The Man-Eating Tree – “May this be my testament to rock n’ roll”

The Man-Eating Tree from the Northern Finland has returned with a new lineup after years of silence. Chaoszine met Janne Markus, the guitarist and the founder of the band, in his hometown Oulu, and took a good look at the growth rings. This is where the Tree is standing now.

“Oh no! The atrocious cannibal tree that had been so inert and dead came to sudden savage life. The slender delicate palpi, with the fury of starved serpents, quivered a moment over her head.”

The leaves in the Northern Finland have mainly fallen. The colors of yellow, red and orange of the treetops are exposing the gray and awe-inspiring sky of Oulu… in the cold and dripping wind blowing from the Bay of Bothnia. At least it is warm and cosy close to the fireplace of the pub. Guitarist Janne Markus is sitting next to the blaze.

Markus has come a long way. He has played for example in Finnish metal bands like Poisonblack and The Abbey. But his main project has always been the hazy atmosphered goth metal band The Man-Eating Tree. It has been almost ten years since the group has released their previous album and The Man-Eating Tree took an indefinite “break” in 2019.

Now Markus has formed a new lineup with first-tier Finnish musicians. The Man-Eating Tree is currently formed by the vocalist Manne Ikonen (ex-Ghost Brigade), the guitarist Sakke Paavola, the drummer Aksu Hanttu (ex-Entwine, Tuoni, S-Tool, Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus) and the bassist Mika “June” Junttila (Mors Subita). The new album “Night Verses” saw daylight in April 11.

Markus is the only original member. The new ones were pondering, if they should just form a new band with another name instead. Eventually it did not feel right.

“I’ve always been some kind of an incarnation of The Man-Eating Tree. I’ve probably written 96 percent of the songs. The sound and the world of the band are mainly my creations”, Markus says in the interview of Chaoszine.

“I’ve always been some kind of an incarnation of The Man-Eating Tree.”

The Roots

“Then fastened upon her in sudden coils round and round her neck and arms.”

Back to the roots of The Man-Eating Tree. The band took its form in the late 2000s. One of the most influential persons was the photographer Vesa Ranta. He buried his previous group Sentenced in 2005, and decided, that maybe he will not throw his drumsticks to the same grave after all.

“Vesa is one of my best friends. Vesku was an essential player, and without him The Man-Eating Tree might not ever have been found. We can thank him, that the band exists in the first place, recorded three albums. Well, four albums now”, Janne Markus says.

Markus says, that as a guitarist, he had from the very beginning an urge to write his own songs. He has never been interested in learning how to play covers. Or how to grind scales as fast as possible. Creating his own music has been always the main thing.

The friends were listening a lot to same kind of music at the time. Ranta had said to Markus, that if the guitarist ever has some potential material, “let’s go”. He had. Markus had about six demos ready only a few weeks later.

“At some point we had an idea, that let’s just make one album. Then suddenly we had worldwide recording contracts and tours coming. I was a bit like what? How did we end up here? Things just happen.”

Markus is not completely sure, when the band found more members. He is guessing, that they had the first vocalist Tuomas Tuominen in mind in advance. The debut album “Vine” was out in 2010.

There has been a persistent rumour around The Man-Eating Tree, that originally the another guitarist should have been the legendary virtuoso Miika Tenkula, who had played in Sentenced with Ranta. Markus reveals, that he was in the impression as well at some point. He knew that Ranta and Tenkula had jammed together a couple of times after Sentenced.

Ranta, for one, has corrected for example in Melankolian Mestari, biography of Miika Tenkula written by Nefertiti Malaty, that from his point of view they were two different projects. He did indeed go to practicing space with Tenkula, and they were discussing the idea of founding a new project. The idea met a tragic end, when Tenkula died in February 18, 2009. He was only 34 years old.

The Trunk

“Then while her awful screams and yet more awful laughter rose wildly to be instantly strangled down again into a gurgling moan.”

The Man-Eating Tree released their second album “Harvest” soon in 2011. Antti Karhu had replaced Aaron Rantanen as the second guitarist. The third album took more time. “In the Absence of Light” was out only in 2015.

“The band had really high hopes back then. And we had a good fuss going on. Then, to be honest, things went to hell. It probably says a lot, that even today, the album has not been released internationally as it’s supposed to”, Janne Markus says.

The next phase was, that people started to drop out from the band. Some members moved away from Oulu, others found families instead of side projects. Markus admits, that it was really tormenting for him, when Karhu and the bassist Mikko Uusimaa left the band in 2015.

“The band had really high hopes back then. And we had a good fuss going on. Then, to be honest, things went to hell.”

Markus did not touch his guitar for a long time. Then one day he got a phone call from Juha Raivio, the guitarist and the main composer of Swallow the Sun. The bands had toured together before, and the two men knew each other well. Raivio asked Markus to cover for him.

“Juha had a really bad situation at home. It was actually only then, when I really grabbed my guitar again after the album release. For the first time I felt that damn it! This is not over yet! I started to write new songs. Well, we had to change members again. Different gigs had different people.”

Eventually the keyboardist Marko Sneck left the group and even Ranta announced in 2017, that he is done with the drumming for while. Even though the band broke up, Markus highlights that they are still very good friends together. He tried to find new musicians and to continue the story of The Man-Eating Tree. By force, if necessary. Unfortunately no matter what he did, it was not “a band” anymore.

“I lost my motivation completely. After all we had gone through, everything just withered away. I think I didn’t even know back then, how tough it was for me, when my best friends left the band. It was really hard to start all over again.”

“I think I didn’t even know back then, how tough it was for me, when my best friends left the band.”

The Man-Eating Tree released one more song “Ritual”. It was made, when the group did one more tour with Swallow the Sun in 2019. When it was done, they announced an indefinite break. Most of the fans thought, that they will never make a comeback.

The Branches

“The tendrils one after another, like green serpents, with brutal energy and infernal rapidity, rose, retracted themselves.”

Janne Markus and Vesa Ranta eventually found themselves playing together once again. When COVID-19 took all the gigs away, the former bandmates joined the doom metal group The Abbey in 2021. Although the band practiced together first time only in 2023, when the debut album “Word of Sin” was practically finished.

Markus composed only one song. The band played for example in Qstock festival in Oulu in 2023 and Tuska Metal Festival in Helsinki in 2024. They toured in Europe together with Icelandic band Solstafir. But when the group hit the road again in autumn of 2024, Markus was not in the van anymore.

“The Abbey is pretty much formed around Jesse (Heikkinen). It is an amazing band, but I don’t know, if I would’ve been the right person after all. Of course, everything happens for a reason. This is one of the painful things I’ve been going through”, Markus says.

Markus has had a rough year in general. He says, that he has had a lot of hard decisions to make. Leaving The Abbey was one of them. He was anxious when he realized, that he could not participate in every tour abroad – or even every gig in Finland.

“We decided with Jesse, that it’s the best decision for everyone’s sake. What the hell? They have Insu (Indrek Virronen). He is a wonderful guy, a nice person and a great guitarist. It is better this way. There is only love and good vibes between me and the band.”

As an old bandmate from The Man-Eating Tree, Ranta was expecting Markus’ announcement. When Markus eventually told, that he is dropping out, Ranta answered that he knew that it was coming. After the Tuska show, the two shook hands, that it was Markus’ last performance in The Abbey.

His decisions are bringing echoes from the past. Markus left his previous band Poisonblack as well due to different reasons in 2010. He admits, that the band was a huge part of his life for almost ten years. He adds, that there is no bad blood between him and the group either. He even returned to play, when Poisonblack toured in celebration of the 20th anniversary of their debut album “Escapexstacy” in 2023.

The Treetop

“And wrapped her about in fold after fold, ever tightening with cruel swiftness and the savage tenacity of anacondas fastening upon their prey.”

Janne Markus believes, that when all the pieces are put together, it explains the long delay with the release of The Man-Eating Tree’s fourth album. Or depending from the point of view, the rebirth of the band. Again, the drummer played an essential part.

“I have to give my regards to Aksu with this one. He said: ‘nah, you’re not putting your guitar away. Let’s make an album!’ My response was, that he had quite many bands already. He is playing with Ville (Laihiala) in S-Tool and Saattajat and in other projects. He convinced me, that he had enough time for this one as well.”

Hanttu’s energy was the push Markus needed to start working. The singer from the third album Antti Kumpulainen was technically still in the band. Again, depending from the point of view, the story is different regarding if Kumpulainen left himself or he was kicked out.

“Things were stuck for a long time. We had a feeling, that Antti’s thoughts and desires were somewhere else and not in the band. It was yet another hard decision to make. These are really, really hard things. I wish only the best to Antti and everyone else along the way”, Markus says.

The new guitarist Sakke Paavola knew well Manne Ikonen, the vocalist of ex-Ghost Brigade. Paavola suggested, that he could be the right person as the singer. Markus is grateful about the new deep friendship with his bandmate and how Paavola has affected the new sound. But with Ikonen his thought was: “Well, we might as well ask him. He is not going to join anyway.”

“An hour after that phone call he said that he’s in. This was autumn 2023. Then we had a totally new drive. I know, that this band is important to these guys. It really means something. Now he have unbelievably good thing going on.”

The members are living in different parts of Finland, but it has not been an issue. Even though they are not seeing each other too often, dark sense of humour brings them together every time, when they do. The name is old, but the band is new. They have played older material as well on their gigs.

“People are talking about us as a band from Oulu. God damn it! I’m the only member living here.”

“I know, that this band is important to these guys. It really means something.”

The Sky

“And now the great leaves slowly rose and stiffly erected themselves in the air, approached one another and closed about the dead and hampered victim with the silent force of a hydraulic press and the ruthless purpose of a thumb screw.”

The fourth album of The Man-Eating Tree is the heaviest the band has ever made. One major factor is the growling vocals of Manne Ikonen. Janne Markus says, that even though he has tried to simplify the songs, everything has a purpose.

“Our aim is, that it’s a package, where the theme and the emotions are solid throughout the album. The length of the songs varies from three minutes to ten. It’s really diverse”, Markus describes.

According to Markus, Ikonen had heard his growling vocals on some demos. The vocalist simply announced, that he is not going to do all the screaming. “You are doing it Janne as well”.

“I was like goddammit! What do you do? I tried to squall something to the mic during the demo sessions. All this while there was one of the best growlers in Europe standing next to me. He just said, that it sounds good. Well, maybe it did then.”

Even though many of the members have toured a lot abroad, currently they do not have too many other active projects. Hanttu still has Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus. June’s Mors Subita announced their indefinite break in December 2024.

“It means that we’re all in. We have decided, that this is the way. I can speak only for myself, but I think I’m done with touring in a van for six weeks in wherever”, Markus says.

The band has started their tour with the new album, but they are not accepting any pizzeria corner as a venue anymore. They want to play as many reasonable shows as possible with the terms of their families.

“After all, this is only music. We have to keep our heads cool. I just can’t get out of it, perkele, no matter what I do. May this be my testament to rock n’ roll. This will be my last band project. I’m fully aboard until the very end.”

The storm is rising outside, but the Northern tree is quite strong.

The italic parts of the text below the subheadings are quotes from an article The Man-Eating Tree of Madagascar written by Karl Leche in 1874. So far there is no confirmation, if the tree exists or not.’

The interview was released for the first time in Finnish in Kaaoszine, the Finnish version of Chaoszine in November 11, 2024.