Paavo Laapotti’s Defiled Serenity released their anticipated debut album – featuring guest appearances by Juha Tapio & Karisma

Defiled Serenity, a melodic death metal band from Loimaa led by Paavo Laapotti (known as the front man of Before The Dawn), released their long-awaited debut album “Within the Slumber of the Mind” on February 21, 2025, through Inverse Records. The album features guest appearances by Juha Tapio and Sonja Lindberg, who became known from The Voice of Finland and appears on the album’s closing Rihanna cover under her artist name Karisma. You can listen to the entire album here:

Vocalist Paavo Laapotti comments:

“I love melodeath, so composing this album was a very enjoyable endeavor. We worked on this album for quite a long time, but fortunately we did so to achieve the best possible result. I managed to gather such a good team around me to create this that I feel only great pride towards the album and my bandmates.

The themes of the album are depression, death, and my reflections around those subjects. I’ve drawn a lot from my own life for the lyrics, and I feel it has been like therapy for myself. This project is my baby, to which I want to give my all.

Nikos from VisionBlack created an insanely beautiful cover art for us, which I was planning with him from the beginning. He managed to capture exactly the feeling we were aiming for in the artwork.

We also had the honor of working with Juha Tapio and Sonja Lindberg, who did absolutely incredible work.”