Mikko A.: Dead Door Unit had arrived to Finland day before and for Thursday, we had agreed that he’ll be visiting Lahti city. Check out Sarvilevyt, sort of homebase of Freak Animal Records and related, plus overall physical underground culture store. We would be conducting interview & casual discussion with Dead Door Unit same evening. Present were Jazzhand and myself, asking things from DDU. Over three hours long discussion was recorded and consumption of beverages made sure some editing necessary. Two part interview is published by Noisecast (fin) during may 2026. Noisecast also published english language discussion about saturday gig. There are some additional information and insights. Artists was staying in Lahti for the night, put into train to catch up with Helsinki guys and head early on to gig.
Helsinki
Text by Atrophist:
Gray Ritual 4
April 3, 2026, Helsinki
LIVE VIDEO HERE
Good Friday in east Helsinki, and we’re on a street lined with industrial warehouses, car dealerships, garages and so on. Tonight’s event takes place in an unremarkable building, the kind you wouldn’t glance at twice if you were just walking by.
The Gray Ritual shows in Helsinki have been going on for a couple of years now, as a sort of second division / farm league for the Kammio shows outside Turku. Kammio is undisputedly the number one venue for noise and noise-adjacent shows in Finland at the moment, and the Gray Ritual shows have usually been structured around their events, so that traveling international artists have an opportunity to perform in the capital as well.
GR shows are organized with pretty much zero resources and with a typically diverse cast of supporting characters and accomplices. Recruiting folks from other scenes and walks of life to put on an extremely marginal noise show has surprising, at times frustrating, but always memorable results. Tonight’s show was put together in a few days, due to the “regular” GR venue having been closed by bureaucrats, due to some legal permit issues of some kind.
Maybe 30-40 of the faithful have turned up this Good Friday, many usual suspects in the Helsinki scene, also few new faces. It’s enough to cover the costs of the actual venue and sound system, and to allow the artists also to walk away with a handful of rumpled banknotes.
On to the actual sets: recent Atrophist live shows have been increasingly based on manipulating samples and pre-recorded sounds, rather than sounds generated fully from scratch in the moment. Results often vary, and (in Finland at least) it’s a cliché by now that noise artists almost always are unhappy with their own live performances. I have fallen victim to this mentality myself, and currently trying to unlearn it – at worst, this type of thinking is like a pre-generated excuse to fail. This set went tolerably well, and it seems others enjoyed it, so fair enough. What’s still missing (after 10 years of trying!) is the ability to just let the sounds go on, without any unnecessary messing about.
The visionary Absolute Key from Tampere was next. AK is probably the most varied among the currently active Finnish noise-adjacent projects. Besides having a metal background, the man easily can slide back and forth between many other genres and sub-genres and can operate effortlessly in folk and ambient coded environments, for example. The project is also very prolific, both when it comes to playing live and physical releases.
Today’s set was among the “noisier” AK sets, which in a live setting seem to work best, for me at least. Contact mic’d metal sheet plus shaving machine created some awesome screechy, crunchy sounds, and samples of religious chanting added a signature AK mystical element.
AK is also known for some audience engagement shenanigans, and this time in the form of anointing the audience’s foreheads with ashes. It was the kind of fun stunt, basically performance art, that I personally always enjoy. Even if this was on Good Friday rather than Ash Wednesday, but hey, who’s keeping tabs anyway, close enough.
Vigilantism is another very prolific project that I have had the opportunity to see quite a few times over the years. The project goes against the current tide in the sense that rather than working with the freeform harsh noise that has been the trend in the Finnish scene in recent years, it delivers heavy electronics, laced with typical “PE vocals”. Vigilantism doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, but rather has slowly but surely been perfecting this particular formula. This set brought forward oppressive, pounding synth lines, drab and monotonous in just the right way. Some higher pitched elements as well, with the vocals sitting just right in the mix.
A few commentators online said that both AK and Vigilantism delivered their best live sets they’d seen, and I would agree. Both performances were fully fleshed out, recognizable but not dull or unsurprising, and getting everything important right.
Berlin’s Tryptich has kept a rather low profile until now, at least as far as I’m aware. Having heard a few recordings on the Brute Electronics and Freak Animal International compilations, I seem to recall them having been more on the experimental side than the straightforward noise blast we heard in Helsinki. Tryptich has a maximalist approach to gear, with a deck fully loaded with rare synthesizers and boutique distortion pedals, and they certainly delivered – especially considering that this was their first live gig ever. The only issue was the at-times inaudible vocal performance. This is not a huge problem, and it’s also completely understandable, since Tryptich had to borrow Vigilantism’s microphone, which apparently is so old and broken that even its owner has trouble getting it to work.
What followed next was something I always try to do my best to avoid: one of those long pauses between sets, with some artists setting up, others dismantling their setup, lots of running around looking for cables, adapters and attempts to get things sounding right. It’s something that could easily have been avoided with enough tables at the venue, so that every artist would have been able to do a proper soundcheck. It may sound like an extremely trivial and mundane concern, but with an inability to soundcheck beforehand, a simple problem with a US-EU power adapter (which could have been dealt with hours earlier) can cascade into total chaos, in front of an impatient audience.
After a while, there was nothing left to do but to forge ahead with the last set of the evening. Philadelphia’s Dead Door Unit used what looked like a couple of microcassette recorders, plus a modded tape player borrowed from yours truly, and an experimental battery-powered Flower Electronics synth. There was a lot of stopping and starting in the set, and many scattered single sounds, many of them quite nasty! Unsurprisingly, there wasn’t much of a dramatic arch to the performance, but given the circumstances it was still a good showing and a decent debut on this continent. DDU’s minimal equipment, in contrast with Tryptich, was yet another reminder that there really is no right or wrong approach to gear when it comes to this business.
Many thanks to all the artists, and to everyone who showed up to see them!
Also, very special thanks to Roska Visuals for helping this show happen.
https://www.instagram.com/roskavisuals
Audio recordings of at least some of the sets from this evening will be posted on the Gray Ritual YouTube channel in the near future.
https://www.youtube.com/@GrayRitual
The next Gray Ritual will be held on July 30, 2026. As usual, it will be built around the Harsh Ways Fest with some overlap in the artists featured. We are planning something a little different for this time around, some might call the plan unhinged, others might call it complete madness. We’ll see what, if anything, comes of it.
For anything Gray Ritual related, feel free to write to grayritual@gmail.com
Turku
Text by Mikko A: Months in advance, there was questions, should all the artists coming from this direction come with the same ride? Having my van broken since november made things difficult. Just in time after months of waiting car was back in action yet eventually everybody went with their own ways all the way to Turku. Previous gig I had been in Turku was in middle of town. New’ish basement venue in cellar of bigger live venue turned out just fine. It may attract people who prefer to stay in central of city in sort of normal bar environment. However, my preference, and the location for this gig was at Kammio. Venue where Harsh Ways Fests and various other gigs has been organized.
I have seen Rautakymi a couple of times and this show was hands down the best gig from the guy. Only complaint could be that the vocals were a bit too loud. Howling screams that cut through all the noise basically made the noise inaudible in moment of screams. Not that it would be massive problem. more like Masonna esque vibe! The noise itself was good and more versatile than before. Using little digital synthesizer device for almost psychedelic swirls and more lazer’ish noises along the trademark, rugged guitar amp cranking. A little shorter set would have kept the impact even more intense. His tradition at all the gigs is drinking alcohol on the stage, almost in ritualistic passion. Rautakymi also had a strong blend of forest & industrial environment vibe in the video.
I have seen Jazzhand a few times and this was hands down the best gig. I’ve liked all of Jazzhand’s gigs, but this one was like an album worthy composition! Artist was mostly sitting in front of table, processing analogue tapes and coming up with great tape-compositions with stylish hissing and broken sounds. If his early days self published tapes would be dominated with “WTF is this?!” -type of material, now his work has developed to level of proper album worthy recordings. Woolen sock worship at the end. Good nature video.
Invagination‘s video again featured eroticism depicted through a kaleidoscope. More psychedelic than revealing. Without any pre-made sounds, samples or sources, the method in challenge of total live noise. This is the feeling I have about the 90’s noise. Not tweaked to perfection, not edited, but something that is happening and includes the moments of building and searching the sweet spot. At the beginning there was a mystery button in the wrong position. Once it was sorted out, the set went more or less in a controlled manner to the extent it should. When it is improvised noise, the flow including the mistakes and their corrections is part nature of material itself, not really a flaw per se. Full gig of the set with good sound was uploaded on Freak Animal youtube channel. It was vastly stronger audio than compilation clip includes.
Tryptich played pretty much the same set as day before. Material was a bit less chaotic and better balance of elements. Maybe on Friday, with the smaller PA, sound had this quality of “ripping its way out of the PA”. Now due larger PA system, the louder and clearer songs are benefitical as well. It’s hard to decide which one is better. Material was basically massive and dense, multilayered noise wall, where processed vocals erupted through it. Sometimes making me think about Prurient’s History of AIDS. It wouldn’t be exactly traditional power electronics, but noise with vocals. Vocals that would be energetic and powerful, not really narrative or musical. Just full on assault like the noise itself.
With Dead Door Unit, it’s not difficult to say which one of gigs I saw was better! Saturday was about ten times better than the day before! Now the man was glowing with a bit of a Rotat-esque vibe. During Invagination gig, old fireman helmet that was on top of PA had fallen on him. It probably seemed like hint from higher powers and therefore he was wearing it for rest of night. The man sat at the table and created sound more in the ways of his full albums. Broken, rough yet atmospheric. Great sloppy tape loops and baby blue synth damage. Somewhere during the set, there were a few screams and finally a microphone on the floor was totally destroyed with a pile of scrap metal and glass bottles being smashed on it. The sound at that point is nothing elegant. A broken, crackling noise, in a good way!
Tampere
Text by Moozzhead, photos by J.S.: After a great night in Turku it was time to head to Tampere the following day. After a very boring drive I arrived at the venue several hours before the doors even opened. I decided to leave my car there and walk the 3.5km to the city center. It was good to get some exercise and fresh air after 2 days of international noise and beers. I headed directly to Konttori, the best beer place in town. Drinking slowly to kill time, then going to eat slowly to kill time. When I left the restaurant I bumped into the Tryptich boys who were just leaving for the venue. I felt like more exercise so I started after their Uber ride but again on foot. On the way I walked through the Pyynikki church park which is a strange park/cemetery hybrid with some very old tombstones (I saw birth years from the 1700s) scattered around what looks and feels like just a regular park. I arrived at the venue Pethaus well before the doors opened and I was able to catch all the soundchecks. A relatively small and intimate space that operates as some sort of record store/cafe during the week with gigs pretty much every weekend. The sound was loud enough for a place of that size, room for an audience of 20-30 people. There were a number of chairs of different shapes and sizes ready for the audience so this was going to be a seated gig. Not complaining after being on my feet the previous evenings.
The evening started on time with Monocyclocybercilia (good luck remembering that name, Dead Door Unit had a hard time with the name when thanking everyone) which is a more harsh noise project of the guy behind Haudat. The tape manipulation sound of Haudat was still present but only as a side dish, the main course was ’90s Merzbow influenced harsh noise. He had really done his homework as it sounded at times very much like Merzbow from 30 years ago. Not a copy by any means but built from similar elements. And it sounded fantastic! Varied and always interesting. He also had for sale the CD reissue (with a bonus track!) of the excellent debut tape from earlier this year. That tape was more or less just given away if I remember correct so there definitely was a reissue-sized hole in the harsh noise market.
After a short break it was time for Absolute Key who was also the organizer of the evening. His shows vary a lot, sometimes reading poetry, sometimes leaning more to the experimental (i.e. not extremely harsh) side, sometimes harsher. This evening’s offering was much more on the harsh side which suited me just great! Already in Helsinki 2 days before he played a fairly harsh set but I felt like in Tampere it was even more so. The beginning of the set was plagued with some technical difficulties and I do not know if the additional harshness was a middle finger to the malfunctioning gear. An exotic noise making element was the contact mic’d piece of sheet metal that was struck with an electric razor. The same instrument was present in Helsinki. Probably my favorite Absolute Key gig.
One thing to note about the Tampere evening is that there the local support really was local as both Finnish artists were from Tampere. The Helsinki show had support from Helsinki, Tampere and Joensuu (which is hundreds of kilometers from Helsinki) and in Turku none of the three Finnish opening acts were from Turku.
The first foreign guest to hit the stage was the German noise/power electronics duo Tryptich. They had a lot of gear on their desk and none of it was there just for show as they were actively tweaking this or that and producing the sound by very obviously physical means: rubbing contact microphones, banging sheet metal, plucking springs (the traditional non-guitar kind) and just good old shouting. They were the only ones with a strong vocal presence but I found their sound leaning more towards noise than power electronics (although I heard friends saying exactly the opposite). The vocals were shouted like there was no tomorrow and the vocalist could have blacked out any moment. Previous nights they had issues at times with the vocals coming through (screaming with veins in the forehead nearly bursting but zero vocals coming through the speakers) but there was only a hint of that here. Sheet metal abuse also got to pleasant harsh heights and it suited the vocals just fine. This felt as their most in-control gig on the 3-day tour.
Last one for the evening and the whole Finnish tour was Dead Door Unit from Philadelphia. The evening was well on schedule and the organizer told him that there was no hurry as there was an hour of time still left. Some could have interpreted that as an invitation to chill for a moment and then go through with the set. Not DDU. He decided to use most of that one hour for his show. And a show it was! Electro-acoustic/stand-up/performance art/harsh noise. He started with a few minutes of reiterating his experiences and feelings about his days spent in Finland so far. He also invited the audience to donate their empty cans and bottles to be used later in the set, receiving a crateful in no time. During the set itself he was using fairly minimal gear: a mixer, a Dassum brand shakerbox, a 4-track, 2 walkmans (walkmen?), some sort of synth/controller, and maybe one or two more pieces of equipment. Walkman tape manipulation and sudden bursts of harsh noise and textures from the 4-track filled the first part of the set. Some shouting/mumbling into the shakerbox. The shakerbox was then dropped into the crate of empty cans and bottles. This mix was shaken around, smashed and just manhandled in different ways. At some point he faded all output from the mixer to 0 so that there was no sound coming through the speakers, only the room sounds from the crate. This varied from rough shaking to gentle nearly inaudible taps of the crate. This was not a bar gig and the audience stayed quiet through all this which was great as one could really appreciate the total silences in the middle of the set. Then returning back to the amplified world of abused tapes and some more spoken word/stand-up. This all had taken more than half an hour but he was not finished yet. The last maybe 10 minutes consisted of DDU dismantling his setup while still actively performing! When it was time to unplug the mixer (i.e. no more signal being sent to the sound guy) he still had his battery-powered walkmans providing sound through their internal speakers. When the show ended his desk was empty and all the gear put away. A very suitable ending for 3 nights of gigs over southern Finland.
To keep up what is happening in Finnish live noise, one good place is FINNISH NOISE CALENDAR.