Niilo Sevänen - Insomnium 'Unearthing the Atrocities That Inspired Anno 1696'
It has been a 8 long years since the last time Finnish metal icons Insomnium graced Australia with their presence... but the wait won't be much longer when they land down under in May for a glorious trip across the country.
Armed with their latest release Anno 1696 - a blackened death metal concept album which combines fiction with real-life stories from the infamous Finland and Scandinavian witch hunts of the 1600s, the inspiration provided Insomnium with enough material to craft haunting soundscapes which beautifully (and brutifully) recount the events with instrumentals to match the eeriness of the atrocities.
Ahead of their return bassist/unclean vocalist Niilo Sevänen joins Wall Of Sound to discuss insights into the creative processes and research into their new album, a sneak peek at their future plans and what they're most excited about experiencing when they hit our shores.
Hi NIILO, I have been a fan of Insomnium since I first heard Shadows of the Dying Sun in 2014. So, thank you so much for your time today. I believe that you are in some down time at the moment before you embark on almost two straight months of touring which includes Singapore, Australia (thank you!), Japan and China? How are you feeling about those adventures?
Niilo: Hi and thank you very much! Luckily our Aussie-Asian trip is less than 3 weeks since it’s practically flying every single morning, so very little sleep. We have done similar tour two times before so we know what to expect. Shows in Aus have always been great and we are really looking forward to that. Hopefully some time to see koalas as well. All these countries are very exotic from our Finnish point of view :)
Congratulations on Anno 1696 – an absolutely phenomenal journey soaked in intensity lyrically, musically and thematically. With such a dark history of Finland involved with the conceptual inspiration that actually became quite personal for your own family histories, was this at all difficult to discover what the people of that time and era went through? The starvation, the traditional Christian beliefs and disturbing rituals, the uprising of science – did this add an extra emotional depth to the lyrics or even musical soundscape when you were composing these 8 tracks?
Niilo: Anno 1696 combines real history with fantasy and myths. That was a very dark era indeed so it was sort of easy to write a story that would fit a death metal concept album.
Still in the core it’s a story about love and death so it should be universal and all should be able to relate to it.
Witch Hunts are a pretty significant theme of the LP – I understand a lot of research was done into this topic. I believe I read a statement that said you had discovered a book about a witch trial in Sweden where 70 women were killed in a very small village? Did you just focus on Finland or Scandinavia for this research, or did you look at other parts of the world?
Niilo: Yes, that gruesome Swedish case is a true story. I focused in Finland and Sweden in my research since that was most relevant for my story. Of course very disturbing cases can be found all over the world.
I believe a novel by Aino Kallas involving werewolves is also discussed on the album, which track was inspired by this incredible tale? Did the music and lyrical creation feel more animalistic from this novel? The latest album does have a more aggressive blackened death metal push to a degree, was this intensity a rather organic movement musically considering the concept?
Niilo: That novel (translated Wolf Bride, I believe) is the inspiration for the whole album. I imagined how the story might have continued if it had ended differently. We had the story first and then we made music that would fit this dark theme. So we wanted it to be gritty and blackened and sound a bit like 90s metal. We wanted the story and music to go hand in hand.
These sources of inspiration are very cinematic and lend themselves to film very very well. Have you ever contemplated soundtrack work for cinema, TV series? Has this already occurred where Insomium’s music was used in these mediums?
Niilo: I’m mostly listening to movie and game soundtracks these days so for sure this is an interesting topic. But so far Insomnium has been used in some small theatre productions – not so much in Hollywood :)
I understand there is possibly a short story involved for Anno 1696 – what does the narrative entail? Could it get a novel or even cinema/tv series treatment do you think? If so, who would you have as actors in the production?
Niilo: Yes the story is printed in the booklet. That is the Insomnium way of doing a concept album :)
I’m currently writing my novels that are set in medieval times and the second book should be out next year.
Maybe at some point I have time to return to 17th Century and write a longer story set it these dark times. Don’t know about actors but maybe Mr. Villeneuve could direct it!
Sakis Tolis (Rotting Christ) and Johanna Kurkela are featured guest vocalists on the LP and do phenomenal contributions. Were these the vocalists you knew were to be the ones for ‘White Christ’ & ‘Godforsaken’ when they were being written or recorded? Who would be dream collaborations of guest musicians for you with Insomnium?
Niilo: With Sakis we knew right away that he is the one. 'White Christ' has this Rotting Christ feel in it so we thought why not ask the master himself. With Johanna it was not that straightforward but once we asked her it all went really smoothly and she did stunning job.
The film clips for both of these tracks were absolutely stunning productions, could you tell us about the filming processes and creation of the videos’ concepts? Are they related? Will there be more from Anno 1696?
Niilo: All the songs are part of the same story and all the videos are done by the same company. So they all go together. I think we’ve had enough videos already with this one, so let’s save our creative juices for the next album :)
‘The Witch Hunter’ is my standout for the album – lyrically it seems to be from a viewpoint of a very concerned person of faith and the uprising of persons that do not share Christian beliefs. Is this accurate? Did this topical nature provoke any difficulties considering the history of Scandinavia? Will this track feature a film clip?
Niilo: Yes that song is written from the point of view of the witch hunter character. Who is a very devout Christian indeed and wants to clean all the north and burn the evildoers. Of course he thinks he is the good guy and saviour. There was just a lyrics video for this one.
Thank you so much for your time and answers! I will undeniably be at the show in Adelaide. Since it has been 8 years since your last visit, two albums and two EPs – what can Australians expect from Insomnium?
Niilo: Thank you! We are very much looking forward already to play to you guys. I think we have not been in Adelaide before so should be interesting! See you guys soon :)
Interview by Will Oakeshott @teenwolfwill
Insomnium kick off their Australian Tour on May 6th. Tickets selling fast via Soundworks Direct Touring.
INSOMNIUM – Australian Tour 2025
with guests Omnium Gatherum
May 6th – Brisbane, The Triffid w/ Darklore
May 7th – Canberra, The Baso w/ Immorium
May 9th – Sydney, Metro Theatre w/ Besomora
May 10th – Melbourne, The Croxton w/ Orpheus Omega
May 11th – Adelaide, Lion Arts Factory w/ Ecdysis
