On November 22nd, 2024, Finnish heavy metal outfit TYRANTTI are releasing their new album, “Ihmispyramidi,” some months ago we sat down with bass player/vocalist Nahka-Sami and guitarist/vocalist Henkka and chatted about their performance at Hellsinki Metal Festival, their upcoming album, and much more. Watch the interview here or read the complete transcript below…
Hi guys, thanks so much for taking the time to do this interview. You have a show in a few hours, how are you feeling?
Sami: Perfect. It’s about three hours to our show right there in the back at Helsinki Ice Hall, so we really couldn’t do better.
Is this your first Ice Hall show?
Sami: Back in 2019, after the first album, we were supporting BATTLE BEAST here at Helsinki Ice Hall. We played, I think it was a 30-minute set in a night with four bands. So kind of like when people were walking in through the cloakroom, getting their beer, we were about to finish our set. But that was still quite something to remember.
Henkka: Yeah, so the conditions for this show are a bit different now.
Yeah, you’re also playing in between many black and extreme metal bands!
Sami: We wanted to know if we’re going to play on the same day with DORO. And when we found out we were playing on the same day with DORO and HAMMERFALL, we thought we were not that odd any longer. But then when we saw the running order of our stage, we realized we were the only non-black metal band playing.
Pretty much.
Sami: But we got some aces up our sleeves for that.
Henkka: Yeah, some special stuff is going to happen on the stage.
TYRANTTI goes black metal today?
Samil Well, you never know. I mean, when this comes out, you’ll know.
I guess. [laughter] You mentioned DORO. Are you fans?
Sami: She and her band, play a similar type of music to ours. If you compare it to some of the other bands playing today, like MESHUGGAH, ABBATH, or Mayhem, I think at least DORO is a bit closer to our stuff.
I noticed that you have two new singles out, “Lihaa Mattoon” and “Uusikuu.” So I am guessing that you are releasing a new album pretty soon. When did you first start writing that?
Henkka: I think the writing process started like last year, or we decided to start making new music and now, we have already released our second single from the upcoming album. And things are looking quite rosy at the moment.
Sami: Yeah, right after this festival, we’re going to spend the next two weeks in the studio finishing the album. So it’s pretty much done.
Henkka: Even though the last album was somewhat of a theme album, I think this is still more ambitious. It’s bigger and it’s more dramatic. I mean, all the arrangements and stuff like that and the production itself, it’s more ambitious. So we’re excited.
That sounds great. So what is the direction you’re headed in with this new album?
Henkka: One easy answer is that there are more double bass drums than ever before. So in that way, heavier stuff is going to be released.
Sami: Yeah, but on the other end, “Uusikuu,” the second single is probably, I don’t know if we should say the least heavy song that we’ve written. It’s not, but it’s close to that end. And those two singles, I would say, just give a good idea of the variety of songs that we have on that album. There’s more variety in the vocals, definitely. The drums are heavier than before and the guitar solos are faster.
Henkka: Yeah, and “Uusikuu” is definitely the ballad of the album.
Sami: And “Lihamaattoon” is definitely not the ballad of the album.
Yeah, I mean, it would be nice if that would have been the ballad and everything would be like blast beats or whatever. [laughter]
Sami: Yeah, then we’d fit better on this stage today, but…
Maybe next time, you never know. [laughter] When is it gonna be released?
Sami: Late this year, late 2024, we have the album release date lined up. We haven’t announced it quite yet. Quite soon we will, or it might be released when this comes out. And then we have a bunch of shows lined up for a proper record release tour that’s going to go on for next winter. So we have something else to do than just freezing.
Would you say that you’ve been able to make the process faster and faster with soon three albums under your belt?
Henkka: It varies a lot. Usually when you’re making your first album, it usually takes a lot longer than the next one because you get familiar with the process and you get familiar with your concept or your band or your like…
Sami: And the first album is often the collection of all the demos and everything from the rehearsal.
Henkka: And I think album by album you get more defined and you know already what you’re going to do when you start writing music. So it’s not about that great exploration anymore. It’s making the stuff so you don’t lose that energy elsewhere. So you can just make music. So that way it’s a bit easier to work with the deadlines and stuff like that.
Sami: Oh, yeah, we are definitely a band that needs deadlines to get [things] finished.
Henkka: That’s the theme of our fourth album. Yeah, that’s right.
Deadlines. [laughter]
Sami: Deadlines. That’s a good title. We needed deadlines. We had good deadlines. We almost kept to the deadlines. Sorry to all the fans that were expecting an album earlier. But I think it was worth the wait. Now we’ve had the chance to really concentrate on the budget and also to work on the album and it’s going to be… I mean, if you liked TYRANTTI before, you’re going to love this one. That’s for sure.
Do you feel like this third album allowed more room for experimentation while songwriting?
Henkka: I think more and more because, I mean, to add to the last thing that I said, it’s like you get more familiar with the process. So you can also start playing with it. And I think this album is going to be a bit different from the two previous ones when we are not like focusing on a specific sound, but we’re focusing on more what TYRANTTI can be like in the future.
Sami: And it also comes from—sorry to interrupt— playing live because when we were working on the first album, we were just the three of us in the rehearsal room, bass, guitar, drums, vocals, and that was it. And that’s how we built songs and how they came to be. But now that we’ve—since the second album—we’ve added more and more keyboards to our live sound, which kind of gives us more headroom, more possibilities, more options for songwriting as well that we keep in mind. This is actually something that we could do live with keyboards or with something else. And obviously, we play metal, metal is supposed to be played live. So all the songs that we’re writing right now are also songs that we can play live.
Henkka: Yeah, usually that’s like a sign of approval. If we can do it live, then it’s worth doing. If it’s way too difficult or it doesn’t feel right, then usually we don’t keep that idea.
Sami: Yeah, I think. Yeah, definitely.
You mentioned you’re focused on what TYRANTTI can be like in the future. What’s in the cards for you?
Sami: That’s for the people to kind of decide, I guess. We just want to play this music as often as possible to as many people as possible. I mean, at least for me, making music is important, but it’s as important as playing it live to people. So I’m just hoping that the songs we really believe in right now will also get us to places like Helsinki Ice Hall and Hellsinki Metal Festival and festivals like this to get a chance to play for as many people as possible.
When it comes to venues, do you prefer a huge stage like the Ice Hall here today or more intimate venues?
Sami: I’ve got to say, as much as we draw energy from the audience, we also draw energy from each other when we play. And when we play at a smaller venue, like awesome venues like Torvi in Lahti, for instance, we just want to go back there, even though the stage is smaller than this couch. The intensity is better. When you’re on a big stage, obviously, we enjoy it because it means that we have space to run around and everything will look good. But there’s always the downside that we’re further away from our audience. So it’s harder to draw that energy which is easier if you’re playing at a smaller venue. So I think we’re just as good at any venue.
Henkka: Yeah. And you never think of that when you’re on a stage. I mean, in that, what’s the word, in that situation when you’re playing, that’s like some afterthought maybe or something like that. But you don’t have time to think of that when you’re on a stage. I mean, which stage you prefer. So it doesn’t matter.
What do you think about on stage?
Sami: That’s a really good question. I think I’m always thinking about the next chord, like, “Where am I?” Panicking. And the lyrics like, “Oh, shit, what’s coming next?”
Henkka: I mean, the optimal situation is that you don’t have to think anything and you just basically enjoy the whole thing and enjoy the moment with the audience. And that’s like some sort of flow.
Sami: It’s a flow. I guess you can compare it to like driving a car. You know, when you drive a car and somebody calls you and you pick up the phone, obviously with your hands-free and then you just drive for 15 minutes while talking. And when the phone call ends, you realize like, oh, “I’ve done 20 kilometers.” And you still didn’t hit the car anywhere. And I think playing live is something like that. You just realize at some point, like, “Fuck, this is the last song. So what happened?” Yeah. And you played everything right. And you perform meanwhile. You’re just in that kind of space.
Henkka: Yeah.
Sami: After the first album, we toured a lot and the album was only, I think, 37 minutes long. We played all the songs and we were exhausted after the show. And then, we released a second and decided that we were going to play at least 60 minutes. And I think our record release show was 70 minutes long with added guitar solos and drum solos. At least I was terrified beforehand. Like, “How am I going to last for 70 minutes?” But still, those shows went by so fast. It doesn’t really matter. It’s either 35, 70 minutes, or 90 minutes in the future. You just… you just lose it when you start playing. And that’s what I love about it.
Alright! That’s pretty much it for my questions. Thank you so much for your time! Any last thoughts you want to share?
Sami: Varo Tyranttia!
Henkka: Yeah. Watch out for TYRANTTI.
Interview by Laureline Tilkin
