Let your soul wander through the forest to the sound of the stunning third full-length offering by this one-woman Atmospheric and Pagan Black Metal entity from Finland.
In the Finnic religion, a “karsikko” was a set of markings made on a tree somewhere between a deceased person’s home and the burial site, which was believed to prevent the individual’s spirit from coming back. In heavy music, Karsikko is the stunning third full-length offering by one-woman Atmospheric Pagan/Black Metal entity Vermilia, following up on her 2018 critically acclaimed debut Kätkyt and her also amazing 2022 opus Ruska. Since 2017, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Vermilia has been playing a beautiful hybrid of Epic Pagan Metal and sweet, raw and melancholic vocal harmonies with lyrics in her native language, and in Karsikko she has outdone herself with her strongest effort to date, a charming yet visceral album that lives up to the legacy of extreme music while at the same time it pays homage to her beautiful culture and roots.
The charming piano by Vermilia kicks off the dancing Pagan Black Metal title-track Karsikko, with her powerful, penetrating vocals matching perfectly with the song’s stunning wall of sounds. Vakatis the name of a traditional Finnish pagan festival, and that’s exactly what we get from Vermilia in this excellent song, perfect for dancing around the fire and raising our horns high in the sky. Then we have Kivutar, a Finnish goddess of pain and suffering whose name translates to “Lady of Pain”; musically speaking, Vermilia once again delivers an overdose of blast beats, scorching Black Metal riffs, and her fusion of clean vocals and harsh roars. And her classic drums and whimsical keys set the tone in Suruhymni, or “an anthem of mourning” from Finnish, embracing us in pitch black darkness in the middle of the forests of Finland.
Then the atmospheric, enfolding sounds crafted by Vermilia will penetrate deep inside your soul in Koti, or “home”, offering us all a well-balanced fusion of Black and Pagan Metal while again presenting her hypnotizing vocalizations; and in Veresi, or “your blood”, the name of the song says it all, demanding a heavier, more visceral sonority, and our lone she-wolf brings it while also sounding haunting thanks to her Doom Metal-inspired riffs and beats, presenting a fantastic rhythm, crisp instrumental and spot-on vocal lines. In Talven Jälkeen, or “after the winter”, we’re treated to more of her hybrid of harsh sounds and whimsical, embracing passages, with her work on the guitars and drums sounding utterly vibrant. Lastly, Vermilia ends the album on a high note with the dark and heavy Kansojen Kaipuu, or “the longing of nations”, where she gnarls like a creature of the forest for our total delight amidst sounds of pure Atmospheric Black Metal magic.
You can experience Karsikko in all of its glory on YouTube, on Spotify, or on any other streaming service, but of course in order to support the beyond talented Vermilia you can purchase her newborn beast from her own BandCamp or webstore, or by clicking HERE. Also, don’t forget to join her pagan festivities by following her on Facebook and on Instagram (including her unique, mesmerizing live performances), and by subscribing to her official YouTube channel, letting her fascinating music penetrate deep inside your mind, as your soul wanders freely through the darkly peaceful forests of her homeland. Karsikko is one of those albums that gradually takes over your spirit with each and every listen, a precious gem of the underground that will surely feature among the best albums of the year, inspiring Vermilia to continue her amazing path of Atmospheric and Pagan Black Metal for many years to come, as her connection with her pagan roots get stronger and stronger with each album released.
Best moments of the album:Karsikko, Suruhymni, Veresi and Kansojen Kaipuu.
Worst moments of the album: None.
Released in 2025 Independent
Track listing 1. Karsikko 4:44
2. Vakat 7:07
3. Kivutar 4:32
4. Suruhymni 5:08
5. Koti 3:28
6. Veresi 6:39
7. Talven Jälkeen 3:46
8. Kansojen Kaipuu 6:01
Miten teillä menee, rakkaat metallipäät? If you have no idea what this means, maybe we could ask our metal lady of the month of April here on The Headbanging Moose to help us with the translation, as not only it’s in her mother tongue, but she also uses this language in one hundred percent of her lyrics. Not only that, she’s more than just a singer, being responsible for all instruments in her one-woman Black Metal project. Owner of a mesmerizing voice, she will stun us all with her undisputed fusion of Pagan Black Metal with Nordic and Scandinavian melodies, offering us all beautiful lyrics in the form of poems about life, death and nature in her native language. Her name is Julia Mattila, usually referred to as her alter-ego Vermilia, a very creative woman and a free soul from the land of ice and snow who has a vision and a deep passion for music inside her head, always ready to let everything out in the form of her unique sounds.
Born and raised in Hämeenlinna, a city in Finland and the regional capital of Kanta-Häme, located in the southern interior of the country and on the shores of Lake Vanajavesi, Vermilia has been crafting music basically since she was born, having done everything from classical music to folk singing to metal and everything between that. She grew up in a very musical family, which means making music has always been very natural to her. Moreover, she is also an audio engineer, always listening to different genres to find new ideas for her own sound and production, therefore keeping her music as fresh and unique as possible with each album released.
Her one-woman project Vermilia was founded back in 2017, blending Pagan Black Metal with Scandinavian and Nordic melodies, clean, harsh and melancholic vocal harmonies, and lyrics in the form of poems about life, death and nature, always singing in her mother tongue Finnish, and always responsible for not only all vocal duties (including some amazing harsh growls), but also for all instruments (including even shaman drums), graphics and videos, recording, producing, mixing and mastering of all of her albums, plus all the artworks and photography. Shortly after forming Vermilia, she released her debut album Kätkyt (which means “cradle” in English), in 2018, which ended up being one of the most best selling metal albums on BandCamp during the weekend of its pre-release announcement, receiving a huge amount of praise from a variety of critics, magazines and webzines, and of course from fans from all over the world.
Right after the enormous success of Kätkyt, she released on March 1, 2019 her cover version for a Finnish classic song called Täällä Pohjantähden Alla, originally released by Petri Laaksonen in 1994 (and you can check the original version HERE). Vermilia’s atmospheric version became a huge success on Spotify, jumping straight to number #1 of the most viral songs in Finland on the official Spotify charts. After such a wild feedback from music lovers from all four corners of the earth, it was more than natural for Vermilia to keep her momentum going with the 2020 four-track EP Keskeneräisiä Tarinoita, which translates as “unfinished stories”, also getting tons of positive feedback from all types of metal and non-metal fans.
Then after reaching almost two million streams on Spotify, it was time for Vermilia to unleash upon humanity her highly anticipated sophomore opus, entitled Ruska, or “autumn foliage”, the process of leaves turning to various shades of yellow, orange, red and brown as the trees get ready for winter. The evolution in her music was beyond clear in Ruska, with her always evolving blend of Atmospheric, Pagan and Black Metal getting more personal, tighter and more compelling, culminating now in 2025 with the release of her strongest album to date, the breathtaking Karsikko, an expression that represents a set of markings made on a tree somewhere between a deceased person’s home and the burial site in the Finnic religion, which was believed to prevent the individual’s spirit from coming back. Her visuals are also a crucial part of her music, and you can savor that in all of her official videos on YouTube, including Veresi, Kansojen Kaipuu, Marras, Tuonen Joki, Hautavajo, Ruska, Hauras, Kuollut, Kaunis, and Äiti Maa. All of them are definitely worth a watch, and all of her albums are certainly worth purchasing from BandCamp, and you can also click HERE for all things Vermilia, including her mesmerizing live performances.
Apart from Vermilia, you can find our she-wolf (under her name Julia Mattila) as part of the bands Duo Julia Mattila & Samuli T. Mäkelä and Seele, and as the vocalist for a now defunct project named The Passion of Our Souls. As a matter of fact, Duo Julia Mattila & Samuli T. Mäkelä and The Passion of Our Souls are basically the same band, with the main difference being the type of music they play. In Duo Julia Mattila & Samuli T. Mäkelä, it looks like Julia and Samuli play (or used to play, who knows) cover songs in a sort of folk style, while in The Passion of Our Souls the style was a fusion of Melodic Death Metal with Metalcore with nuances of symphonic and gothic music, having released back in 2015 their first and only record, the EP Soulmates, as you can see in the song Give Me Your Soul.
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Her other band, named Seele, is an Alternative Rock/Electronic Pop band from Finland with whom Vermilia released the album Jos Vain Kaiken Jättäisin (which means “If Only I Left Everything” in English), in 2016, but that was it. Furthermore, you can also find her doing backing vocals on the song Peikonmieli, from the 2017 album Saatto, and vocals on the song Ikarus, from the 2019 album Valo, both released by the now defunct Finnish Melodic Black/Gothic Metal band Mustan Kuun Lapset, another band from Finland that always used their mother tongue to keep their connection to their roots intact and always present in their music.
In regards to Vermilia’s idols and influences, she always mentions in her interviews that her biggest inspirations are nature, sadness, darkness, autumn rain and mythology. “Everything I compose or write happens without bigger plans. I just let the creativity fly and move forward with the feelings I have in that moment,” she commented, complementing by saying that musically speaking she’s influenced by Atmospheric and Pagan Black Metal, as well as by folk music, which in her opinion represents freedom of art and freedom of mind. Furthermore, although her music is sometimes compared to Myrkur, Ulver and Moonsorrow, all bands she respects and admires, she mentioned she still thinks that their music is different from Vermilia, saying that any similarities might come from her subconscious or something like that.
As mentioned before, Vermilia is a skilled singer who can do both clean and harsh vocals, and she commented already in an interview how much her vocals have evolved with time. “I have studied different vocal techniques, which has helped me find all my voices. I love using my voice in many ways, and it’s my favourite instrument.” On a side note, when playing live of course she ends up needing support from other musicians to be able to bring her creations to life. “I do every single vocal by myself. There is no other vocalists on the album. But for example in the live shows I can’t do all at the same time, so there needs to be some compromises, like someone to double the growls in some parts of the songs when I do the clean vocals.” Furthermore, she also has a very good explanation for singing pretty much all the time in Finnish. “The Finnish language is very rich and there are so many metaphors in my lyrics that it’s kind of hard to translate these songs. I have done some lyrics in English in the past before Vermilia, but I am a so much better writer in Finnish so at this point I will keep doing this in Finnish because it fits perfectly to this, but you know, never say never.”
Vermilia also has a strong opinion about all the discrimination and disrespect towards women, both in the music industry and in everyday life. “I think we are going in a better direction, but we are still very far away from a solution for this.” In addition, she also thinks the new wave of women in Black Metal and other styles of extreme music is awesome, showing a lot of respect for bands like Myrkur and Sylvaine. “I think it is awesome that women are rising and doing their own music in their own way.” And of course, as she was born in Finland, a country considered by many as the epicenter of the best heavy music on the planet, she had some nice words to say about her homeland. “I love Finnish music in many genres, not just metal. I guess it’s so cold and dark here that we have to be creative and keep our brains warm by doing metal. For me Finland is a calming place where my mind is clear and my soul is resting. We have so many forests and lakes that you really don’t have to see other people if you don’t want to. Peace of nature is inspirational. I love to write and compose here.”
There are also countless interviews and videos online with Vermilia, like this nice one for a podcast from Latvia named Metālkāsts LV, where she talks about why she decided to fly solo in her career, her songwriting ritual, the importance of writing and singing in her native Finnish language, her favorite season of the year, and more, showing she’s not just a very talented musician, but also a very down to earth woman who will keep working hard and releasing new albums for our total delight, always following her passion for music, always inspired by nature, and always remaining true to her Finnish roots. And do you know her motto? Well, that’s a very simple yet powerful one that all of us should carry inside our hearts. “Be thankful for what you have right now, and don’t take anything for granted.”
“I love Finnish music in many genres, not just metal. I guess it’s so cold and dark here that we have to be creative and keep our brains warm by doing metal. For me Finland is a calming place where my mind is clear and my soul is resting. We have so many forests and lakes that you really don’t have to see other people if you don’t want to. Peace of nature is inspirational. I love to write and compose here.” – Vermilia
In the Finnic religion, a “karsikko” was a set of markings made on a tree somewhere between a deceased person’s home and the burial site, which was believed to prevent the individual’s spirit from coming back. In heavy music, Karsikko is the stunning third full-length offering by one-woman Atmospheric Pagan/Black Metal entity Vermilia, following up on her 2018 critically acclaimed debut Kätkyt and her also amazing 2022 opus Ruska. Since 2017, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Vermilia has been playing a beautiful hybrid of Epic Pagan Metal and sweet, raw and melancholic vocal harmonies with lyrics in her native language, and in Karsikko she has outdone herself with her strongest effort to date, a charming yet visceral album that lives up to the legacy of extreme music while at the same time it pays homage to her beautiful culture and roots.
You can experience Karsikko in all of its glory on YouTube, on Spotify, or on any other streaming service, but of course in order to support the beyond talented Vermilia you can purchase her newborn beast from her own BandCamp or webstore, or by clicking HERE. Also, don’t forget to join her pagan festivities by following her on Facebook and on Instagram (including her unique, mesmerizing live performances), and by subscribing to her official YouTube channel, letting her fascinating music penetrate deep inside your mind, as your soul wanders freely through the darkly peaceful forests of her homeland. Karsikko is one of those albums that gradually takes over your spirit with each and every listen, a precious gem of the underground that will surely feature among the best albums of the year, inspiring Vermilia to continue her amazing path of Atmospheric and Pagan Black Metal for many years to come, as her connection with her pagan roots get stronger and stronger with each album released.
THE HEADBANGING MOOSE 