BAND OF THE WEEK: The Bleak Picture
Some good old Finnish gloom, except it's new.
Finland has always been a hotbed for every kind of subgenre within heavy, unconventional music, from the biggest, most easy-listening kind of mainstream acts (Nightwish, for instance), to the most extreme and influential to the underground (Beherit, Archgoat, Impaled Nazarene), with everything weird and wonderful in between - people like Xysma, Turmion Kätilöt or even Oranssi Pazuzu, to name but a random three, could only have come from that strange land up there. This is a tradition that even predates metal and goes far beyond the 80s, with people like Oiling Boiling, Argon or, you know, the entire Love Records catalogue, basically.
However, during the 90s and part of the 00s, there was a certain kind of shadow that fell over several bands, a difficult to pinpoint sort of razor-sharp, bittersweet melancholy that seems to have swept bands of several genres and dispositions, uniting them under a kind of “dark metal” banner - think of bands like Sentenced, HIM, Rapture, Thy Serpent of Fall Of The Leafe, and you’ll get what I’m talking about. They are all, if you think about it, quite different sonically from each other, but seemed to share that very characteristic, and very Finnish it seems, type of vibe. The last decade has seen it dissipate somewhat, a natural dilution that most scenes, intentional or not, tend to evolve towards, especially when they start to become slightly overcrowded.
Fortunately, there’s still people out there who get it, who carry that wound with pride, and who are doing new things with it - like The Bleak Picture, this week’s long-overdue Band Of The Week. And why long-overdue? Well, because their debut EP on which I will be focusing on, their only release so far, is almost a year old already, having been self-released by the band back in October 2021 in digital format only. Fortunately, the good people at Alone Records, as always a beacon of good taste, thought the four songs on the appropriately titled ‘Songs Of Longing’ were far too good to linger in digital semi-osbcurity, and are now giving it the sort of treatment they’ve always deserved, making it available on 12” vinyl and CD.
If you’ve ever had any kind of interest in the Finnish scene, one listen to the song above (which happens to be my favourite on the EP, too) will tell you all you need to know and most likely get you all excited for not just the remaining three, but also the forthcoming full-length. A duo made up of Jussi Hänninen (all instruments) and Tero Ruohonen (vocals) which grew out of their connection in the equally wonderful Autumnfall, it is a sombre but supremely exhilarating mix of that typical Finnish catchy-grime (you might recognise Jussi from the much-missed Fall Of The Leafe, and some of the guitarwork here is very reminiscent of that massively underrated band’s unique approach to melody and dynamics) and other similarly engaging movements - the press release wisely throws early Katatonia and a couple of classic England goth-tinged acts like Bauhaus or Fields Of The Nephilim, and I would agree with all those reference points. There’s deep death growls, there are sensual goth whispers, there’s melodic leads and crushing grooves, there’s heaviness, sadness, beauty and loss, all through these massive-sounding 24 minutes. Most of all, however, it’s the fact that The Bleak Picture manage to remind you of a lot of things, but specifically sound exactly like none of them, that really caught my attention. They seem to be intent on carving their own path, and that’s awesome.
And hey, it’s not necessarily a requisite for making great music, but it helps that they are very nice people too. I got in touch with Tero and we had a great chat about the origins of The Bleak Picture, about ‘Songs Of Longing’, and about where they’ll go from here. Hint: if you are (or have just become) a fan, they have good news.
Could you tell us how The Bleak Picture started, how did you and Jussi decided to create this new band?
Tero Ruohonen (vocals): TBP started as a side project to Autumnfall actually. Jussi had written material for the second Autumnfall album and initially the tracks were supposed to be featured on it. However, in my opinion they didn’t quite fit AF’s style and I began to plant a seed of forming another band and well, here we are!
Was it clear from the beginning that this would be the style you would pursue with this band? What would you say are your main inspirations and influences?
Tero: I’m not sure if it’s even still clear what exactly our style is but ‘Songs Of Longing’ represents the kind of music I’ve wanted to make since early 2000s. I’ve always been drawn to melancholy, death and basic stuff like that so the inspiration on my behalf comes from there. Main musical influences on me must be from the 90s and early 00s bands like Rapture, Thy Serpent, HIM and even Demigod’s ‘Shadow Mechanics’, to name a few.
What do you get, artistically speaking, from The Bleak Picture, that you didn’t with Autumnfall? And how much of your past is also present in this new venture? I do hear a few guitar melodies that totally hark me back to Fall Of The Leafe, for example, it’s a very characteristic sound.
Tero: That is a good question. I don’t like to compare the two, but The Bleak Picture is maybe a bit more, dare I say open minded? I feel with TBP we can venture more into different directions than with Autumnfall, and I believe our debut album will be a good example of that. I’ve always found Jussi’s music quite unique, and I believe his style and melodies are something that can and will always harken back to the good ol’ FotL and that to me is only a good thing. They were one of my favourite bands after all.
It’s interesting that you are pursuing this kind of sound now – in the late 90s and early 00s this very typically Finnish brand of “dark metal”, as it was called often, was very common and a lot of bands were doing their own take on it, but the last decade has seen a bit of a decline for this style, in my opinion. Are you also trying to recapture a certain lost vibe, as well as doing something new of course?
Tero: The mentioned “genre” did have a huge impact on me. I was in my teens back then and I was listening to all sorts of melodic metal, goth metal and whatnot so it’s my youth if anything I’m trying to recapture, hah. Seriously speaking, I personally can’t take much credit when it comes to what TBP sounds like. Jussi is the composer, and he grew up in the 80s and early 90s listening to indie rock bands. Or that is what he’s told me.
I think the four songs on ‘Songs Of Longing’ are all very solid and very consistent, is there however any of them that might be your favourite for any reason?
Tero: Thank you! I think my favourite song is the one I’m listening to at that time.
It’s great that the EP is getting a reissue, do you feel that it might reach a wider audience now, and maybe make people more prepared to receive a forthcoming full-length album?
Tero: Yes, I truly hope and believe more people will find the EP now that it will get a physical release and even wider digital release. Fingers crossed that it finds enough buying audiences so we can get a physical release for our debut album when the time comes. Kudos to Alone Records for supporting us!
Speaking of that, what are your plans for the debut album proper now, can we expect any news soon? What are your plans for 2023 regarding this band? And do you think it will be easy for both your bands to cohabitate from now on?
Tero: As a matter of fact, the material for the album has already been written and mostly recorded. Guitars, bass and synths have been recorded and 80% of the vocals are done as well. We are currently waiting to get real drum tracks. The album should see the bleak light of day in sometime in 2023, hopefully sooner than later. And I’m not sure if it will be easy but I love making music with both bands so I’m in as long as I’m allowed and Jussi writes music for them.
Find The Bleak Picture on Facebook, Instagram and Bandcamp.
You can preorders ‘Songs Of Longing’ at the US shop HERE, and at the EU shop HERE.
