Finnish band Darkness Is My Canvas aim to thrill with a dramatic, electronic-tinged progressive rock sound that they describe as “melodic, emotional and cinematic.”
The Helsinki band began when Panu Pentikäinen was producing a punk album and Pete Erkintalo was unexpectedly brought in as a lead vocalist. That initial session turned into a deeper collaboration and they formed Darkness Is My Canvas in 2017. They’ve since been through a few lineup changes, but eventually discovered drummer Juza and bassist Fellu. And together, they’ve played around 60 gigs and another 20 via side projects, in a connection they call “creative reconnaissance.”
Describing the sound they’ve honed over the years, the band told us: “Imagine Muse, Linkin Park, and Kingston Wall playing at the edge of the world, while Porcupine Tree sends weather reports from the atmosphere. We like to think of ourselves as melodic rock with cinematic ambition. You’ll hear heavy riffs, clean vocals (sometimes gritty), layered guitars, emotional synths, odd time signatures but none of it is for show. If it doesn’t serve the emotion of the song, we cut it. And if it hurts a little… even better.”
Our latest taste of this is the band’s new single Wash, which was released in May. It starts out with a low electronic buzz, before a fun opening riff drops into an engaging opening verse. That flows into a catchy chorus, ““I don’t wanna be washed away, With this ever rising see, I don’t wanna lose all of my senses, With a burning sea.” The fun riff briefly returns and gives way to another lively verse and chorus. Second time around, the chorus drops into a cool instrumental section that sets up a more intense blast of the chorus to bring the track to a lively conclusion.
On the track, the band said: “Wash has really found its place. It opens our live set, and it opens our upcoming album The End of Times. It’s direct, rhythmic, and a little urgent… and that’s exactly how we wanted it. Lyrically, Wash explores the emotional paralysis that comes with watching the world slide into climate catastrophe while feeling powerless.
W’’re not trying to be political, but we’re not going to pretend everything’s fine either. We’ll always speak up especially for the ones who can’t. Musically, it’s one of our more hard rock–driven tracks. It’s stripped down compared to our usual layered arrangements, and that makes it the perfect live opener: all punch, all presence.
Wash follows on from a series of singles released last year, of which we especially love the sound of the dreamy, almost intergalactic-sounding Bleed. And, as the band alluded to, it comes from their upcoming second album The End of Times, which is out on 1 August.
On the album, the band told us: “This album means everything to us, it’s the most emotionally layered, musically diverse thing we’ve created so far. It starts with Wash, of course, a gut punch of clarity, and from there it travels through different emotional and sonic territories. There’s a pop-punk–inflected single coming in late July, which surprises even us. And then there’s The Maze, sitting right in the middle of the album like a dark, sprawling core. It’s our most overtly anti-war song, not just about the brutality of conflict, but about the rot behind it, the systemic cowardice of those who perpetuate war. It’s also a full-on prog journey: shifting time signatures, long instrumental breaks, moments of near silence followed by total chaos.
“The album ends with Skin & Bones, a vulnerable but powerful closer a reminder that no matter what falls apart, there’s always a way to rebuild. Yes, the themes are heavy climate dread, war, grief, and identity loss. But this album isn’t about collapse. It’s about survival. About finding the thread of hope in the middle of wreckage.”
The Darkness Is My Canvas sound has been influenced by the likes of Muse, Porcupine Tree, Linkin Park, Metallica and fellow Finnish bands Kingston Wall and Nightwish, as well as film composers, electronic sound designers and field recordings.
And on what inspires them to write music, the band explains: “A lot of our writing comes from discomfort. From that feeling of not being able to explain what’s going on in your head until you hear it coming back through an amplifier. Take Bleed, for example a brutal, intimate take on numbness and the hunger for sensation. Or Rejected, which speaks for the ones who were never invited in, and then Day Zero, a track about reconciliation and re-connection. Those are the emotional threads we follow. Even the darkest track needs to end with the possibility of light.”
Darkness Is My Canvas’ second album The End of Times is released on 1 August. But they’re not done there, with more songs in the works and 90% finished, shaping around a narrative universe created in an unpublished novel that Pete wrote years ago. They’re also planning a tour across Finland, with an eye on heading to Germany, the Baltics and potentially the UK – check their gig listings here – along with delivering physical editions, visual storytelling projects and behind-the-scenes content showing how they build their songs from scratch.
On the upcoming music, the band explained: “It might never be published, but the characters and world have been with us for a long time. In fact, some of our existing songs, even on The End of Times are drawn from that universe. The next album will go deeper. It’s not a ‘concept album’ in the typical sense, but it’s thematically tight. It shares a world. A mythology. A language. Musically, we’re pushing further, longer arcs, more layered narratives, recurring motifs, tension that never resolves in obvious ways. It’s cinematic, dynamic, and very alive.
“We’re not chasing trends. We’re not chasing hype. We’re chasing resonance. Our music is for people who feel too much. Or maybe not enough. For the ones who can’t quite scream and need someone to do it for them. If that’s you, you’ll find a home here. Welcome to the canvas.”
You can follow Darkness Is My Canvas on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
GigRadar 