“Exit Emotions,” the latest album from the Finnish band Blind Channel, was released at the beginning of March by Century Media. How did the work on it progress, and what are the band’s plans two weeks after its premiere?
Less than 3 years after taking sixth place with the song “Dark Side” during the Eurovision Song Contest and a year and a half after the release of “Lifestyles of the Sick & Dangerous,” the Finns from Blind Channel shared with their fans a perhaps not too long, but definitely highly anticipated album. In the meantime, the band intensively toured the United States and Europe, and it was during this tour that both the title and most of the compositional ideas were born.
“In a sense, we understood that our lives would look just like this – mostly based on touring and that we needed to compose to do that. This is our first album that we made functioning this way,” said lead singer Niko Moilanen in a recent interview with Kerrang!. Meanwhile, bassist Olli Matela recalls: “I remember sitting in the upper compartment of our van, it was near some warehouse where a rave was happening. Niko suddenly woke up and, out of breath, told us that he came up with the title of the next album. We all agreed that it was a great idea and somewhat reflected the atmosphere of that club – dark, slightly industrial, and in a way frightening.”
BLIND CHANNEL – DEADZONE
The tracks on “Exit Emotions” were also created in Berlin, London, and Los Angeles. The band collaborated on the production with Johnny Andrews (Ice Nine Kills, Three Days Grace, Motionless in White, Halestorm), and contributors included Dan Lancaster, RØRY, From Ashes To New, and Jason Aalon Butler from Fever 333. The vast majority of the material was recorded in the Helsinki JXJ Studios under the supervision of Joonas Parkkonen, and the mixes were handled by Zakk Cervini, who has previously worked with bands like Limp Bizkit, Blink-182, Machine Gun Kelly, and Good Charlotte.
Without a doubt, we can say that in their home country Blind Channel are already stars. This is evidenced by the success of “Exit Emotions” in the Finnish charts of best-selling albums (it surpassed, among others, the latest album by Iron Maiden’s vocalist, Bruce Dickinson), as well as thousands of fans at meet-and-greet events with the band. There’s nothing strange about it, after all, the combination of nu-metal with rap or even pop in the band’s performance is so catchy that it can confidently be considered the next export product from Finland after HIM, Nightwish, or Children of Bodom.
BLIND CHANNEL – WHERE’S THE EXIT
You won’t be surprised if we write that the band isn’t slowing down, right? In the second half of last year, they toured in the States alongside The Hu and Lacuna Coil, and already on March 21 they will kick off their month-long concert series in Europe. Curious to see the Finns in action? No problem! You have the choice of Wrocław, Warsaw, and Gdańsk, and we warmly invite you to each of these April concerts!!!