Introducing: Bloody Falls

Finnish band Bloody Falls have crafted a powerful and engaging “one of a kind” black metal sound that fuses old school with the contemporary and they describe as “dynamic, melodic and groovy.”

The Valkeakoski band was first started by Greek/Finnish guitarist Stavros Mathios, who moved to Finland in 2012 to follow his dream of starting a metal band, and guitarist/bassist Marko Mäkinen, who started a project called Exiled Genesis. In 2014, Marko Mäkinen joined as a vocalist but gradually shifted into guitars, which saw Tanawat Thongprem come in as the new vocalist. The original project didn’t meet their desire to play heavier songs, so Bloody Falls was born in 2017.

They soon released debut single Thanatos and signed a deal with Inverse Records before releasing their debut album, also called Thantos. It was then all change as they brought in Mika Lehtinen (bassist) and Rami Vartiainen (drums) before completing the lineup with vocalist Antero Hakala, who originally planned to join another of Markos’ project (which is coming in the future). They soon released second album Burn The Witch in 2021 which, in their words, “changed everything in the best way possible and put Bloody Falls on the world map as not just another band.”

And on the sound they’ve honed, Stavros told us: “We truly believe that our sound is one of a kind, or at least starts shaping into one. The biggest thing we aim for always sound-wise is dynamic. If the songs aren’t dynamic then they aren’t Bloody Falls. Also, melody has started playing an enormous role into the band’s sound. We don’t wanna play complicated, fast, slow, technical or whatsoever. We just do our thing, whatever that is, it can be one of the above or all combined in one, we just do what ever feels and sounds good for our taste of music. So definitely expect moshpitting riffs, headbanging breakdowns, melancholic melodies, face melting vocals and a lot of darkness atmosphere wise with a twist of constant energy.”

Our latest taste of this is Am Dying, which actually comes from the Exiled Genesis days but came out in July and is the first track released since their second album. It opens up with a pulsing riff that bursts into lively guitars and a huge scream, which kicks into a big chunky riff over vicious drums. That kicks into another bouncy riff that flows into a lively opening verse of big guttural vocals.

Another driving riff takes over and flows into huge screamed vocals, the pace drops and a scuzzy little guitar riff supports delicious throaty vocals. That ushers in a spinning riff that continues under a cheeky guitar solo before a big groovy outro.

On the track, Stavros told us: “The release was a great success with tens of thousands of people headbanging to it and the song keeps on rising daily! I always knew this song was special since we released it with Exiled Genesis back at 2015. All band members loved the song and wanted to remake it into today’s standards and also play it live. Whoever hasn’t heard the song yet can expect a heavy, groovy, dynamic song that is easy to listen to and gives you the constant feeling to headbang. Not to mention the gravity-altering breakdown that nothing can prepare you for. End point is that if you are looking for some new powerful song without a letdown, definitely go listen to Am Dying!”

Am Dying comes from the January EP Dying Is Easy, on which Stavros says: “Dying Is Easy is an amazing EP to show everyone the growth of the band musically. The writing is much more immersive, consistent and mature compared to all previous material we have released. This short EP contains so much in so little amount of time that is impressive. You can expect heavy riffs, lots of melodic leads, grooviness, a certain amount of darkness and explosive breakdowns.

“Also in this EP, you can get even bigger glimpses into our fascination with black metal music compared to our previous album. Fun fact about this EP: this wasn’t planned to exist, after Burn The Witch we were planning to make a full length album again. But there was a problem, we had way too many good songs ready and didn’t want to ditch any. So we came up with an idea to take five songs, release them as an EP and then release a full length album. So this is technically a little bridge that is leading to the main event. But it’s a good bridge in every way.”

Stavros isn’t wrong as the EP is absolutely huge! We especially love the sound of the intense Face Your Demise and Reaper Is My Neighbor and if you like crushing riffs accompanying your dark metal then this is very much a record for you. The same goes for the band’s previous album Burn The Witch, from which we particularly love the sound of Soul Ripper, which opens up with a delicious riff before a wild scream and driving guitars drop into a vicious verse. There’s also the more gothic title track Burn The Witch and Last Rites, the vicious Braindead and big groovy tracks like Self Inflicted Pain, A Reason To Live and Descend.

The Bloody Falls sound is influenced by a wide range of metal, from progressive to black metal, with key influences including everything from Rotting Christ and Lamb Of God to Iron Maiden. And when it comes to writing music, Stavros explains: “Many things can bring me inspiration, like listening to another band, watching a movie, playing a game or, most importantly, listening to my own creations. Sometimes I just sit there and I just get a feeling that I have inspiration, difficult to explain how that happens, but it just does.

“Usually I like writing fictional stories, lyrics wise. Many times they are just my own brain creating stuff at the moment, other times I create own versions of existing stories and other times I create something out of life. Some of my favorite story topics are paranormal/supernatural related stuff. I tend to write what the music inspires me to, I rarely go into writing with a gameplan, I just follow my feelings and let the inspiration flow.”

We love Finnish metal generally and Bloody Falls are another example of why. Their music is packed with crushing riffs and groove that you can’t help but want to headbang along to. And the good news is there’s more to come as Bloody Falls went into the studio in August and now have a fully recorded new album that was mixed and mastered last month. They’ll release three singles with music videos before the album is released early next year, with a Finnish tour and potentially gigs abroad to follow.

As Stavros says: “The chessboard is set for another campaign to expand what is Bloody Falls and continue conquering the ears of new and existing fans all over the world. This new album is by far the best work we’ve ever done to date with ease. Soon the album title and artwork will be revealed also, after that the count down for the first release begins. Let’s just say that in a couple of months you might be listening one of the best songs ever created by Bloody Falls. And that’ll be just the tip of the iceberg!

“If you think there’s nothing new that is good then you’re wrong. Go check Bloody Falls and you won’t be disappointed! Thank you for listening to our music, to your amazing support, to our amazing fans and welcome to the legion of Soul Rippers to all newcomers that will listen to us. Hopefully we’ll see you all some day up close live so we can headbang together! Until then embrace the way of Amartia!”

You can follow Bloody Falls on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and Deezer. And check out more new metal through their label Art Gates Records.