”. Some old Finnish bands had exactly that quality. Do you think growing up in Finland inevitably finds its way into the music, even when you're not trying to make it happen?

Yes, we are depressed people. Our music has this melancholic yet epic and proud character. Even our childhood lullabies and Christmas songs are sometimes melancholic.

You do practically everything in UHRITULET yourself - guitars, drums, vocals, lyrics, recording, mixing, artwork. At what point do you actually let another person hear something and say, “OK, this is finished”? Or are you the sort of person who can keep changing a guitar sound forever if nobody stops you? :)

When mixing and producing an album, it never feels like a finished product. I usually stop mixing right before I drive myself insane.

T.T. is the exception, of course. I'm curious about the bass because it can be very easy to lose under this kind of guitar sound. Does he write his own parts freely, or are the bass lines already basically decided when you give him the songs?

Most bass parts are written by me, but we also sit down together and play around with ideas.

The 1990s are clearly important to the atmosphere of UHRITULET. But there is a big difference between discovering that underground through actual tapes and fanzines and discovering it decades later through the internet. What did the 90s underground mean to you when you first got into it?

Everything was better back then, right? I don't know. I sure am happy to have access to all that stuff.

And what Finnish records from that period do you still genuinely listen to? Not the obvious five names everybody mentions when somebody says “Finnish black metal” - I'm more interested in the records you would actually put on at home.

Most Finnish black metal albums I still listen to are from the early 2000s. Noenum and Diaboli are great.

There is a funny thing with Finnish black metal: sometimes you can hear where a band comes from almost immediately, even when there is nothing obviously “Finnish” in the music. Other bands use every possible ingredient and still sound like they could have been recorded anywhere. What do you think makes the difference?

I have no answer to that. The writing process should come naturally, but you need to have a direction and an idea of what you are doing. If those aspects don't come together, it's probably not that good.

Three years passed between the debut and Ruumissavotta. That's not particularly long, but it also doesn't feel like UHRITULET is a band that needs to feed the release machine every year. Were you throwing away a lot of material during this period, or do you usually know quite quickly whether a song belongs to UHRITULET?

I don't have much time for my projects at the moment. These days, it takes a lot of time, organization, and dedication to write and record an album. When I start writing, I usually have a clear idea of what I am doing and why, but the songs change quite a lot during the process.

And the title - Ruumissavotta. I know enough not to pretend I understand all the Finnish associations behind it :) What does the word mean, and why did it become the title of this particular album?

Ruumis means "corpse". Savotta originally comes from "puusavotta", a forest work site, but in figurative language, it is used to describe demanding physical work, a task, or a project. So, "Ruumissavotta" basically means killing a shitload of people.

The song "Ruumissavotta" tells the story of a place deep in the forest where wanderers die at the hands of the gods. These corpses eventually form huge hills that become part of the forest as a sacred place. It is probably the weirdest song I've written, lyrically speaking... But I like the originality of the name, and I used to be a lumberman, so it fits, haha.

One thing I noticed is that the album can suddenly become quieter or more melodic without losing its nasty character. A lot of bands would use those moments simply as a break before the next attack. Here they sometimes feel like part of the attack themselves. Do you think about contrast like that when writing?

Well... this might sound weird, but when I have a musical concept for an album, I start writing with great inspiration and produce consistent material. At some point, that inspiration fades, but I still continue writing with the concept in mind, and it mostly works. But sometimes the inspiration kicks in again during the creative process, and that's when those different musical characteristics come along and destabilize the consistency of the style. But I don't see it as a bad thing.

The label talks about the album as “anti-modern” and connected to the clandestine underground of the 1990s. That's a nice description, but today almost everybody in black metal can say they hate modernity while uploading the statement to five social-media platforms. :) What does being “anti-modern” actually mean for UHRITULET?

Well, I can't say I'm fighting against modernity, since Uhritulet is on most major streaming platforms and is also on social media. The debut was added to streaming services on its third anniversary (coincidentally).

I'm extremely lazy with social media, and I don't like being part of it, but I have to use the same communication channels as the people listening to my music. In my opinion, I sell a decent amount of physical copies and digital albums, but I have only a handful of followers on any social media platform. So maybe I am more "anti-modern" than most bands... I don't know. Music should speak for itself.

And finally, after making a second album in this particular style, what would you hate to see happen to UHRITULET? A certain sound becoming a formula, people expecting the same record again, the band becoming too polished - or something completely different?

Change is inevitable, one way or another. It doesn't matter what Uhritulet will become as long as there is meaning and a reason behind it all. Working towards the goals I have set for myself is all that matters.

https://uhritulet.bandcamp.com/