Kuolemankello - Perkeet (2025) [Hi-Res]

A blend of original proto-metal and heavy rock; Kuolemankello's debut album Perkeet is out today. The Finnish trio Eemeli Lehtonen, Tomi Helomaa and Matti Kallio founded the band as a noisy counterbalance to the bleakness of the covid era.

Kuolemankello's basis is to play loud rock in the spirit of old heavy metal, as if Black Sabbath and Finnish rock legend Tuomari Nurmio started jamming together. Sketchy songs baked around the screaming riffs, rolled up in full-body comping and marinated in a concrete bunker. An original band, with no clear plan or premonition.

The etymology of the band's name reflects the finite nature of time and a certain kind of fatalism; life is short and the death clock is ticking, better to start a band now than tomorrow. The band's drummer Kallio comments on the first single Valoni, released back in June:

"Valoni was born around a single riff, without any unnecessary negotiation. We just played it and went for it. There was a great feeling of accomplishment when everyone participated with teenage enthusiasm. Only the lyrics had to be completed afterwards, when the spontaneously looped chorus needed a story around it. The spark was found in the classic film Rosemary's Baby."

The band's latest single, the riff-driven Haaskalintu with its screeching guitars, is a good representation of Kuolemankello's musical backbone and the bleak nature theme of the Perkeet album. Haaskalintu is the band's favorite song to play live, and the intense video directed by animation artist Malakias creates a magnificent apocalyptic atmosphere.