Sonic Rites is a yearly festival focused on the darker end of music genres: doom, dark ambient, industrial, hardcore punk, etc. The festival manages to pull an interesting lineup of visitors from abroad and the cream of the Finnish underground music scene year after year. Naturally, we wanted to see what was cooking this year, on May 17th and 18th, 2024, so we headed to Ääniwalli to see the event. The festival’s first day on May 17th, 2024, included bands like ABSOLUTE KEY, BOAR, BAD BREEDING, SYK, SUM OF R, SUR-RUR, GODFLESH, JOLEA, and DISCHARGE.
The festival took place at the renewed Ääniwalli premises in Vallila, Helsinki, and featured two stages with an opening act for both days at a small outside stage. The festival was pretty much sold out, with the last tickets sold at the door, so the venue seems to be a perfect fit for a festival of this magnitude. The industrial surroundings also fit the event’s atmosphere well.
On Friday, the event opened with some ambient soundscapes by ABSOLUTE KEY. The set was inspired by the Finnish poet Eino Leino and his poem Auringon hyvästijättö. Then the night kicked off inside: on the smaller stage, we saw BOAR rage through their stoner/doom set. Sadly, there were some sound problems, making it hard to hear anything except the drums and the bass. Next up on the larger stage were the UK-based visitors BAD BREEDING who unleashed some fantastic punk energy. Back on the smaller stage, the Italian progressive death metal band SYK took the stage with some intriguing sounds, although the mixing problems continued, causing the bass to constantly have feedback during the gig.
A real delight awaited, as the larger stage was next occupied by SUM OF R, a psychedelic krautdoom trio that seemed to swim into the hearts of the audience with their slow, hypnotic, synth-based set. The next two artists were on the smaller stage: PELKKÄ POUTANEN is Petra Poutanen‘s solo project which features nice folk tones and surprising dark angles to it. One of the more anticipated Finnish artists of the evening was SUR-RUR with their mix of punk, alt-rock, and heavier tones. The band lived up to expectations well, delivering a set that got the enthusiasts in the audience singing along and others crowding to hear the show.
As the evening was nearing its end, it was time for the UK-based industrial metal veterans GODFLESH on the bigger stage. They took the stage with authority and pulled off one of the best shows of the evening. A quick sidestep to the smaller stage revealed the etheric soundscapes of JOLEA. The evening concluded with DISCHARGE, who erupted with their hardcore punk rage and energy. The rest was a frenzy of bouncing, shouting, mosh pits, and stage diving, leaving the audience crawling home sweaty and happy.
Check our gallery of the festival’s first day here…
Absolute Key
Boar
Bad Breeding
SYK
Sum of R
Pelkkä Poutanen
Sur-Rur
Godflesh
Jolea
Discharge
Photos by Arto Alho
