Founded in Oulu in 1999, For My Pain… is known as the messenger of dark gothic metal. The vision of the supergroup, which emerged from the metal scene at the turn of the millennium, was to create music that would merge heavy melodic metal with a dark gothic atmosphere. The band members were previously known from bands such as Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Nightwish, Embraze, Kalmah, Charon and Reflexion.
In December 2023, For My Pain… announced their return – exactly 20 years after the release of their debut album. The first singles of the new era, Recoil Into Darkness and WitchBitch Elite, were released in 2024. Although two whole decades had passed since the previous recording, the familiar strong atmosphere and melancholic melodies still captured the listener firmly in their shadows.
Now For My Pain… is offering its fans something completely new, with the band’s version of the Tehosekoitin‘s Hetken Tie On Kevyt classic in the works. Bassist Altti Veteläinen, one of the band’s founding members, says he had the vision to do a version of the song back in 2004.
“This is definitely one of the finest gems of Finnish rock, to which we have danced the last slow songs of the evening and watched the midnight sun hand in hand. Every time I heard the song, a heavier version of the verse would play in my head. The thought of our own version, which would still do honor to the original classic, haunted me,” Veteläinen recalls and continues:
“When we decided to return to the books of the living with the band, this vision also reawakened. Over the years, very few people have done their own version of this, so in that sense the idea still felt good and relevant. We decided to test how the song would work with a rehearsal, and it was clear from the first rehearsal that we couldn’t leave this one undone.”
For My Pain… recorded the song as usual at their singer Juha Kylmänen’s Whiteleaf Studio, which has become practically a second home for the members recently. The legendary Finnish metal duo Mikko Karmila and Mika Jussila (Finnvox studios) were responsible for mixing and mastering.
“In our opinion, the end result sounds completely like ourselves, but still very much like the original work. The starting point was not to try to remake the song or the original arrangement in a different mold, but to interpret a great composition in our own style and respecting the original sensitivity,” Veteläinen sums up.
Upcoming gigs:
24.5.2025, On The Rocks, Helsinki
30.5.2025, Rytmikorjaamo, Seinäjoki
27-28.6.2025, LankaFest, Puolanka
2.8.2025, Loisto-Festarit, Jonku, Pudasjärvi
For My Pain… current line-up:
Juha Kylmänen: vocals (Reflexion, Full Nothing)
Lauri Tuohimaa: guitar (Embraze, Tuohimaa, ex-Charon)
Olli-Pekka Törrö: guitar (ex-Eternal Tears of Sorrow)
Altti Veteläinen: bass (ex-Eternal Tears of Sorrow, ex-Kalmah, ex-The Man-Eating Tree)
Marco Sneck: keyboards (Poisonblack, Chamelion, Tuohimaa, ex-The Man-Eating Tree, ex-Kalmah)
Ari-Matti Pohjola: drums (Reflexion, ex-Soulrelic)
For My Pain…‘s debut album Fallen was released worldwide in 2003 by Spinefarm Records/Universal Music and received a very positive reception both in Finland and internationally. The album quickly became a classic of its genre, with some of the most famous songs being Autumn Harmony, Dancer in the Dark and Rapture of Lust. A year later, another 3-song EP, Killing Romance, was released, which was the last release of the then-lineup before the project fell into obscurity in 2005. Now the reborn band.