On Friday, August 12th, 2023, Tavastia hosted an interesting evening featuring two relative newcomers to the Finnish rock scene, both with high critical acclaim. Thus, we headed out to see what STONED STATUES and LÄHIÖBOTOX had to offer.
STONED STATUES released their debut, a self-titled album, in April 2022. The critically-acclaimed album of alternative metal gave them a flying start playing many of the mid-sized festivals in Finland and receiving several nominations for prizes at the Emma Gaala [Finnish Grammy’s]. They also picked up the newcomer prize at Indie Awards.
LÄHIÖBOTOX, on the other hand, made some waves in the Finnish music scene in 2020 when they released their debut album “Rikkinäinen Suomi.” Their take on combining rapping and heavy metal guitar riffs was something rarely heard of in Finland. They also received several nominations at the Emma Gaala and have played at most Finnish rock festivals.
Both bands are praised for their live shows, so it’s no surprise that the concerts were full of drive and energy. There were mosh pits breaking out, a guitar player jumping into the audience, and of course a lot of fist-pumping, jumping, and dancing.
The first band set to play their performance at Tavastia were STONED STATUES. The young trio consists of vocalist-bassist Jenna Kosunen, guitarist-vocalist Markus Hakala who took care of the more aggressive grunting and growling, and drummer Allu Tanskanen forming the foundation of the band. While the band’s sound is mainly alternative metal, there are flavors of funk and punk in their music; a sound that made the audience move. The climax of the show was probably when Hakala jumped down from the stage with his guitar to take part in a mosh pit.
LÄHIÖBOTOX, on the other hand, was more centered around singers, Seksikäs-Suklaa and Dosdela. The duo took turns in inciting the audience. There was also quite a lot of interaction between the audience and the vocalists, Dosdela in particular. He answered to people who were shouting in the crowd and commented on some attendants in the audience. This served to bring down the barrier between the audience and the artist, which worked well with their streetwise lyrics and down-to-earth style. Even though the subjects of the songs are dark – domestic violence, alcohol, and all kinds of darker sides of life – there is a lot of humor in a LÄHIÖBOTOX concert.
All-in-all, the two bands illustrated perfectly why they have been frequently named as some of the most promising new names in the Finnish rock scene.
Stoned Statues
Lähiöbotox
Photos by Arto Alho
