Helsinki’s SATAN’S FALL has an outstanding new album out – Destination Destruction (SPV/Steamhammer). Check out my review elsewhere on this site, but if you’re in to SAXON, HELLOWEEN, or JUDAS PRIEST’s later albums – I highly recommend checking this album out. In tis following interview guitarist – Tomi Mäenpää answers my questions about the band’s forming, the making of and songs on Destination Destruction, and the band’s upcoming plans.

Enjoy the read, check out the new album, and links below!

Can you tell me a bit about the band’s beginnings, the band name choice, and up through the changes that happened since the band’s previous album?

Satan’s Fall started almost by accident and I’ve often laughed that this is a band that was never supposed to be a band. The band started when we played together with another founding member, i.e. our former guitarist Kride.
We didn’t intend to start a band, just to drink beer and play the guitar together, but when riffs and melodies started to emerge, we started asking more people to join us.
At that point, when we were looking for other guys to join the band, Satan’s Cross was chosen as the name. The name was meant to be attention-grabbing and maybe a little infuriating. At the same time, when we recorded the first ‘Seven Nights’ demo, some Mexican band managed to grab the name for themselves. Kride and I then thought about a new name and ended up with the name Satan’s Fall. We didn’t think of any Mercyful Fate connection at the time, even though everyone knows they have a song of the same name. Satan was thrown out of heaven because he started to rebel, and heavy metal has a similar rebellion against authority figures.

When did writing and recording begin for the new album? And what sort of direction or new ideas were decided upon for this new line-up and album?

I composed the first song ‘Lead the Way’ as soon as Final Day came out, so it was 2021. Then I did ‘Dark Star’ and Lassi (ex-guitarist) did ‘Garden of Fire’. With the demos of those songs, we approached record companies, which then led to a recording contract with Steamhammer.
After that, it was a bit quieter, because Ville (ex-drummer) decided to leave the band, as a result of which Lassi also left. We got new and current guitarist Ville Koskinen in the band immediately when Lassi announced his departure, but I had to look for a drummer for several months until I found Arttu.
Basically, we don’t think that now we have to make this or that type of song, but they are created purely by playing and feeling.
Personally, I at least want to try different approaches to music, as I did with the song ‘Dark Star’. I tried to see what kind of song you could build on one rhythm guitar riff. After all, everything else is built on top of that one rhythm track. I think it worked out well.

How do Satan’s Fall songs come together? Who writes them musically & lyrically, and what inspires musical & lyrical ideas?

Me and Ville, i.e. the guitarists, mainly wrote the music for the new album and Miika then does the lyrics and vocal arrangements.
Anything can be a source of inspiration, and it often is. Less often, I’m personally inspired by listening to old heavy metal to make my own music. I do notice which bands do that, because then they all sound exactly the same. Most of the time, things seem to arise by themselves and subconsciously. I don’t really know how to describe it any better, since I don’t really have any answer.
Miika’s lyrics are very much about the downfall of humanity.

Destination Destruction has an excellent sound, great production. Can you talk a bit about how happy you are with how things turned out?

We are satisfied with how the album sounds, but of course some things could have been done differently, but I guess everyone thinks the same way about their albums.
Our former guitarist Lassi was again responsible for recording, mixing and producing. Of course we also shouted out our ideas and how we wanted certain things to sound. The main thing is not to start repeating the same things we have already done.

You guys have an awesome 2 guitar heavy sound? Any 2 guitar bands you like to look up to or like to be compared to?

At this point, I’m not interested in comparing ourselves to anyone else or whether we’re being compared to another band. Totally irrelevant to us.

Can you talk a bit about some of the new songs – any antidotes or stories behind tracks like Afterglow, No Gods No Masters, Lead The Way…? Any that stand out for you guys personally?

Each song has it’s own story and you can read it in the lyrics. The listener can then draw their own conclusions about the theme of the song’s lyrics.
A song like ‘No Gods, No Masters’ is a pretty clear statement based on the name alone. Or what do you think?
My favorite is ‘Afterglow’, but I like all the songs on the album, because each song has its own place on the album.

I really like the last track ‘Dark Star”, a powerful track musically and vocally. I gotta say (if this doesn’t seem odd) the guitar solo (and faint keyboards!?) kinda reminds me of Neil Young’s ‘Like A Hurricane’. Love it.

I do not know. Neil Young has nothing to do with this song, but people hear things in their own way.
Dark Star was the second song I wrote for the new album. I wanted to try out what kind of song I could compose based on just one rhythm guitar riff. So the song has only one rhythm riff and everything else is built on top of it. We got a nice little extra spice to it with the synths and Ville plays a brilliant and atmospheric solo guitar at the end.

Interesting couple of cover songs as bonus tracks! Especially the Power Ranger theme, which is instantly recognizable here (my older kids watched this show way back). How did this idea even come up to record it?

The record company wanted two bonus songs for the CD version, so we selected a couple of our favorites. I personally don’t care for the bonus tracks on the album because they spoil the overall feel. There’s nothing worse than listening to a great album set and then after the last song a bonus song starts playing. At worst, they are some old shitty quality live or rehearsal tracks.

Can you guys tell me a bit about the album’s cover-art — who created it, how much input and ideas or suggestions did you put forth?

The cover art was created by Dan Goldsworthy, who has done covers for Accept and Gloryhammer, among others.
The idea was ours, but the execution was then completely in the hands of the artist. We didn’t like the first draft, but then Dan nailed it perfectly with this second version that ended up on the cover.
In the picture, people are walking towards the light, even though they are walking into a human slaughterhouse.

What have been some of the live highlights for the band over last few years – favorite festivals, bills you were on, opening slots, bands you’ve shared stage with and got to meet?

Perhaps the best gig memory is when we played the 2017 Headbangers Open Air in Germany to a big crowd that was very involved throughout the gig.
Good memories are also when we played a couple of times with Manilla Road (R.I.P. Mark Shelton) and warmed up Pentagram and Satan.

We also warmed up Primordial with a couple of gigs in Finland. After those gigs came the first member change, when singer Markus, drummer Tommi and Kride left the band after the second gig.

What is coming up for you guys in the near future? Any major festival announcements or tours?

We are trying to build a European tour for next spring, but the situation seems pretty impossible at the moment, because Venues don’t respond to e-mails or offer ridiculous deals where the artist pays for everything from sound technicians to drinks. We have a few festival gigs coming up, but no major festival shows. Heavy metal is not of much interest to big festival organizers these days, and it is unlikely that there will ever be a change.

There is a great hard rock & metal scene in Finland, can you give us a few bands or albums you guys would recommend to check out from there?

All Stratovarius material from 1989-2000, Children of Bodom’s first three records and Tarot’s first two records.

LINKS:

https://www.facebook.com/SatansFall

https://satansfall.bandcamp.com/album/destination-destruction

https://www.instagram.com/satansfallofficial

https://www.youtube.com/@SatansFall_official