Biography
When did all this start?
In January 2004, Panu Willman (Guitar/vocals), Heikki Iso-Sipilä (Guitar/vocals), Riku Wilman (Drums) and Henri Räsänen (Bass) stepped into a rehearsal room in southern Finland, and proceeded to be guided by musical forces both good and dubious. The resulting energy in that room was a mixture of pure aural wonder as well as that distinct and unmistakable feeling of being run over by an army of tanks, driven by aggressive hippies on a weekend off!
They felt that their sound had real potential; slightly dark and melodic, most certainly filthy and heavy as hell! These guys had the same belief and fanatic approach to writing the heaviest and more importantly, soulful music possible; so the time was right for this crew!
Why Dark Filth Fraternity?
The seed for Dark Filth Fraternity was actually sown in 2002 when stoner-rock band Cholla, (Panu and Henri being members at the time) flew over the water to London to play a few gigs. Although the trip proved to be rather unsuccessful and the fellows felt quite downtrodden, they were dubbed the name Dark Filth Fraternity by their landlord at the time. The name stuck, simple as that!
Where does the DFF sound come from?
It must be said that due to the trios previous experience together in various local bands, the pace and ease of the writing process was phenomenal and they had a tight sounding set in no time So now the pieces were in place and it was time for the boys to produce and record some of the most intense and groovy New Orleans- style hard rock humanly possible.
The Cleanse my Soul-EP (2004) was just that. A bare bones hard rock disc that proved to be an excellent example of what these guys could get up to in a studio. Although it had a limited release it received positive write-ups in all the local rock media.
The debut album, The Book of Clear Light (2006) was a natural extension to the Cleanse my Soul EP because they used the same mixer/engineer (Aleksanteri Kuosa) for that project. So the album had a similar feel to the EP, with a more polished soundscape of course. A more complex and varied songwriting approach was also used on the Clear Light album with tracks as diverse as The Orchid Song and A Murderer, which are powerful in a more ambient and atmospheric way.
The journey continues
After extensive gigging and promotional work for The Book of Clear Light the band decided to hire a personal manager to assist them with matters outside the actual music-making process, to be able to focus more on what they know best. So this new and vital member of the DFF clan is Mr Jesse Piirainen, who sees to it that the band is always in tune and on time! We hope to see as many of you on the road in the near future!!
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