Some songs refuse to stay buried, even after the algorithm has written off the whole genre as half-dead. Salava, a Helsinki and Hämeenlinna based band, releases its comeback single Devil’s Crop on August 27th, 2026 via Inverse Records. On the single, Salava joins forces with brothers Janne and Tommi Saksa of Sancnity, the Hämeenlinna band that pioneered death metal influenced alternative metal in Finland and earned a legendary reputation in the 90s underground before the mainstream even had time to notice.
Devil’s Crop is unashamed heavy rock. Doom-leaning fuzz grinds away underneath, and on top sits a chorus you are not embarrassed to hum in broad daylight. The song tips its hat to the heavy and metal boom that swept over Hämeenlinna and the whole of Finland in the late 80s and early 90s. It does not copy the old sound. It reminds you what kind of heavy music the mainstream has been missing these past few years. The underground, on the other hand, is alive and well. It simply lives where it has always lived: in the shade of the mainstream, in a home of its own.
Listen to the single on music services (Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Tidal, YouTube Music etc.): https://push.fm/fl/salava-devilscrop
”Devil’s Crop could easily have been left to gather dust between all our other band projects, but it was simply too good a song for that”, says guitarist Sami Suominen.
–ISRC: FI3FC2603101
–Composers: Jukka Salo & Sami Suominen’
–Lyrics: Jukka Salo
Salava was born in the spring of 2020 as a pressure valve for two men. Gigs were frozen and the entire industry had ground to a halt when Jukka Salo (vocals) and Sami Suominen (guitar) poured the frustration of that pandemic spring into their debut single Remorse (Taulamaa Records). The two had already been welded together in Saarnastuoli and Planeetta 9, whose Luinen syli has quietly grown into a hidden classic of Finnish indie metal. Remorse was picked up by underground media in the United States, Spain and Turkey. Then it went quiet. For six years the duo channelled their energy into other projects, most visibly Boneyard Lily.
Now Salava returns as a four-piece and sounds as if there had never been a break: Suominen grinds dark matter into the riffs from the veins of doom and stoner, Salo rides his exceptionally wide vocal range, Janne Saksa’s lead guitar blazes and Tommi Saksa’s drums carry the whole thing home.
https://www.facebook.com/salavaband
https://www.instagram.com/salava_band
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