Epic pagan black and cathartical doom: Vermilia and Swallow The Sun in Helsinki

Finnish doom metal band Swallow the Sun toured in February 2026 in Finland. We went to their sold-out show in Tavastia, Helsinki, on February 6, 2026.

Vermilia

I am always curious how warm-up bands are “scrambled up” for these club gigs. Sometimes it is just smaller acts that play a similar-ish kind of music — and you just listen through them until the headliner hits the stage, but sometimes it’s a different, up-and-coming band that poses genuine interest on their own. This case was the latter.

Founded in 2017, Vermilia had the past year particularly dynamic. A series of 2026 performances is already scheduled across Finland, Germany, and Romania, including an appearance at Wave-Gotik-Treffen.

Vermilia is the stage name of the vocalist, composer, and author behind the project, which is officially presented as a solo venture. In practice, however, she is not alone on stage, but accompanied by a supporting ensemble of musicians whose faces are concealed beneath fabric masks, either signifying their “session” nature or underlining the mystic roots of the artwork.

The music can be described as blackened pagan metal, austere yet atmospheric in character, and the project itself operates with a pronounced DIY ethos: shamanic drums as well as the visual designs are crafted by Vermilia herself. It is a crafted blend of characteristic Finnish epic folk signing with underlying blastbeats, which, however, are not as apparent as on a trve black records.

The performance, albeit short, was very solid and enjoyable. The band well worth following, and I currently advice to hear them live as the impression is heavier than from the records.

Swallow the Sun

Swallow the Sun is an ever-popular doom metal band founded by Juho Raivio. The band has a very good following, and I can recall a year when they played the Tuska festival three days in a row, somehow. Recalling them as a band that just loves to be in the dark, I was somewhat surprised by elaborated backlight the band utilizes. This, however, didn’t help for seeing faces as no frontal light was there —again.

The gig delivered just what was expected: a solid thirteen-song set going back as far as 2003, and four tracks from the latest to date Shining (2024). For myself, the entire gig was one of the large, strong experience — when you had a few mundane days and finally got awake on a Friday night to the good long set of melancholic metal.

It is maybe not my strong suit to go into small details of the gigs — I come to listen and immerse myself in the sound. But I have to note, there is something healing and energizing in the “melancholy” genres such as doom/death and darkwave. The German Diary of Dreams comes to mind — while their sound is more “German” and borrows from electronic music, both bands take inspiration of all things moody, yet somehow facing that imagery in a gig leave you a little bit mentally healed.