Metal Shock Finland (World Assault )

Echoes of the Extinct from Jyväskylä, Finland released their debut album Era of Darkness on April 25, 2025. Four-piece modern metal band founded in 2022 combines elements of progressive metal, metalcore and melodic death metal to create a unique, powerful and atmospheric sound.

Era of Darkness is the debut album of Echoes of the Extinct, and a powerful statement on the current condition of our planet and those who inhabit it. Musically, the album is the band’s interpretation of modern melodic death metal, a blend of melody, intensity, aggression and atmosphere. Lyrically, the album addresses the ecological collapse we are facing and the troubling direction humanity is heading driven by selfishness, intolerance, greed, and a refusal to acknowledge our place in the vastness of time and the universe. Era of Darkness holds up a dark mirror to our face, a reflection of the damage we’ve inflicted upon ourselves and the Earth we call home.

Listen to the album on music services (Spotify, YouTube, Bandcamp, Apple Music, Tidal etc.): https://push.fm/fl/eote-eraofdarkness

Tracklist/ISRC-codes:

1. Remedy – FI3FC2550801
2. Empathy – FI3FC2550802
3. Era of Darkness – FI3FC2550803
4. Virus – FI3FC2550804
5. Conflict – FI3FC2550805
6. Last Page – FI3FC2550806

Echoes of the Extinct – The Story:

In the winter of 2021, Juuso Lehtonen and Jarmo Jääskeläinen, friends from Jyväskylä, started their metal project, which later evolved into Echoes of the Extinct, based on Juuso’s riffs and song ideas. Juuso had been playing guitar for a long time and had a desk full of riffs, but the idea of forming a band had not really taken shape. However, by chance, retired metal drummer Jarmo got excited when he heard Juuso’s material and wanted to push the material forward.
 

At first, the duo built the songs on an instrumental basis, while Juuso also took over the bass duties. The core of the songs became a rather classic death metal with Gothenburg metal influences, which is close to both of their hearts. Jarmo had quit playing in the past, partly because he couldn’t find any musicians who were on the same wavelength. But now, with Juuso leading the compositional work towards modern metal and metalcore influences, new kinds of parts and intricate interludes began to emerge. Influences included iconic metal bands such as In Flames, August Burns Red or, for example, the Australian Be’lakor. New inspirations such as Allt, Currents and Orbit Culture also served as influence. Over time, a shared approach to composition and arrangement helped the friends’ music to take shape in the form it has today. From the beginning, the project was also attracted by the variety of ways of building songs – not always going from guitar riffs to arrangements and bass and drum tracks, but sometimes also composing guitars for songs created structurally and rhythmically with drums alone. There was no rush, but in peace and quiet we made music that would be nice to listen to ourselves.

As the project progressed, we really started to miss having our own artist on bass. The solution was found at Christmas 2022, when Jarmo’s former bandmate, Kalle Hautalampi from Hyvinkää, switched from guitar to bass when he joined the band. Kalle brought his own unique perspective to the mix, due to his own playing history and musical taste.

By spring 2023, there were half a dozen instrumental demos and another bunch of songwriting tracks. At this point, the search for a singer began in earnest. This didn’t prove to be very easy at first, as there didn’t seem to be much supply of free and skilled metal singers in the region. After some searching, the brilliant Tero Ollilainen, who was found through a mutual friend and who finalises the band’s current line-up and soundscape, enthusiastically joined the project after hearing the demos.

It was at this point that the lyrical message of the band began to take shape. The band members share a common concern about the current state of humanity, nature and the Earth. Long-standing, but all the more topical themes such as human selfishness and greed, the corruption of nature, the Earth’s resilience, global warming and wars became the theme of the lyrics. The band members even played with the term “eco-metal”. Tero and Jarmo started to write and arrange the lyrics to the songs, after which the vocals were demoed for the instrumentals. Tero’s voice and interpretation were perfect for the project. After that, the arrangements of the songs were modified to make them more suitable for the whole.

By spring 2024, the arrangement and lyrical work was fully completed, the demos were ready and it was time for the final recordings. The vocals for the album were recorded at Inka Studio in Orimattila, with Pasi Löfgren as the engineer, and later as the mixer and master of the album. During the autumn of 2024, Pasi created the sound for the band and the band’s debut album Era of Darkness was ready for release. At the end of 2024, Inverse Records from Jyväskylä became a publishing partner, and the band released their first single in January 2025. The whole album was released on 25.4.2025 as a statement on the current state of humanity. The album is the band’s vision of modern melodic death metal – a combination of melodicism, aggression and atmosphere. Era of Darkness is a dark mirror that shoves the consequences of our existence right in our faces!

IG: echoes_of_the_extinct
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