MORS SUBITA… Modern, extreme Death from Finland
Interview by Santtu “Rebel” Kaskela
Formed in 2000 and ever since Mors Subita has delivered some very well organized chaos, damn heavy riffs, blistering drumming and crushing bass lines for every damn metalhead out there… 3 albums, worldwide praise, fans everywhere, 18 years of uncompromising “Out of our way”-attitude… Nothing seems to slow these guys down.. Time to find out what the hell is going on. Let’s go… Mika Junttila is waiting for us !!
*So honored to have this chance to have a moment with You. How are You doing ?
Very good Santtu, thanks. Our new album is out and the tour has started great. We´re enjoying very busy schedules and the finnish springtime at the moment.
*I’ve always been so fucking curious about history… Would You tell us the story behind the band and the name Mors Subita ?
The name was picked from a medical dictionary. It just sounded cool and of course it had a menacing meaning also, so it was a good fit.
*How about introducing Yourselves to our brothers and sisters in MHF, tell something about every member of Mors Subita ?
Every member, huh. Well, let’s go then…
First of all let me start by saying (and which goes without saying also) these guys are like family to me. Every one of them are generally good dudes and I love spending time with them.
Mika Lammassaari: One of the most talented guys i’ve ever had a pleasure to meet. When it comes to music, the drive and focus of this dude is exceptional. He brings such an attitude to the band which drives us all forward and makes the rest of us to exceed our limits.
Eemeli Bodde: Our youngster carries the body and soul of a fucking viking. Truly a guy to look up to. While writing or spitting out vocals, this dude continuously amazes me with the pure energy he brings out.
Ville Miinala: Our beast behind the battery. This guy is relentless behind the drums. The back spine of the whole band who keeps the live shows together with such an professional attitude you can only admire.
Me (Mika Junttila): I’m not that of a fan to compliment myself. What i try to do is to bring the crushing sound in the low frequencies and while not doing that i’m fooling around with other things such as graphics etc.
*After a couple of demos and Eps Your debut full lenght album, “Human Waste Compression”, was released in 2011… How was the reception & what kind of comments did You get ?
We got a lot better response than we ever expected. At the same time we knew that HWC was by far our strongest thus far, but we really had no expectations.
*If You ask me the metal scene is filled with old narrow minded know-it-alls and younger generation who listen to and love only what mainstream masses and media tells them to… How hard has it been to get noticed and get the attention You surely deserve ?
Nothing has come easy or without work for sure. On the other hand nowdays it´s easier to release music which is good, but the amount of bands for example in Finland is ludicrous. It´s very hard to get noticed within this vast amount of great bands.
Many bands quit too fast in my opinion. A band needs time to grow and find its own path musically and maybe visually also. We´ve enjoyed the journey so far and we will keep striving towards our goals.
So our advantages in getting noticed may very well be the fact that we produce consistantly good music and we maintain our live performances tight.
*Personally think You’ve created a pretty unique, Your own sound… Definitely not very mainstream, was just playing Your music (too loud maybe) and listening to my boss and colleagues whining… Was it a decision well planned to start mixing all those different elements in Your music or something that just happened ?
The writing process is highly driven by subconsciousness. It´s hard to affect the way the music pours out and if one would try to push it to a certain direction, I think the outcome would not be very good. What you try to do is capture a specific emotion in a song and maintain it throughout the composition.
This new album is very versatile and it seems that everyone has different favorite tracks, which is a very good sign. These days it´s enough if you have a couple good singles on an album, as the major audience does not listen to the entire album anyways. We try to maintain the album interesting throughout the listening experience and the point of this new album is that one should listen to it from the start to finnish to get the whole picture of our music.
*How do You relax and just take it easy or do You just eat, drink, shit metal 24/7 while murdering Your instruments and kicking everyones asses ?
I spend time with my family and stay away from crowded places. I like to travel to a cabin somewhere where there´s nobody around except my close ones. We eat well, drink well, sleep well, go to the sauna, go fishing. That´s about it.
Even tho I travel away from my day to day life, I´m still still constantly processing music in my head. There´s no escaping that part of life, but it´s probably a good thing.
*Tell us a little about Your songwriting process ? Where do You get all the ideas, what inspires You… Or makes You mad and You want to shout it out ?
It´s a very unconscious process all in all. Mainly music works as an outlet but for example aggressive songs are not always about being pissed off at something and vice versa. The song carries itself through many times after the couple first riffs are written. So, very bland answer is that everything in life, all experiences affect in what comes out from my instrument and are molded into songs.
*You’ve had some lineup changes… How hard is it to find new guys sharing the same thoughts, passion, ideas etc. since Finland is still a pretty small country ?
It´s very hard but we’ve been extremely lucky with finding new members and fill-in musicians for some occasions. Everybody pretty much knows everybody in the scene so the hardest part is only to find musicians who aren´t playing for various other bands already.
“INTO THE PITCH BLACK”: https://open.spotify.com/album/6xdOQy3YXqL1YS66dZm8l5
*Your 3rd albums was just released, today 06.04… Even more brutal, angrier, heavier, and if You ask me sounds so damn dark… Is it a real reflection of those who made it, are You angry, frustrated and should everyone be afraid of You when meeting You in person ?
All the anger is put into the music so there´s nothing left to be afraid of. We only present the similar emotions on our live performances, but off stage we´re very laid back persons.
*After almost 20 years of Your journey so far… What have been the most memorable, positive, rewarding moments and maybe some moments no one wants to remember anymore ?
Some of the bigger festival gigs for sure and everytime we get some new material finished and released is also very satisfying. We hope that there´s a lot more to come.
*Coming to Your show… What do we need to prepare ourselves for ?
High energy showdown.
*Personally I suck in putting bands and music to different “genres” as You may have noticed… How would You describe Your band and music Yourself ?
If we had our own genre, it would be Brutal & beautiful Metal = Brutiful metal? That´s one horrible name for a genre. Makes my mouth hurt when saying it.
*How does the future look like for Mors Subita ?
As for now it looks open and bright. We´re continuing the release tour in Finland and in the end of may we head to Japan for 3 shows. Then it´s time for summer festivals.
*Any last words (not literally) to people who are reading this, the Family of MHF, Your fans and Your soon to be fans ?
You guys are the fucking best! Keep the metal flowing!
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/morssubitaofficial/
http://www.morssubita.com/
https://www.recordshopx.com/artist/mors_subita/into_the_pitch_black/#567789
Thank You so much for this
Thank you very much for the interview, it was our pleasure!
MHF Magazine/Santtu “Rebel” Kaskela
