Upon reviewing the new album by the Finnish metal sages of atmospheric melancholy, SARA, I mentioned that the band should be way more popular than it is. Well, the album release party that took place on January 24th, 2025, at On the Rocks, Helsinki, sold out almost immediately upon the announcement about the band’s Hallava Tour 2025 kicking off in Helsinki, so I guess I was only half right; I stick to my opinion, however, since you don’t get to hear SARA on the mainstream radio almost ever, which is a bloody shame, really – especially considering how stunning their new outing is. So, I was pretty hyped up about seeing the band on stage not only because of that but also because I had never seen them live before. The warm-up act, MERTA, was an entirely novel bunch for me, so I made sure to show up early at the venue.
Okay, I was probably expecting something rather atmospheric and soft, given the style of the headliner. Still, I certainly wasn’t expecting “Iskelmähevi,” which would roughly translate as “Schlager heavy metal” in English, as the band’s frontman, Juhis Kauppinen, has dubbed the band’s signature sound. The band’s execution was extremely tight and Kauppinen had a pretty impressive vocal range but, maybe two or three songs into the set, I couldn’t avoid the impression of listening to the early-1990s pop-duo NEON 2 with Big Muffs cranked to the max. Then again, I might have to admit that there was something perversely entertaining in this chosen code of conduct even for such a die-hard prog-metal nerd like me. The band played for an hour or so and the set was rock solid, tightly delivered all the way through, and, judging by the response of the crowd singing along, MERTA had pulled up quite a few fans to the venue. The band has released three studio albums on Playground Music Finland, so they have found their niche in the ever-expanding metal universe. Personally, I would opt for something a bit more convoluted.
SARA kicked off their set with the haunting new single, “Hyvästi Kapteeni,” which also opens the new album, “Hallava,” released last week. So, it was clear right from the start that, tonight, the band would fire with all cylinders. This year, the band will celebrate their 30th anniversary – at some point, the audience sang “Happy Birthday” to the band – and the mileage certainly showed in the band’s confidence, stage presence, and delivery. The set opener was not the only instance that I felt shivers rushing up and down my spine.
The setlist was comprised rather nicely, stretching across the band’s whole back catalog. The somewhat KATATONIA-esque 2022 album, “Pimeys,” was visited with a couple of songs – “Se Osa Joka Rikkoo” and “Taivas,” with the harsh vocals of Jun-His of ORANSSI PAZUZU coming from tape in the latter. Then, its even more atmospheric predecessor, “Summa” (2018), was revisited with three songs – “Avaa Se Ovi,” “Ei Me Olla Ainoita,” and “Ethän Vielä Kuole.” At some point, I almost flinched at the realization that the setlist included quite a few songs about death. Then again, SARA is of that rare breed that has a knack for writing beautiful songs about the subject, songs that church the heart but you just can’t stop listening to them.
SARA‘s years on Universal produced two magnificent albums, of which “Veden Äärelle,” released in 2008, was revisited with the songs, “Laine Kerrallaan” and the haunting fan favorite, “Rauhan Aika.” During the latter, I noticed that most of the audience was singing along – it was pretty mesmerizing. The other Universal outing, “He Kutsuivat Luokseen” was visited with another singalong anthem, “Vieläkö Muodostan Varjoni,” which also had the crowd singing their hearts out. I’m not that familiar with the backstory of the song, but the lyrics do resonate with the aura of loss and death, so it was hard not to feel the shivers all over again.
I didn’t write down the order of the songs in the setlist in the dim light of the dancefloor area – I couldn’t have, the venue was packed. So, if my memory serves me right, the band’s 2012 album, “Se Keinuttaa Meitä Ajassa,” was revisited with only one song, “Hiljaiset Siivet.” Had SARA played the title track, too, the evening would have been even more perfect. Perfect it was, anyway.
The setlist had a few more songs off the new album – the banging single, “Valtameri Ovella,” which was performed rather early in the set, and “Alku,” which was offered in the latter half of the set. I must say that the new direction, adding some djenty, SLEEP TOKEN-esque flourishes to the band’s already impressive atmospheric melancholy does work wonders, especially on stage. “Hallava” is a very strong candidate to grab the award for the Best Finnish Album of 2025 in my books and January isn’t even over yet! In fact, the only competition so far comes from the up-and-coming metal rogues, RIOGHAN, and if the Finnish prog-metal juggernaut, ODDLAND, is about to release a new studio album this year, THAT would be something to take into account. If the majority of metal releases in 2025 are going to fall into the Radio Rock prime-time format, that stuff doesn’t even have a chance, I’m sorry. (The other reasonable contestants already released something last year, so…) In retrospect, as I’m writing this live report on Saturday morning, I cannot be sure whether or not the band played also “Vaeltaa” off the new album. I listened to it on the way home – and since I had been up since 5 AM on the day of the gig, reality and imagination might have got all mixed up in my head. I did wolf down a can of energy drink in one go just before entering the venue but, as we all know, that stuff does not really clear the mind but merely gets the heart rate doing double flips due to the caffeine and sugar overdose.
I’m pretty sure that the encore had three songs but, for the life of me, I can only remember two of them. The new single, “Anhedonia,” was included in the encore and the evening was brought to a close with “Tanssiin” from the band’s 2002 album “Kromi.” Maybe the third song was some of those I already mentioned, or maybe it wasn’t. It doesn’t really change the fact that the show was absolutely haunting. Had I known that SARA is so damn amazing on stage, I would have dragged my sorry ass to their gigs a long, long time ago. Their back catalog is easily one of the most consistently great album runs in the history of Finnish metal, so I should have known better.
Written by Jani Lehtinen
