As we bid farewell to 2023, come along with us for a series of interviews with a few artists. We’ll chat with them about their experiences, challenges, and successes throughout the year. These talks give you a close-up view of what happened in the metal music scene in 2023. We chatted with Sampe of MEDEIA to see how the underground throne holders of Finnish metal have experienced 2023.
In 2023, MEDEIA did a Finnish tour to celebrate the band’s 20th anniversary. In general, how do you look back to these 20 years of existence?
Two decades is a strange thing. We started the band as youngsters, and now pretty much everything is different in terms of life situations. Two things have remained relatively unchanged: the drive to perform live and to create heavy bangers. We’re still carrying around the same energy as we did when we started—maybe it’ll never go away in a sense. I can imagine myself writing riffs on my deathbed.
During one of the shows, vocalist Frans also got hit by a guitar head and even though he was bleeding, continued to perform for 80 minutes. What other lessons did you learn in 2023?
If anything can happen, it eventually will. We’ve been dodging injuries for years, so statistically, Frans had to take a hit. It was absolutely crazy that he was able to deliver the whole set. Initially, he felt dizzy and wasn’t sure if he’d pass out shortly thereafter. Blood was literally bursting from the top of his head as he continued to scream. Fortunately, we had our manager Rowan stageside, along with Emil from STAM1NA, who managed to patch Frans together. Cheers to the crowd as well for bringing Frans an ample amount of water and a towel.
MEDEIA also released a new single, “Superseptic,” do you overall feel like you were able to achieve all your goals in 2023?
“Superseptic” is the first track from our upcoming album. Let’s see if we can get one more song out in 2023; I’d say we’re good for the year.
Have you (re-)discovered any new music during 2023?
Yeah, totally. REFLECTIONS, DARKO, ALPHA WOLF, and THROWN have been on heavy rotation. The amount of artsy metal has diminished somewhat lately, which I personally think is great. I’d rather listen to some catchy and heavy tunes accompanied by killer production.
What can we expect from you in 2024?
Singles, album. Stay tuned!
