Knives Out Records has a knack for packaging that hits as hard as the music they champion, and Ecotage’s Devastation EP is no exception. The label, long a bastion of metallic vegan hardcore, delivers a visual gut-punch with this release: a limited etched cassette in a high-quality die-cut sleeve, double-sided obi strip, and 170gsm eco-paper with kirigami rotation—an intricate, tactile design that mirrors the EP’s raw urgency.
Add an illustrated download card and etched jewel case for the CD version, plus a clear plastic tray, and you’ve got a physical artifact that demands to be held, studied, and felt. It’s the kind of thoughtful, gritty presentation Knives Out has perfected, amplifying the band’s message before a single note is heard. Take a look for yourself.
The air hums with distortion, a low growl of guitars slicing through the mire of modern apathy.
Ecotage, a Finnish vegan metallic hardcore outfit, doesn’t just play music—they wield it like a serrated tool, carving out space for a message that’s been simmering since the late ‘90s.
Born in the shadow of a pandemic and cemented in 2022, their debut EP, Devastation, dropped in June 2024 via Knives Out Records—a five-track battering ram that doesn’t flinch from the ugliness of humanity’s footprint. This isn’t about nostalgia for the Earth Crisis and Arkangel era; it’s about dragging that ethos, kicking and snarling, into today’s fractured reality.
The band’s pulse beats through a lineup forged from shared conviction: Ulla on vocals, Olli and Niko trading riffs, Kari anchoring the bass, and Tomi hammering the drums.
As for their sound, think All Out War’s grit mashed with Length of Time’s heft—leans hard into the metallic hardcore of yesteryear, but the intent is razor-sharp: environmental ruin, animal liberation, and a call to shred the systems that choke both. Devastation isn’t a passive lament; it’s a demand, a fist raised against complacency.
Olli, the band’s guitarist and a key architect, traces their origins to a pre-pandemic spark. “The idea started long before—Tomi and I talked about forming a vegan, metallic hardcore band in the vein of Arkangel,” he says.
By 2019, riffs were taking shape, and a demo track surfaced with Atte from Gray State barking vocals. The pieces didn’t fully lock until Ulla stepped in, her voice a jagged edge to match the band’s vision. Shows followed, and Knives Out—veterans of the vegan hardcore lineage—caught wind, ushering Devastation into the world.
Finland’s hardcore scene, vegan or otherwise, is a tight-knit beast, and Ecotage slots into its lineage with a nod to its roots. Olli points to Gray State’s 2018 debut Our Final Regret as a catalyst, a record that lit fuses for others to follow. Cageless, featuring Niko, dropped Phaneron in 2022 before dissolving, while Lunastus and No Exceptions keep the flame flickering with demos.’
Gray State’s 2024 follow-up, Under the Wheels of Progress, landed via Genet and The Coming Strife, a slab of fury Olli urges you to seek out. Dig deeper, and the animal rights thread weaves back decades—Endstand and Shed, the latter vegan straight edge, carried it into the late ‘90s via Impression Recordings, while Security Threat’s The Order sharpened the edge in the early 2000s. It’s a legacy Ecotage doesn’t just inherit—they amplify it.
Animal rights isn’t a gimmick here; it’s the marrow. “Each member has their own story,” Olli explains, “but most of us found veganism through hardcore punk.” For them, music is activism with a pulse, a vehicle to haul compassion and ecological awareness out of the abstract and into the visceral. It’s not preachy—it’s personal, seeping into lyrics that gnaw at your conscience.
Looking ahead, Ecotage isn’t slowing. January 2025 saw them storm Sweden for a three-show blitz, their first beyond Finland’s borders. “The response was amazing,” Olli says, nodding to the young blood in the crowd. February brought Until Justice Is Served to Total Liberation Records’ Vegan in Palestine comp—dig it up and pitch in. A second EP looms, with songs taking shape for a late-year studio stint. Shows are locked for later in 2025, details dropping in spring, and whispers of European dates with kindred bands are brewing. “Things are coming together,” Olli hints. “Be on the lookout.”
Ulla’s track-by-track dissection of Devastation lays bare its core: humanity’s wreckage, dissected song by song (!). “The EP explores our destructive impact on the planet and other species,” she says. “There’s tension between despair and hope—but above all, it’s a call to action.”
The Change, penned by original vocalist Atte, wrestles with polarization—humanity’s stubborn cling to biases as ecosystems crumble. Decline seethes at the privileged few, hoarding wealth while the vulnerable choke on the fallout, a stark jab at greed’s stranglehold.
Until Justice Is Served, co-written with Olli, peels back the animal industry’s skin, exposing normalized violence and pleading for liberation. Into Dust paints collapse—literal and metaphoric—as the fruit of our recklessness, while Vigilantes salutes Finnish activists who stormed factory farms, armed with cameras, not claws. Their footage, still haunting elaintehtaat.fi, inspired Olli after he caught Eläinoikeusjuttu (Just Animals), a documentary on those branded criminals for daring to reveal truth.
For the full commentary, hunt down the EP and let Ulla’s words sink in!
The Change was written by Atte Rautaruusu, the band’s first vocalist, so I can only share my interpretation. To me, this song addresses polarization – how we, as a species, often draw lines between right and wrong instead of working together for solutions. Rather than embracing science and reason, we held onto ideologies shaped by personal biases and emotions. Meanwhile, ecosystems are collapsing, species are being driven to extinction, and the consequences of human activity are reaching a point of no return. If we fail to change, we are not only condemning other species but also sealing our own fate. Adopting a vegan lifestyle is one of the most immediate and impactful actions an individual can take: not just for the environment, but for the liberation of non-human animals.
Decline emerged from a deep frustration with how the wealthiest among us continue to accelerate planetary destruction. The most privileged of us, benefiting from colonialist structures, are responsible for the climate crisis, while the most vulnerable suffer its worst consequences. Acknowledging privilege means confronting our responsibility to act. The crisis we face is direct result of greed, overconsumption, and a system that prioritizes profit over life. We have the knowledge and tools to change course, but those in power resist real action. Talks about sustainability, education, and ethical responsibility are meaningless without concrete actions. The song captures this contradiction – the battle between despair and the urgent need to act. Hope is not passive; it grows through resistance. We cannot surrender to apathy. The time for hesitation has passed.
Until Justice Is Served was written collaboratively with Olli. The song exposes the brutality of the animal industry and how systemic violence is normalized. Society encourages us to cherish some animals while commodifying others. Our culture conditions us to look away, to accept cruelty as inevitable, normalizing it by obscuring the suffering. If we cannot even bear to face the consequences of our actions, should we not question the morality behind them? This song is a call for animal liberation – change begins with individual actions. As Peter Singer argues in Animal Liberation, justice demands we extend moral consideration beyond our own species.
Along with Decline, Into Dust is one of the more abstract songs on the EP. It depicts both a literal and metaphorical collapse – the inevitable outcome of human recklessness. We have comprehensive evidence of the destruction we cause. Climate change and biodiversity loss are not distant threats – they are unfolding now, in real time, and we are aware of it. Awareness alone does not bring change. We justify our inaction through denial, complacency, and the pursuit of endless economic growth, even as we pass critical ecological tipping points.
Devastation EP does not just reflect on the state of the world – it is rallying cry. It confronts humanity’s capacity for destruction, while demanding compassion, justice, and radical transformation. It calls for action, urging resistance to dismantle oppressive systems and asserting that a just and sustainable world is not only possible, but essential.
Olli: Vigilantes was a collaboration between me and Ulla. Personally, I was inspired by a documentary called Eläinoikeusjuttu (Just Animals) about Finnish activists who infiltrated animal farms to expose the truth behind closed doors. These activists were caught and faced legal charges, but the photos and videos they shot were made public in mainstream media and are still available on the website elaintehtaat.fi, showing the ugly reality in factory farms. Huge respect to the animal rights organization Oikeutta eläimille (“Justice for Animals”) for their work—what they did is a non-violent yet incredibly effective form of activism. While carrying out their actions, these activists never harmed the animals or the farms, but they were still labeled criminals by the system. That’s why the phrase “environmental vigilantes” seemed fitting to describe them.
