Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
One of my latest obsessions is the Finnish band Atlas, who play a very solid northcore. I would explain to you what that’s like but I think that it’s best if you just check out one of their amazing singles they’ve released! We had the opportunity to chat with guitarist Tuomas Kurikka about the new album “Sunder”, life in Finland and much more.
Hi Tuomas, how are you doing today?
Tuomas Kurikka: I’m very good. I’m very good. Thank you.
In the album, if I’m not mistaken, you talk about the dualism between love and death. In what ways has your understanding of this idea evolved from primitive to Sander?
Tuomas Kurikka: A lot. Lots of life experience and just going through life and coming to terms with grief, experiencing love and loss. Once you mature, you get older, you have more of those experiences and I’ve always written music that it just comes from the heart or stuff that I feel strongly about. It’s just where I’ve been in life and “Sunder” is kind of the natural, organic next step in that evolution.
So, your genre has been described as northcore. What specific aspects of Finnish folklore or mythology do you think are relevant to be expressed, especially in 2026?
Tuomas Kurikka: That’s a good question. I mean, the thing that kind of intrigues me about all that is sort of timeless experiences, like you talked about grief and loss and things like that. It just transcends eras and time. And those are things that will resonate with people, no matter if it’s 1000 AD or 2026. That’s what I take away from all those stories.
Perfect. So, in “Sunder”, you’ve worked with Buster Odeholm, and he’s known for his work with very extreme and very heavy bands. Do you think that he understood something about the relationship as we were talking about between love and death that some others maybe might miss?
Tuomas Kurikka: I would say he’s a more of a technical genius in this creative process. Like all of that, the emotional impact comes from maybe the lyrics, the songwriting, what I bring to the table, and he just has the expertise, and he gets what I’m going for. He can make it sonically articulate in a way that I don’t think anyone else can.
That’s very deep. Wonderful. Do you think that singing and having English lyrics instead of Finnish lyrics changes the emotional weight of the songs?
Tuomas Kurikka: In a way, yes, it feels less personal, because it’s our second language. If we say something in Finnish, it’s way more personal, and I found it harder to play those songs live if they have like a really deep meaning to me, or just like some kind of emotional load behind them. The language creates a lot of variables; there were a bunch of lyrics on this album that were initially in Finnish, and were sort of translated to English.
Wow! Is there something about the northern melancholy that someone that lives in a sunnier place could never fully understand, no matter how much they love Atlas music?
Tuomas Kurikka: My gut feeling is yes, they will never understand it fully. There’s something about our DNA in the North that just has that ingrained into us. But then again, I couldn’t say for sure. I’ve never been in anyone else’s shoes to that extent, so I couldn’t say. I hope someone gets it. If it’s more of an aesthetic thing to someone and they resonate with it, that’s fine with me as well.
Has there ever happened like something completely unexpected, like a source of inspiration that’s made into an Atlas song, something that has nothing to do with metal or darkness or these topics?
Tuomas Kurikka: All our songs are just about me and Patrick, our vocalist. We write most of the lyrics and it’s more a therapy session when we write and just coming up with the most metal words. “I Whisper Your Name Like A Curse” came about from a dream someone Patrick knows really well. How would I phrase this? I don’t want to give away the whole thing because I think that it’s a very personal thing. Basically someone talked to someone that Patrick has been close to and has lost in his life and told things that only Patrick could know. Yes, and that was the inspiration for the song. I would say that was unexpected. That was a very big moment and that shifted both of our view on life after death and stuff like that. Because it was one of those experiences where you’re like, “This shouldn’t happen, but it is happening.“
Wow, that’s mind blowing. So my favorite track is instead “Altar of Your Love”. Can you tell me something about it?
Tuomas Kurikka: That one I wrote initially with Buster Oderholm. I went to Stockholm for like a writing session because I wanted to try something new and just write some stuff with him. He’s a really good friend of mine and I love his work and we play in another band together. We wrote three songs in a day and “Altar” ended up being one of them. He wrote the chorus or the chords with the guitar and it just had that like instantly, that emotional impact, you just feel it. Your eyes start to water and the hair on your head starts to stand up. It had that special thing. And then after that, it went through two years of overthinking, like “How can we kind of step up to that level of what the song already instrumentally does with the vocals?“. Then it ended up being something super organic with the whole band being in the same room. We were waiting for a bus to go to a gig and I think it was Leevi who was strumming the chords and just hummed the melody. That was the one that worked.
Do you write differently in winter versus summer or is that not a difference for you?
Tuomas Kurikka: I mostly write during the summer. In the North we don’t have that much light during the winter and I feel like I get into a bit of a routine of like just doing things and not being too creative, I guess. Just to get through all the coldness and the snow and the darkness. Then, once summer rolls around, there’s light for 24 hours, you have energy for 24 hours. I feel like that’s where I write the best stuff and I’m in touch with something that I’m not in touch with in the winter, I’d say.
Is there a song on Sunder that almost didn’t make the cut and instead it went on the album?
Tuomas Kurikka: The title track “Sunder” would be that. It didn’t used to have that name, but it ended up being the clue that wrapped the whole album together. I wrote it by myself and I wasn’t sure at all about that song. I knew it was special in some sort of way, and we captured a great performance from Patrick on the vocals. After maybe a week after writing it, I was ready to scrap it for whatever reason. It just didn’t make sense with the other songs. But then I think I gave it two months and we were all at the studio, the whole band, and we were listening through the demos and I put it on at the end of listening, and it just clicked that we don’t have to do anything to this song. It’s perfect as it is and it should definitely be on the album.
It wouldn’t be the same without it! Has a fan ever interpreted or understood some of your songs or lyrics in a way that completely surprised you?
Tuomas Kurikka: I always try to write it in a vague enough way that anyone can interpret it in the way that they want and relate to it in the way that is sort of particular to their life. I don’t want to be too literal with stuff. So there’s never a wrong interpretation. The “Ukko” record was a lot about the grieving process and dealing with loss. A lot of people who came up to me and talked about what it has done to them, it wasn’t surprising. It’s very on the nose about what the record is about. It’s mostly people being thankful that there’s people who sort of make art about it and helps them to get through it. I wouldn’t say it surprises me. I hadn’t had those experiences.
I think that the metal scene has changed so much in the last years, especially after COVID. Is there something about being a band like today that actually benefits a band like Atlas?
Tuomas Kurikka: I mean, yeah, COVID shaped things up a lot. Especially during that time, social media had a huge impact. We also saw the rise of a few bands and metal as a whole, like Lorna Shore, Bad Omen, Spiritbox, that just became huge bands. It’s hard to say if it’s because of COVID or not, or if it’s just like a cycle of what’s popular in the world, like it’s cyclical always. Social media is a very powerful tool; I feel like it’s a bit of a curse at the same time. People just try to emulate what some of those bands did. What they don’t see is the 10 to 15 years of hard work behind it, and just trying to get viral off of some trend, basically. You can be like an overnight success from social media, but I don’t think that’s very helpful to any artist. For me, I just want to focus on the music and the art. If we do the social media thing, then I have to make that somehow like a part of the aesthetic and the art. It just takes up so much time and effort to make it somehow not plastic, if you know what I mean.
I’m an old schoo fan, and I still try to support bands by buying their merch and like CDs and vinyls. You’re also luckily releasing CDs and vinyls, right?
Tuomas Kurikka: Yes, correct.
Do you think it’s sort of a smart and an intuitive way to be doing that alongside the social media and online?
Tuomas Kurikka: Yeah, absolutely. I think vinyls for most people are just to have it on your wall or your shelf. It’s become something else than buying the product and listening to it that way. It’s not the medium anymore. I think it’s more about supporting the band and having that something that is a part of your life just in your house and in your collection. And you know you’ve supported your favorite artist by buying that. It’s very relevant, even though it doesn’t necessarily have the same function anymore. And CDs are the same thing. Obviously, digital stuff is what drives most of advanced popularity these days.
What’s a piece of advice that you were given early in your career that turned out to be completely wrong?
Tuomas Kurikka: There’s so many. Off the top of my head, there would have been a million things people have said that just they don’t have any idea. But nothing major, I would guess. The social media thing is one, “You need to have this sort of content to make it” or “You need to follow the trends“. I mean, it’s hard to say because I’ve never really paid attention to those comments. Or “You need to have a certain sound or use certain gear“. It’s all basically bullshit. If you do what you like long enough, either people are going to like it or not. And if not, too bad. You made something that you like. If yes, then cool.
You write about heavy teams, as we said, love, death and everything in between. But what makes you laugh? Like, is there something that you watch or that makes you, like, completely just forget this darker things, perhaps?
Tuomas Kurikka: Yeah. My daughter. I have fun with her every day. Yeah. That’s a totally different thing to the whole music industry and everything. It’s just more simple, honest. You get to do stuff, it doesn’t have to be for anyone. It’s just our experiences, just having a good time with simple things, learning about stuff, laughing about stupid things. Their world is so different. They don’t care about the stress or any of that. They’re just looking for love and the next meal, basically. And it makes you think about stuff, just like a simple question. Like, “Why are we doing this? Why do I have to go to the daycare?” Well, I think we need a house. I need to work. But I would rather spend time with her.
Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview with me. Is there anything else that you’d like to add to our readers?
Tuomas Kurikka: Oh, just listen to the new record. I hope if you and when you listen to it, you feel something. And whether you like it or not, just experience it.
