BAND

Niko  Huusari - Guitar      Mikko Huusari - Guitar      Jarmo Pyörälä - Bass      Janne Huusari - Drums      Ilkka Valkonen - Vocals

A short biography

Soulwound is an extreme metal band led by three brothers from Kouvola, Finland. The band slowly emerged from Niko and Janne Huusari (guitar and drums, respectively) picking up their instruments back in the 90s and forming different line-ups with friends to play classic cover tunes. This hobby eventually solidified into a configuration that adopted the name Soulwound and released its first demo in 2006, playing their first live shows soon after. A couple more demo releases later, the band's full-length debut Seeing Red was released in 2013.

In 2014, the line-up took its current form as Mikko, the youngest of the Huusari brothers, was brought in for guitar duties, resulting in all three brothers playing in the same band. Later that year, the band embarked on its first European tour, after which they began to prepare material for the next album. The album, entitled No Peace, was released in 2016 to positive reviews, with reviewers commending the band's aggressive, intense and uncompromising approach to metal.

In early 2019, as the group was preparing material for its third album, vocalist Arto Jauho made the difficult decision to leave the band due to personal reasons and simply having too many things demanding his time and attention. The split was amicable and involved no drama whatsoever, and the friendship is still intact. It was not long after the band announced that they were looking for a new vocalist that Arto's predecessor Ilkka Valkonen approached the band by simply e-mailing them a picture of an empty pair of boots and nothing else. The hint was taken, and after just one tryout with the man, the search was over.

The recording sessions for the album, eventually entitled The Suffering, took gradually place over the latter half of 2019 and were completed in early 2020. The album received overwhelmingly positive reviews, but then the COVID-19 pandemic struck and the whole world ground to a halt. Now, with new bass player Jarmo Pyörälä having joined the fold and the world having opened up again, the band is ready to get back on the saddle and deliver some uncompromisingly heavy and aggressive metal.