Helsinki Unseen

Night of Animal Liberation at Lepakkomies

Poster image

On Friday, April 10 2026, Night of Animal Liberation, a charity event, took place at Lepakkomies in Helsinki. Four extreme metal bands took to the Lepakkomies stage during the evening.

Promotional poster for the 'Night of Animal Liberation' event featuring various band names and DJ details, set against a black and white background with an eerie image of an abandoned structure and a dog.

Frigid Winter

A chilling breeze swept through the venue when the trio stepped onto the stage early in the evening to perform for a commendably large crowd. Black metal was at the core of the band’s sound, and the women unleashed their filthy metal in a heavy style whose rhythms strongly recalled Motörhead. Whatever was lost in a few minor technical mishaps was more than compensated for by their complete dedication to the performance. The band stands out from the crowd within its genre thanks to its vocals, unlike anything I have heard before.

A musician with long hair passionately singing into a microphone while playing an electric guitar, dressed in a graphic t-shirt. The image is in black and white, with dynamic lighting highlighting their intense expression.

Vocalist-guitarist Megantereon sounds like an angry witch from Satan’s own realm. Her howls are not the kind of half-comical cackling found in animated films, but true dark magic. Her screams sound like commands issued by a princess of darkness consorting with demons, directing her army into battle. Having released only one self-published EP so far, Here Comes the Witching Crew (2023), Frigid Winter has nevertheless been gigging actively throughout the winter. Fans of primitive black metal should definitely check this band out.

Black and white image of a female vocalist passionately singing into a microphone, while a male guitarist with long hair plays in the background, with stage lights creating a dramatic atmosphere.
A female singer passionately performing while playing an electric guitar on stage, with dramatic lighting casting shadows and highlights.

Askel

The Helsinki-based quartet, which describes its music as oppressive sludge noise, was a new discovery for me. Having released a full-length album and a couple of EPs, the band has clearly chosen its own musical path. Onstage, the vocalist not only screams into the microphone but also operates an impressive-looking “analog workstation” assembled from pedals, a vintage synthesizer, patch cables, and various other devices, along with a strange-looking box that, seemingly with the help of a contact microphone, produces nerve-shredding noise. He also handles the band’s visual performance and stage presence while the bassist, guitarist, and drummer focus on playing.

A musician passionately performing on stage with long hair, holding a microphone, surrounded by dramatic lighting effects.
A musician playing an electric guitar on stage, with dramatic lighting illuminating the scene, creating a moody black and white effect.

Both the music and the performance evoke comparisons to Oranssi Pazuzu, but Askel leans closer to a raw metallic sound, replacing psychedelic atmosphere with pure nightmare fuel. There is no banter between songs, nor would it suit a performance like this. The songs are long and doom-laden, their oppressive atmosphere only occasionally broken by brief bursts of blast beats, like a small ray of sunlight in overwhelming darkness, or rather the flash of an exploding bomb on a battlefield. It never feels as though the band is performing to please an audience. Instead, it is as if they are tipping a barrel of corrosive poison over the crowd, brewed deep within their own minds.

A musician performing on stage, playing a bass guitar, wearing a dark graphic t-shirt and a cap, in a low-light setting.
A silhouetted guitarist performing on stage, surrounded by smoke and bright lights, creating a dramatic atmosphere.

Vainoa

The evening’s only hardcore band, Vainoa, also hails from Helsinki. If the theme of the night is saving the world in some form, then of course there have to be punks on hand to raise a little hell. By the time Vainoa took the stage, the Lepakkomies venue was packed, and the front row already carried the promising threat of a small hardcore pit erupting into action. Having been together for ten years, Vainoa plays with technical precision, tightness, and confidence. It was refreshing to see some movement in the crowd as well.

A black-and-white photo of a live music performance featuring a vocalist passionately singing into a microphone while another musician plays a guitar, with dramatic lighting and motion blur.

Unlike the other bands, who spoke very little or not at all, vocalist Riku took the opportunity to comment on the hellish state of today’s world. Imperialists continue to kill and destroy as they always have, and there seems to be no end to the slaughter. Nevertheless, Riku reminded the audience that good things still happen and that there is still love in the world. He gave special recognition to the importance of live music, and rightly so: neither this event nor many others would happen without volunteers and devoted audiences.

A musician passionately playing an electric guitar on stage, captured in a dynamic moment with long hair and a beard, wearing a black graphic sweatshirt in a concert setting.
A male vocalist with glasses passionately sings into a microphone on stage, showcasing body tattoos, with blurred band members and instrumental equipment in the background under dim lighting.
A musician passionately singing into a microphone while playing a bass guitar, with dramatic lighting and a black-and-white color scheme.

Thankfully, the band’s commentary was not entirely grim. One of their songs is about playing the video game Dark Souls. It may even be their most recent single, Nämä päivät eivät jaa sympatiaa (“These Days Show No Sympathy”), although that release is already a couple of years old.

A male singer with glasses passionately performing on stage, holding a microphone and gesturing with his hand. The scene is illuminated by stage lights, creating a dynamic atmosphere.

The band, whose sound blends blackened hardcore and crust punk, is currently working on new material, which will likely be heard soon. In the context of the evening’s lineup, Vainoa’s set fit like a glove, shifting the mood from the crushing, lethally slow intensity of the preceding bands into something far angrier.

Devil’s Gateway

The final band of the evening thus found itself performing to an almost sold-out crowd. This Helsinki-based band blends death metal and doom, and its ranks include Harri Kuokkanen, known from Hooded Menace and Ride for Revenge. Vocalist Hanna Virranpää has been with the band since its formation in 2023, and last year three additional members were recruited to reinforce the band’s bleak sonic assault. While the musicians swing their instruments with force onstage, the manic frontwoman prowls in front of the first row, spitting her sinful verses at the audience.

Profile of a person with long hair and tattoos, illuminated by dim stage lights in a concert setting.

The band played a five-song set featuring every track from its latest release, The Fall of Man. In addition, we were treated to the wonderful Grind to Death. The song begins as a slow, doom-laden wander that almost resembles dark ambient before truly kicking into gear with Hanna’s growls, after which the heavy mid-tempo pounding takes over. At times the vocals are deep growls, at others hissing whispers. Together with the effects-laden instrumentation, the dirty, steadily pulsing rhythm creates an oppressive atmosphere, as though one were being ground down for what feels like an eternity.

A guitarist performing on stage, captured in black and white with dramatic lighting.
A musician with long dark hair and tattoos performs passionately on stage, playing an electric guitar under dim lighting.
A tattooed singer passionately performing on stage with a microphone, while a guitarist is playing in the background in a dimly lit venue.

Setlist:
Wasteland Sanctuary / The Fall of Man / Eternal Grind / Final Liberation / Urge to Kill

To some, metal is a gateway into a dark, Satanic world, but those in the know understand that even the darkest aspects of life can be confronted and overcome among like-minded people. The evening offered an excellent showcase of local bands, each with its own distinctive approach to making music. Night of Animal Liberation probably did not change the world for animals in any dramatic way, but hopefully it made at least a small difference. One thing I can say with confidence, however, is that everyone who attended left with their life at least a little richer than before.

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