A Prelude to the Band



"In the last decade of the old millennium three young men (Tomi Pekkola, Jussi Matikainen and Antti Filppu) introduced themselves to various genres of music, constantly rehearsing and changing stylus. This shapeshifting caused and it was also caused by the growth of these fellows, as they were hungry to reach beyond the ordinary ways of expression. In the beginning of another millennium this band with no name had already grown out of itself, and the men were all living in different cities...." An introduction for the band page, written circa 2007

"Ever since the beginning in February 1994 we have written all music by ourselves. For years we destroyed everything at once whenever there were signs of becoming ripe, dissolved all plans to finish what we had started, and then moving to another kind of expression. However, after the first steps taken as 11-14 year old enthusiasts and after overcoming musical deformity, we have been married to a certain kind of atmosphere which is one part melancholy and one part blending mysticism either with atonality or with various sub-genres of folkish metal and rock. This atmosphere has stuck with us from the early months of 1995 when doom and melodic death metal riffs filled the room. Some of the leitmotives from those days have been used in our later music, thus uniting the different times, and by changing shape carrying on the meanings invoked by these themes." From a note written around 2006-2008


The Men have two sides to their story. The band’s patience and musical ambition have X.X.X.Xed them, with the help of an expanding stylus like Art Rock, a purposeful contradiction in terms. On the other side, there's just as ambitious effort to write lyrical poetry that ties together the old-school mythic thought and the world of popular culture. Searching for the in spirare vein of classical music and poetry, while accepting today's limits set by the death of art, they are trying to walk the thin line between two options of which one has become impossible and the other just simply banal. It's a path only for.....TYM, An introduction written around 2002

The Sun Tryst have many sides to their story. Patience and faith were needed to last through years of struggling in-between, so underground that even the underground scene knew not of their existence, working in silence while ages and styles came and passed.... But these players are still here, walking the same thin line. Many a hard rain fell, many a night was wasted, many were the songs and poems that never made it to see this day, on their long and painful journey to the immemorial caves and back, to finally take the shape of Rock Art Music. Here the oldest form of communication, spirits and spells carved in stone, meet the latest phase in the history of pop culture.” TST, A note written c. 2006


“With three rather strong personalities and visionaries trying to work together around the same rock it may not always be that easy. In fact, it has been so difficult that unfortunate compromises have been necessary along the way, with delay after delay following their trail, and no Echo at all. Despite this, the records (freely downloadable from their net site) show that The Sun Tryst have begun to shine on – for those who want something new, deeply felt and handmade. The rocks will stand their ground, all of their faults once cursed and damned weak have now become the seals of strength that bless the work with a unique trademark. Conquering the world is definitely out, they’re here to show you the way in. Let all decide for themselves the nature / state of this art.” A note from c. 2007

It should be noted that we do not have a religious or a political message, despite the lyrical content that seems to refer to certain directions. Art is to be freely interpreted by those who experience it. Of course, the content may affect your experiences, but it does not force you in any way. This said, it can be continued that there are different levels in our works, with all kinds of things to be found – for those who are interested in f. ex. mythologies, Western esotericism etc. Yes, the themes can be taken and understood in as many ways as there are interpreters, the doors are wide open for you to make your own perceptions. But no, everything is not round in mythic art. Still there is absolutely nothing that restrains your free thinking, feeling and willing.A ritual disclaimer for the ignorant, written around 2006 - 2008


So the story began in February 1994, when Jussi Matikainen, Mika, Jouni and Tomi Pekkola, Mikko Nenonen and Antti Filppu were all thinking of a real band to play in. Originally there were two different bands, the youngsters Tomi and Mikko had been playing guitar for years, the 4 older guys Mika, Jouni, Antti and Jussi had their own ideas. The bassist-to-be Jouni never got himself a bass, and so the boys tried to talk Antti around to take up the thing in his hands and show the world. However, his father was already buying a guitar for the singer with no voice or talent. Thus it came to pass that Mika would eventually change guitar for that bass, when his younger brother Tomi came in to share the lead with Mikko, as the two bands merged into one during the early Spring. Their father Veijo built mighty weapons for the sons - handmade Vekson guitar and bass. Jussi banged on as the drummer, though first striking a few deep chords for Antti to sing a very Guns-and-Rosielike acoustic mental case, hey Joe, it's Wasted Years.

Tomi was rocking hard with an Attitude called Bad (the song title was), listening to Motörhead's all the aces and bastards. Father Pekkola had a good LP collection of paranoid iron men and speed kings with machines getting heads. In June the metal boymonsters of Carnage gathered in an old barn to record their first rehearsal tape, Retribution, three songs of heavy thrash. Plague (efficacious medicine for dying) was a real Sepultura tombday opener, written by Mika and Tomi. Violentic Aggression Of Agony And Death showed a sigh of relief or co-operation, with lines and tones created by Antti, Mika and Tomi. A punk rock style chorus followed the thrashy powerstation riff, with Jussi pounding a double bass run off beat. The title song ended the session, an instrumental jewel box of Metallica hero melodies by Tomi and Mikko. After this, both Mikko and Mika left the band.


A medical dickionary, stolen from the library of Vehkalahti, would provide the necessary vocabullary for the songs cumming. The rest of the summer was spent with a huge amount of grinding and core DIY getting up and done, well, raw. The THREE were now pushing and pulling it out, with black end humour and carclassy irony. The first cofficial demo "Excerebration" was recorded in August 1994 at Vehkalahtisali studio. The pitchshifter turned -6, the music was a mess of shittodick death and that old grind core, young boyzone playing around Carcass and Cannibal Corpse for a lil northern Finnish ugly karma. Sentenced to Death was the epic masterpiece of the year, with a smell of something melodic. The other few shovels of songs were brainless. Priapism, Scrotoplasty, Vagina (The Best a Man Can Get), Drowned in Excrement, Vermians in Prehypophysis, Falling of the Womb, Protuberance of Large Intestine Leads To Agonizing Constipation etc. 

Distressing Dismemberment were Andy Sperm, with his voices of anal & vaginal thrilling machine, together with Judas Vulva, the vulvar tongue drummer and Thomas "Phallus" Womb, the young master of the art with no stinking f in his craft - and so Thomas would leave the distress behind in autumn. Andy and Judas were now a dismembered duo with a broken set of drum remains and 40W Marshall amplifier. It didn't look or sound good. But the style changed into Merry-Go-Around Metal, with young Jeff Walker leading the way to a sicker and thicker path. Dismembered & Swallowed, Rotten Flesh To Consume, Thanatophoric Obsession and the rest of it, by the end of the year 1994, all tasted like shit. No wood or bone there. The jokes were over, the style was crappy as the sewer. When the Christmas time came, things would get a bit more serious, the sorry ass dicklames were dropped down, with the return of real names and the maestro himself, the band of three began again.


Tapes: The Lost Ones 1995-1996

"The real beginning of my poetry was in early 1995, when we left the excrement of Grind Core into the old barn's cowshit department, and began the composing of melodic death doom  after hearing Katatonia's Dance of December Souls and Hypocrisy's The Fourth Dimension. A few test songs were thrown out (Forever Wandering Souls, Black Fire and Grace Of Death) to begin again, this time for real, with the original misery called Tears of the Lost One  - later a four piece demo in May 1995, not lost. It stands out as a pathmark, lyrically showing the way in, so to speak, with an almost Orthodox main theme, which I did not realize back then. The band was called Black Empyrean for a few months, and in the Summer it was already In Silence My Tears Fall, with a new list of songs to be played, like The Crown of Black Thorns, Lovelorn (I Wither Away), and the 14-minute epos Under Autumnal Rain #1. The music and the lyrics were crybaby stylus My Dying Bride with a compulsory bad boy twist-and-shout. But it was still nice and beautiful, in fact, the atmosphere I mean. Not long before Summer was dying, the music style changed into somewhat heavier death doom." From a note written in the Summer of 2020

BLACK EMPYREAN:
TEARS OF THE LOST ONE

Gateway To Silence
Tears Of The Lost One
Blackened Roses On My Grave
Prayer For Enlightenment


IN SILENCE MY TEARS FALL:
UNDER AUTUMNAL RAIN

The Crown of Black Thorns
Lovelorn (I Wither Away)
Under Autumnal Rain #1
Can You Hear The Funeral Winds?

  "So early Fall 1995 brought us a kind of meddle, something between melodoom and rocking death. There were a few interesting titles, for a demo we never recorded. The songs were not among our finest. Although not that bad either, the style did not feel like my own. The drummer Jussi Matikainen wanted a faster speed of sound, to get the roll-on to be able to develop as a musician (which, everybody knows, he did quite well). I was never interested in that, but went on with the flow. So there were things like ...In The Northern Skies, My Lost Kingdom Of Sorrow, Carved In Stone (Of The Heath), and a really good and meaningful one, differing from the others, Under Autumnal Rain #2. It was another weeping song, reminding us of the late Summer wailing, quite heavily influenced by The Gathering's Mandylion, both music and lyrics. We have it on tape with no vocals, and the riffs are truly magnificent (I am allowed to say this, because I was not the composer). The lyrics have been lost, unfortunately. How I'd like to see those old pieces of paper filled with young tears." From a note written in the Summer of 2020


 THE NAMELESS BAND:
CARVED IN STONE

....In The Northern Skies
My Lost Kingdom Of Sorrow
Carved In Stone (Of The Heath)
Under Autumnal Rain #2

  "I think I'll just put my head into the X.X.X.X and let it go. No one wants to remember the band name of the late 1995. Well, it was Far Beyond Mortality, of course. And there were new songs. Again the style and the sound of music had changed, when Autumn died and Winter came. Suddenly we had one North From Here rip off and another from Amok. A poor young boy's version of both, goes without saying. The Heathen And The Moon and Winterevenings Of Loneliness. I liked them like some Dumb or even Dumber. Our friend was a bit critical about the way we handled the situation. But especially Winter Evenings rocked so well in my standards, that I regret we never recorded it officially. Many lyrical fragments remain, and I can still play the main riffs. 
  This era came to an end, having its culmination early in 1996 when we did our worst (or was it the best) piece, with In Silence Of The Night, never mind the grammar. With shame and honour I confess it was trying hard to be Desert By Night. Lyrically, there were two different versions, both of which are still visible in their main parts. Eastern religions and Western philosophy were equally showing up their asse[t]s. Or is that an optimistic outlook on a pessimistic subject." From a note written in the Summer of 2020

FAR BEYOND MORTALITY:
THE HEATHEN AND THE MOON

The Heathen And The Moon
Winterevenings Of Loneliness
In Silence.... Of The Night



In Silence.... Of The Night
The second version from 1996, 
one of the better lyrics
 

 "At the same time, somewhere in between 1995-1996 we had another change in style, taking Dark Tranquillity seriously with My Dreaming, Black Heart The song and the lyrics both remain, but not standing, they fell a-long, long time ago. For the next year the band was called Crimson Winds. We went into folkish, melodic blackening forest metal. Ulver, Marduk, Naglfar, Dissection and the rest were there, in nature or in spirit. Through The Mist Of Night Eternal was about howling, and Winter Queen had one of the best lyrics I had written, with a neutral description of Nature's cycles, and the process of reincarnation mentioned, also (in February 1996). Lost, of course. Right away I spoiled the whole thing by changing the title into The Goddess Of Lovelorn Passion and re-writing the lyrics in the ugly spirit of self-deceit, the best friend of all those who had taken the same trail. I remember having a well-deserved critique from an elder man, who knew something about these topics. I am still grateful. Though, at the time, it did not help. And I was obsessed with Freya, had to be a jerk-off course." From a note written in the Summer of 2020

CRIMSON WINDS:
WINTER QUEEN

Through The Mist Of Night Eternal
Winter Queen
My Dreaming, Black Heart
In Silence....Of The Night #2


Arthur Rackham's Freya
 
 "We went on, for the grand new song called In The Light Of The Silver Moon, still on tape, with 300 words and a Cradle Of Filthy Love. There was this Autumn Serenade, with a few changes, A Serenade For The Stars / For The Wolves. In May we recorded a promo song (in Vehkalahtisali studio). The style was different from all the rest, with only spoken words of longing and truly epic whispers oh so full of darkness and languish. The song was called Lovelorn #2. Then the Summer came once again, and in June 1996 we had a freezer for the pale white face to stay cool even in Midsummer time, called Deathwhite #1The song is on tape without vocals (I remember the chorus, but not the verses). Maybe I will just repeat myself, the melodies were almost too good to be true, and the lead guitarist Tomi Pekkola was only 14 and a half. Forever I shall enshrine the memory, that's how the chorus began.
  The Summer of 1996 would end with an August masterpiece called Misanthropic (Let The Crown Fall). Most of the lyrics were taken from a book about Scandinavian mythology, with a verse or two of my own. The song is on tape with vocals. This was a well-tracked wooden piece, with romantic folks tuned on / in hate, and the usual mythic end of the world feeling. Accompanying was our only cover at the time, Shadowthrone. When the fall came, we had another song, Strigoi Mort, with (n)ice and eccentric lyrics & music searching for a new kind of mixture, I guess. It is on tape, as well (the only vampire song ever written by this band). There were some oddly even things going on. The Autumn was depressive enough with Brunhild And The Dreamless coming out, having one night stand-out lyrics, almost as if to die for. I was beginning to master the art of singing oneself into the swamp. Another example of this was Deathwhite #2, a furious and fast but very deadlike tyrant metal, maybe the fastest song we ever made or played. But there were some more developed lyrics, too, like The Perfumed Garden, inspired by the book, Bereavement, and a title for December Tears. Well, the year changed into another, and I remember watching Music Television on mute and listening to Katatonia's Brave Murder Day, writing an avantgarde tragedy, Gravesilence, the last of its kind. There would be no more suicidal, romantic and melodic death metal for us, ever again." From a note written in the Summer of 2020

CRIMSON WINDS:
IN THE LIGHT OF THE SILVER MOON

Misanthropic (Let The Crown Fall)
Deathwhite #1
In The Light Of The Silver Moon
Strigoi Mort
A Serenade For The Wolves


CRIMSON WINDS:
BRUNHILD AND THE DREAMLESS

Misanthropic (Let The Crown Fall)
Deathwhite #2
Brunhild And The Dreamless
Gravesilence
Autumn Serenade
------------------------------------
Lyrics, references and more photos at

All records are available at

Amor Fati 1997

"The world was trying to stop me in 1997. After a few months of Das Ding (don't try to name it), I was reading too much Nietzsche, and his Zarathustra did not help at all. Nor did any of the others. But Colin Wilson had something to say, nevertheless. The band name was Cold Waste from Spring to Autumn 1997. We started playing rock and roll, a bit like At The Gates. But it was not rock or Swedish death, either. Anyway, we decided, if we were gonna do this, it had to be like that Amor Fati #1 , it was the new way, with Cure A Wound #1 trying to heal the seasonal affective disorder in July. In the beginning of August we recorded a real demotape in the old barn, with the spirit and smell of 5 real cows and 2 held horses (that used to be there decades earlier). In the Chain Room, as it was called since 1994. The studio was named Alfa-Laval, for some reason. There was hassle with the DAT and everything. We fucked it up well, with my Bullshit Voice and another stupid change of title and lyrics, from the beautiful poetic Brunhild and the Dreamless to The Shape Of Her Thighs, getting on with Mother Nature (and the Spirit beyond there, although, not finding anything but frustration). But the demo worked and still does in its very own way, like all things. I do not regret making it. Gravesilence #1 was the last song. Yeah, there were two more, Entombed showing the way, for Writhen #1 and Ammo #1, with a clean chorus in the former and Greek mythology m___d up with Samuel Colt in the latter. This happened in Autumn 1997. We got it on tape, a rehearsal session. This was the end of the line, for rock and roll & death metal. But not for Amor." From a note written in the Summer of 2020

COLD WASTE:


SIDE A 

SIDE B 

Bonus tracks

Recorded, mixed & fucked up at ALFA-LAVAL studio, in Vehkalahti, during the first days of August 1997 by CW. Music by Pekkola & CW. Lyrics by Filppu. The cover & band photos were taken by Filppu & Panu Huikko, in the Summer of 1997. The cover text was stolen from the works of Aleister Crowley, Friedrich Nietzsche and Colin Wilson (including the creator of Cold Waste himself, H.P. Lovecraft). The bonus tracks were recorded in Autumn 1997.

IT WAS THE SUMMER OF ROCK N ROLL, 
DEATH METAL & AMOR

FOR THE RISE OF 
THE NIETZSCHEAN SPIRIT was 
written on the original sleeve, 
and changed in 2003 for 
TRUE FINNISH UNDERGROUND 
COWBOY METAL


Tomi Pekkola
Lead, Acoustic & Bass guitars
Antti Filppu
Guitar & Bullshit Voice
Jussi Matikainen
Battery


"Young men are the scum 
of the earth" - R.D.

"Now that I look at it, after six years, that old cassette arouses a sense of nostalgy both in good and in bad; when we recorded AMOR FATI during the first days of August 1997 in an old barn surrounded by the smell of a decades old cow- and bullshit, there was indeed angst and misanthropy in the air. We had lost faith in a youth culture that would be worth the bet; the other choices back in our hometown area were the Nazis, the Nerds and the Hippies. We hated them all."
"In a way, this was supposed to be our strike against the idiotism of both the masses as well as the underground scenes. It is no wonder that nobody ever heard of that strike. Caught between the Devil and the deep brown shit, we were unwilling to go anywhere, to be anyone. But moreover we were just being depressed (or at least I was), 'cause it didn't come out as we had originally planned. In fact, we were so disappointed in it that we sold only something like a hundred copies in order to get the expenses back, and threw the remaining cassettes into a closet. I took them out last week."
"I will never forget the phone conversation I had with the guy from Z-Trading company. He had a rather strange vision of what 'just an ordinary font' means. The band name COLD WASTE with those old school Wild West letters caused a long-lasting hysteria in both me and Matikainen when we got the package from post office. After the shock was over we went driving around like cowboys on a steel horse, with the exception that nobody wanted us, neither dead nor alive."
"We'd been practising very hard, and not just through the summer. Back then the lead composer Pekkola was only fifteen! And the music is.... how should I put it? On that tape there's a lot of rock n roll and romanticism with a little bit of magic, too. The melodies are innovative but at the same time strong, seducing and unforgettable. And the hate is 'real', but it never loses that necessary amount of sincere black humour (which I believe is the thing that makes a lot of Finnish bands stand out)."
"The first recording day was a mess. We had to record one song in two pieces because the DAT we used was too short or something. I drank eleven KOFF IVB:s and wondered the next morning why all the vocals sounded so bad. Matikainen told me it was the beer, but I didn't believe him. The equipment we had really was lousy, full of shit, poor like hell. And so the next days were a mess, likewise. I don't want to remember what the mixer table was like. I wish we'd been in a real studio."
"We had to record two guitars and drums live (this was 'the first track'), and then using the headphones channel we added one track at a time into a mini disc and back again. The good thing was that in theory we had limitless tracks in use. The bad thing was that the sound quality got worse every time we did it. And with every new instrument added, every fuck up would be included without the slightest chance of fixing it unless we'd play the whole damn song again! A guitar solo in the end of the song would mean that Tomi had to wait until the last riff, and if he screwed up, he'd have to do it all again. And it was the same thing with me and my voice. But now that I listen to it, it's not so bad at all."
"We had Emperor on the wall of that rehearsal place. And we had Sentenced, too. I never liked the third riff of 'Cure a Wound' because it was a North From Here rip-off. So just take it as a tribute of some sort. And I had my own conscious and sub-conscious ways of tributing as well, I don't deny."
"Despite all of our misfortunes (or because of them), I think this little piece of shit rocks like hell. If you disagree, I don't want to hear it." - August, 2003


CHAOS - MOTHER - DESIRE - DREAM

"In October 1997 we wanted to leave behind the world of rock and death, and so we did. The song in between was Candles #1, with melodies, beats and styles from the classical vein (but of course from certain heavier things, also). Some parts of the lyrics have been preserved, along with a strange mixdown of the song, going backwards. The next one, Circle / Strings, was among the leitmotives of Pathways already. We were singing high and low, clean and cool, with a power(ful) chorus and all. Enough has been written and published about these themes and the process itself, with a heated heart and a cold wasted ratio mind. Endless fooling, around oneself and you, too. There were themes from the underground and the shadows, from the higher ground and the Light as well, for a sign of crossroads with a real mythological geography. Maybe one day someone will actually find the map, and walk with it. Or maybe not. Have I said this in the nineties already, and a hundred times after. But I didn't have the X.X.X.X to speak about it all in a straightforward way before. I was too young and too stupid. Finally, the papers / things were in order, or wait a minute...." From a note written in the Summer of 2020


Lyrics, references and more photos at

All records are available at


Pathways & The Flowery March 1998-2000

"In October-November 1997 we said goodbye to the world of raw Metal and began our search for Gold. The concept known as Pathways (418) & The Flowery March drew its first breath. Crowley's 777 and other works had their share in all of this, as well as Richard Wagner's Parsifal. I am talking about lyrical concepts here, but music was also influenced by the classical vein of gold, and has been ever since.
  The anonymous band had practised like maniacs, we had been whipping ourselves into higher and higher Nietzschean furor teutonicus, through all the seasons of mist and darkness, with summers chilling out near my parents' house in a lovely and cozy old barn full of shit and cool but hot atmosphere, if you (don't) know what I mean. The band had no bass(ist), only two guitars, drums and sometimes vocals. The stylus of the music had changed a lot during the years, and seemed to be constantly moving. We were out to set the world on fire, but as for me, I had already burned more than just my fingers, and only as if by a miracle avoided the fate of breaking down completely.
  Pathways was recorded in July 1999 (music), with a weekend in mid-October for the vocals. It lasts half an hour and contains only one song. Musically it has been compared to Bathory, Arcturus, Ved Buens Ende and distorted Pink Floyd. These analogies have been drawn both in good and in bad, by other people, not band members. I don't want to take part in defining the stylus. Pathvvays was composed and performed by teenagers, but its content is not suitable for all. It resonates with many kinds of things within the Western occult tradition." From a note originally written in 2006


Vehkalahti, June 1999 
(from left to right):
Tomi Pekkola, Antti Filppu 
and Jussi Matikainen
Band photos taken by Panu Huikko

The Musicians:
Tomi Pekkola
Guitars, Vocals, Bass, Keys
Jussi Matikainen
Drums and Percussion
Antti Filppu
Numbers, Rhythm Guitar and Vocals



I ALKUSOITTO:
RIGHT THROUGH THE MIDDLE
II TEARS OF THE LOST ONE
III CIRCLE / STRINGS:
BRUNHILD AND THE DREAMLESS
IV AMOR FATI:
IHMISKOHTALO
V A NUMBER FOR THE POET:
AMFORTAS, THE FOURTH NOVEMBER
VI INTERLUDE: 
"There's a pure heart..."
VII TRAUERMARSCH: PURPLE, 
THE HORIZON'S CELESTIAL


The lustre which the French call 'fleur' entered his complexion
-Wolfram von Eschenbach / Parzival

The little world my sister
My heart & my tongue
Unto whom I send this kiss
 -Aleister Crowley / Book of the Law

Recorded at Alfa-Laval and Vehkalahtisali studios in Vehkalahti by Matikainen / Music in July 1999 / while the sun was shining / Vocals required a weekend in mid October 1999, and a lot of Wagnerian angst with kebab / Mixed and mastered by Matikainen sometime later / somewhere between the recording sessions and the Spring of 2000 / Pathvvays saw the light of day in October 2000 / All music was composed by Pekkola (between October 1997 – August 1998, and The Flowery March in February 1999) / The lyrical themes came to see the poet in November 1997 / Their meetings were held between the math exams and homework during the following months / with the exception of Trauermarsch / which came to be heard in February – March 1999 / So, all otherWORDs by Filppu / except the cover text / it was randomly chosen from Parzival’s English translation / Wolfram von Eschenbach being the long gone author of this Middle-High German poem / Arthur Thomas Hatto mediating its modern prose version / A few quotes were also taken / from Aleister Crowley's Legis / All we want to say is / the little thing here shows many kinds of paths to walk / and it literally tracks down a certain dead end



right through the middle: fire's a wound / the sacred lance enshrined in admire / i'm always cured, with my red flood and its grace / carried to a warlike heaven / i have the will, to me you're a valkyrie / yes, to me you're a valkyrie / the most beloved / straight line forms a gateway / i'm drawing down the greatest force / a character doesn't change, my darling already had her wings / "half of me is wicked and worthless, but in the other half the value lieth"

brunhild and the dreamless: the useless grievance has found its place from an evening song, the strings are divine / the play sounds unreal around a funeral pyre / scarlet, flecked gold / the source is still there / but i'm afraid to go outside / brunhild / it's their fault i'm growing hollow / catch the spheres in motion, the thousand young calling / "wrapped in a tension that's wrong kind, for the tears of our lost one a wreath of faded flowers" / i know you'd strike me down at once / the worst is shown here, everything i wanted / tragedies to come closer / the spirit and a circle

amfortas, the fourth november: writhen lines are beautiful, the faithless in their hour / my blood to fill a twofold sigil / numb instincts led the way / here's the chair i'm used to sit on / strangled in despise, i'll write "i'd better crush the blackness, crawl towards the flow" / with the same last warming tongues / there came an ending to yesterday / and the grail is uncovered / it's twilight, it's twilight / a request for the saviour / i face the floor, through november's loneliness

trauermarsch / purple, the horizon's celestial: and if you don't understand this, you have probably lost your mind / venetian blinds cut the sight / i don't have much to mimic / i can take all the losses / there's a holy wine / i grabbed his hand firmly and then swayed mine / more honesty / the overflowing chagrin offered from a silver plate / the cajoler's view is sullen / the end is vested while i'm wearing his suit / there's no feeling anywhere else / the pieces cry / i put a paper in the sepulcher / it's like a painting / "come closer me to my arms" is what i've written (in summer, 1995) / älä sie ihmislapsi hättäile, kyllä se siitä (“don't you worry, human child, it'll be alright”)


The chair photo was taken by Antti Filppu. The last words of that quote were X.X.X.X. It was a mistake, not a conscious decision.

Lyrics, references and more photos at

All records are available at

A Good Friday Spell 2000-2002

"Pathways was not released until October 2000, because its mixing process took forever, the covers were undone and G_d only knows what else. At the same time, the next record Walking Down The Pathvvays was under construction. It all had begun in the Spring of 1999 under the working title ArHeaves, and between the months of June and September the band enjoyed another hardworking season in the good old barn. Actually, after this we never returned there. Part of the lyrics changed in a dramatic way. Four songs out of seven were rehearsed in July, and only three songs would come during the next eight months. There would eventually be two different, opposed forces in the poem / the record. Despite of these polarities the grounding atmosphere of the work would be calm and filled with (inspired if somewhat melancholic) confidence, after its final version called A Good Friday Spell had been written down on Good Friday 2000. 
  The Spell was heav(il)y influenced, by King Crimson and other legends of progressive rock. The music was recorded in July - August 2000. While we were in the studio I was still writing and designing covers for Pathvvays. Before we got the album finished, a whole lot of things would happen. Matikainen wanted to have a name for the band, I didn't. But he wanted it so much that I finally gave up and offered him a song title called The Beautiful Thin Young Men. The word beautiful was dropped out because even without it the name sounded so......well, back then we thought it was a fine piece of provocation united with a false turbonegrospiritual feel to it. Then I was called in to do the vocals for Omnium Gatherum's demo, later known as Wastrel." From a note originally written in 2006


The Cafeteria Hard Rain Fell in 2002.
The photos taken by Antti Filppu,
and the ideal coffee creations were
 X.X.X.X.ed with Matti Rautaniemi,
who designed the pages for the band.



"The Spell was sung in August 2001 in a few days. That Summer we lost our main headquarters, The Bomb Shelter, as Pekkola and Matikainen both moved out of town. Now the band existed mainly in our dreams, occasionally training in Tampere or Jyväskylä. It was around the Winter Solstice when Matikainen brought us a pre-hear version of the Spell, and we sat listening to it while enjoying our Christmas cakes and coffee. The Spell was ready, with no Mastering, on our 8th Anniversary in February 2002. The overall atmosphere is quite dark and lovely, just like Barry White, with a Spring's teen Human Touch and sincere weakness of hope giving it a little bit of pus....clarity and even some aesthetic force. Those days we defined our musical style using two opposed words: Art and Rock. In other words, it would be an imp_______ union. The lyrical side was nothing less. I guess I'll have to say we have set our goals on a different level lately. Instead of trying to be Art and Rock at the same time we are approaching the limits of both, thus creating something new. The same goes for lyrics. Instead of being Otherworldly Poetry, I consider my efforts as otherWORDly poetry nowadays." From a note originally written in 2006


THE THIN YOUNG MEN: 
                

The Thin Young Men:
Tomi Pekkola
Guitars, Vocals, Bass, Keys
Jussi Matikainen
Drums and Percussion
Antti Filppu
Spells, Vocals, Occasional Guitar


The Black and Thirsty Summer of '99,
three young men at the Bomb Shelter.
Band Photos taken by Panu Huikko,
Matti Rautaniemi brownished them.

ART ROCK & OTHERWORLDLY POETRY



Recorded in July-August 2000 (music) and August 2001 (vocals) at Vehkalahtisali Studio by Matikainen / who also mastered the mixing with fine delay and echo / The songs were composed between March 1999 - April 2000 / All music and arrangements by Pekkola & TYM / although an invisible hand did help with the last minutes of Somnolence Out / and some other things, too / like the writing of this little spell / as it was all coming and going (ever since March-July 1999) / until Good Friday 2000 finally brought the spirit and the word together / And the axis worked well with the wheel of this millennium / A part of The Red Wine was recorded in March 1995 / Back then it was called Blackened Roses On My Grave, and bass was played by Mikko Nenonen / Cover art by Filppu and Matikainen, with Nenonen kindly assisting / Dedicated to all the poetasters in this world (“those who write inferior poetry”)!


Hamina in 2001 (from left to right):
Filppu, Pekkola and Matikainen
The young men are having a cup of
coffee with some very delicious
Christmas cakes and star pastry.
Photo was taken by Mikko Nenonen.



A GOOD FRIDAY SPELL: there'll be no burdens to darken the green / a place of living brought an ordeal / here's the coffin you know / where are we going tonight, who'll ask /hey, branches are trying to get out of there / and i'm fond of the weather / yes, baby, what a truth it was / you'd never seen me that silent / the wet evening street, vanity clear and stretching away / to work upon it coherent / remember that line of old-fashioned lamps / i couldn't tell you anything, with a broken habit / and the grey wall followed in the left / i let it all rain down of course / and how long it took / just a spell to get myself in order / i was right in that it works and wrong in a few other things / the bleached and our resentment / think it as a kind of secret / i've tried so much, and are you going to watch these steps hoping that i'll grieve

(POET)ASTER / THE RED WINE: burning and velleity the sad part / cleansing dives without a reason / three quarters of an hour / it was the same image / idle along when dreaming, then want a palace in the garden and a heart ages old / what heals all now / adhere to the word / it would have been fine if something real had happened / psyche / where are your selves laid / nineteen for the chronicle / those things on my grave were not alone / it was deepened that autumn / let the florescence turn brighter / with a peace and chrysanthemums found / venetian blinds did cut the sight on the horizon of march / dear, i was still in a feverish realm / looking at its brim / but i've come to hold your hand / the need again graciously / the time is different, don't transcend in the bus / for the hotbed and the wine now bottled / i'm so damn glad i'm here and sane

UNDER AUTUMNAL RAIN DISTINCT.: the crippled man is speaking / "i have suffered enough for not following you, have i not?" / listen to the narrowing sound / the lower waves there, and hollow thorns / i'll walk a little under that light / in salvat (give it a thought or two) / give a thought or two to compulsion / wonderful's not the same in those liquids / near the spirit's edge / to say something wise about loneliness, or something wise about the human mind / honey will end the loss of routine / waltzing with a girl whose name is white flower / thank god all are reminding each other / but hearts do come out of chests / "yes, we were in the park under an almost autumnal rain, i tried to act like a gentleman with the umbrella; offering my soul to set" / "the old language isn't enough, i finally managed to lit my heart with the ageless flame" / if you're willing to stay make sure it isn't hard to breathe / it'll be just fine, verily

THE SHAPE: to bliss whenever quiet / it's a slow move, lying on the bed / but many have done it before / with heavens of archaic fathers towards a terrible spire / that's why i'm still eager to have cream and jewelry in tongues, using violet / when harmless orchids are tied together / and a frame of something / pour everything down your throat / for the only love and the life / i admit you're a beauty / though only a picture / the word nature means "that which is born" / the memory begun to live / let's go somewhere else, to have a new glassful / it's an old wine / i saw the crippled man and he had bitter-looking company / "now you have all the time in the world to spend with me"

SOMNOLENCE OUT: muse in clasping arms / for a city that is lonely / who's gonna take a walk around the corner / here i slept and my wishes at home didn't work so well / crave highly for languish, more and more tired / "no sorrow's forever with me, though sometimes i still go over the edge" / leaves may have withered / the floor of the dance for an illhearted / as december went away / and i had written to you, but not like a poet / the crippled to fall for your rose / there's a holy wine / i used to have a broken chalice / a coffin in the middle of the room / dark blue walls / there were pieces on the floor / a theatre i could say / until the trees of cherbourg seduced me into a different kind of romanticism

BEAUREPAIRE: dressed in carmine / we met again on a bridge / stared the water beneath and the lilies floating there / oh the fate in my hands with every coincidence on the streets / whether it's good luck or not, my loving adèle / who'll be there this spring / to hope it's built above cliches / and read me through these eyes / how could i show / the wounded and wandering knight, with golden numbers on the chestplate / riding the horse of a dead knight to a chapel / yes, for an accident to take place on a bridge / the crippled will pour it down gleaming and send forth / "i have a trembling body, thrown deeper after this; its pieces glimmer for me" / with a violin the end of love / these lines brought emptiness, no grass here greener / we are watching a black-and-white movie / and your violin is heard, it's moving the innocent / in pure songs the water's cold


Photograph was taken by Filppu, 
walking down the evening streets 
of Helsinki in October 2000.


Lyrics, references and more photos at