Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Everytime you hear about Royal Sorrow, one of the most interesting new rising bands from Finland, they are either releasing great music with an amazing music video or touring somewhere in Europe; all this has happened in less than two years since the debut of their first single in late 2024. Since then the prog metal quartet has released their debut album Innerdeeps, which was very well praised in the metal community, especially among the fans of progressive elements, but also those who have embraced their mix of musical and visual nuances that make the band so unique.
The band, originally formed in the capital Helsinki, has just released its newest single titled “Covert”, which is the first new song since last year, and as they have nonstop been promoting their art, the group is already back on the road, this time supporting Einar Solberg from Leprous on his solo tour in Europe. After touring with Sonata Arctica, Leprous and Cemetery Skyline, the band, consisted of vocalist/guitarist Markus Hentunen, guitarist Tony Olsén, basist Eero Maijala and drummer Janne Mieskonen, is thrilled to be experiencing such a special moment of their lives as musicians and friends.
Chaoszine has been closely following the group since its first days, so just before a show in Helsinki, we had the pleasure of talking with the whole band. It was a fun chat about the band’s current moment, the feedback of the new album, and the upcoming plans.
Innerdeeps has just celebrated its one-year anniversary since its release. After all the production, promotion, and playing the songs over the last 15 months, how do you feel about all the feedback and achievements the album has brought?
Janne Mieskonen: It’s been a journey for sure. We’ve played a lot of shows in one year, like 50 shows in a year, so that’s been a lot for us. It’s been cool to see reactions from people all over the place. We’ve done a couple of European tours now, and we’re heading out again. Live music is the best, and it’s the best way to connect with other people as well.
Markus Hentunen: I think one of the cooler things is that we’ve been able to experience different audiences and different kinds of listeners. So, we’ve been able to test out who are the people that this actually speaks to and I feel like over the year, we’ve found those people and some of that audience even better than we could have thought, because when you’re making art, you’re in such a claustrophobic headspace, and once you get it out into the world and you see that it actually resonates with people, that’s been probably the most amazing part.
Although Royal Sorrow’s first show was last summer at Tuska Festival, you’ve already played more shows abroad than here in Finland. And, seeing the comments on the music videos and social media, it’s clear that your fanbase is quite international. What is it like to bring your music across the borders and finally meet some of these virtual fans in person, but also win over new fans?
Eero Maijala: It’s been super nice. We always love to travel and see new cultures as well. So, that’s kind of like an added bonus for us. So, it’s been a really nice thing. Also, kind of looking into the cultural differences between areas has been a lot of fun. Now we’re going on our third European tour already, which is kind of crazy to say. But seeing the people who are singing back the lyrics to us, that’s always crazy. And seeing the cultures, I just love it. Yeah, it’s so much fun!
Around the time of the album’s release, you mentioned that you always wanted to do an international tour, and now you’re going on your third one in less than a year, this time opening for Einar from Leprous. Even though it’s not a tourist trip, the cultural immersion is big. So, from a personal point of view, how important is it to experience this moment in your lives not only as a band but also as friends?
Janne: It was definitely a huge thing to go out for the first time and see how we managed to live together for a month in the same bus. Would that cause some internal struggles or fights? But we have to say that it didn’t break any friendships.
Eero: We fought like hell, but it didn’t break our friendship (laughs).
Janne: Fist fights every night (laughs).
Markus: That’s actually true. It’s weird looking back at it, because it was something that we just had no prior information about when we were leaving for the first tour. After that, it’s like, “okay, it worked out well, now that’s another thing that we don’t have to stress about”. But it’s the opposite, it actually brings us closer as friends.
Eero: Yeah, and I think looking back at the first tour, we had so many problems with the cars and stuff.
Janne: We didn’t have time to argue with each other (laughs).
Eero: Yeah, exactly. I think Einar from Leprous said to us when we had like the 10th breaking or a mishap: “Okay, if at this point you’re not at each other’s throats, then that’s a good sign. You know you’re working together”. And it was actually really inspiring to see that it was always like, “Okay, let’s really work together and get these problems solved every single time”. So, yeah, I really love you guys! (laughs).
But it is also very different that you guys are mature now. If it was in your early 20s, it would probably be very different.
Eero: Yeah, exactly! They don’t say for no reason that the frontal lobe develops up until like 25 years old (laughs).
Markus: All part of the strategy to save it for now (laughs).
By the end of this year, you will have played 60 shows on this Innerdeeps tour. Of course, you have over a decade of experience with previous bands, but with this more intense touring, how do you see your evolution as musicians playing as Royal Sorrow?
Janne: I think we are in our best live shape ever, because we play so many shows that it gets into your spine. All the songs we remember from the first album, so it’s kind of interesting, because today we are playing a live debut of our new single. So how does it go for the first time? It’s a bit of a nervous moment, I guess. We have those songs that we have played so many times and one song that we haven’t played ever. So it’s going to be interesting to see how it feels.
Tony Olsén: Personally I think that playing shows evolves the songs so much that you get to know them even better than when you were writing them. Rehearsing just helps you to rehearse. Playing shows helps you play in shows. So that’s the key element for that. I think “Covert”, that we’re going to play today, will be, as Janne said, a bit nerve-wracking, but still exciting, because now we have something more to show people. Six and a half minutes of that (laughs).
And tonight we are here in Helsinki, for another show in your home country. The international career is already a reality since “Metrograve” came out in 2024, but how has the reception been here in Finland?
Janne: I think Finland is not traditionally a progressive metal country. It’s more like heavy metal, of course, but more conservative stuff, I guess. Progressive metal has an audience for sure, but it’s more niche. It’s kind of hard to break through in Finland as a metal band, because there’s so many bands. The country is quite large as well, we have to travel a lot to get to places. So all in all I would say it’s tougher to break here than in Europe.
Markus: At the same time though, I feel like there’s something fun about doing it a bit differently than maybe some of the other Finnish bands. It feels like we have a nice outsider hint to it. In the sense that we’re automatically a bit more interesting than we would have been just by playing the most traditional stuff and just staying here. That’s a part that people have really embraced, our lore overall. There’s definitely a sense of people being interested. They get that we’re doing something different.
Eero: I think the Finnish metal scene is so big and varied, that there is actually a lot of room for more experimental stuff. I’ve been watching this documentary on Finnish metal music “Kaamos”, and there was a great point of a lot of Finnish bands have almost started new genres. So it is kind of a mix between people being, “What the hell is this? What are these fellow countrymen doing?”, but at the same time, I think there is an interest that people have for the more out of line stuff.
Markus: At this point, the Finnish audience recognizes a pre-existing thing that we’re always innovating. So maybe 20 years ago, it would have been really different. Now when you try to bring something different, they’re like, “Okay, this is another Finnish band trying something different”. And I think it’s a good thing.
Janne: It’s always more exotic to have foreign bands come into Finland, and vice versa. It’s more exotic when we go abroad and they have a foreign band come in. So obviously there’s a benefit to playing more shows abroad. But yeah, we’re definitely trying to break through in Finland as well.
And by being a prog metal band, it’s nice that Royal Sorrow fits like a glove with every kind of band you play with, such as power metal bands, gothic metal bands or same kind of prog metal bands. It works every time.
Janne: Yeah, we’re testing the waters and seeing what’s good (laughs).
Eero: And it’s a lot of fun. We get to play with our childhood heroes as well. Like Sonata Arctica, Cemetery Skyline, and Leprous obviously.
Besides the music, you have a strong visual identity, from album covers, promo photos, merchandise and, especially, the elaborate music videos, as we could see in the most recent one, “Covert”. Do you also have this visual element present in the songwriting process, thinking about how the music and lyrics will relate to the art or videos?
Markus: I feel like there’s always been an aspect where everybody starts envisioning music videos and different colors and visuals the moment the song ideas come. We’re overall quite artistic people, so I think that just naturally goes hand in hand.
Tony: For me at least, I see like painted pictures of all the song ideas that I start to make as like what it’s about and the involvement of something that’s happening.
Markus: That was actually really, really interesting. For the first time to that extent, the music video of “Covert” started evolving at the same time we were still discussing what the song was about and the story of the song. And they even in practice inspired each other.
Janne: This is the best example of having the lyrics actually narrate the music video as well.
Markus: Exactly!
So, we’ve already had the opportunity to see the first song of the follow-up to “Innerdeeps”. The new single “Covert” has just been released and seems like a natural evolution of the band’s sound. What are the current plans for this new album chapter and the plans in general?
Janne: We’re in the process of making our second album at the moment. We are trying to finish it this year and release it next year. We don’t know the exact dates yet, but that’s the plan. It’s gonna be really interesting. We have a lot of new directions as well for the songs and it’s even more varied, I think. So it’s gonna be really, really cool to see people’s reactions to it.
Markus: Exactly. It was interesting. We didn’t set out to change everything or thought, “okay, we’ve done this, now let’s try something different”, but I feel like we as songwriters are naturally evolving and interested in experimenting with different stuff, and for the first time we’re writing with knowing how we’re live and how people take our music in. So I feel there are some natural things that affect the songwriting process. It’s just overall really interesting to just let it flow and let it come as it is.
Eero: Exactly. And now, for the first time, Tony has been really involved in the writing process. He has a lot of songs in as well. So that’s kind of a new flavor we have there. A new chef in the kitchen (laughs).
Tony: It wasn’t enough (laughs).
Eero: But that’s been a lot of fun. And it kind of brings naturally different stuff in there. So it’s been a great thing to have him.
Tony: And vice versa. It’s super cool to see how these guys work behind the scenes. Because all the songs were finished when I joined the band and I started learning how to play them. So now I also have the first POV of how these guys make the songs and how the production and stuff goes. So it’s been quite rewarding. I’ve learned a lot.
And it would be nice to hear more of your voice too, Tony, because you’ve been doing backing vocals for the whole tour.
Markus: At least three lead vocals.
Tony: Three bonus tracks that never get released.
Markus: Deluxe edition.
Thank you for taking the time, guys!
Royal Sorrow: Thank you!
Words by John Wins
Photos by Susanna Faveri
You can listen to Royal Sorrow‘s debut album “Innerdeeps” here:
