This week, we’re not just spotlighting another set of screamo releases—we’re tracing a vivid moment in Finland’s underground. Suspected of Arson Records has assembled a sixteen-track compilation showcasing an emergent wave of Finnish screamo and emo-affiliated bands, each contributing exclusive material that lands online today!
It’s a great, honest and natural snapshot of a scene collectively pivoting toward its future, and we’re stoked to give you an in-depth look into it, with a huge 16-artist interview, uncovering a lot of interesting facts, perspectives and other post hardcore records recommendations.
What emerges from these interviews is a movement that’s outgrown its early insecurities. Projects like Letterbombs, Moshimoshi, and Alas talk of imminent tours abroad and next-level recordings. Suite Green toys with the idea of a holiday EP, while Piot. emphasizes the practicality and urgency driving veterans in a cramped rehearsal schedule. The sense of possibility threads through accounts from both newer outfits—like the rapidly evolving Väylä—and more settled acts like Hauraus or Aaltoja, who have already anchored themselves with full-lengths and splits.
There’s a tangible sense of the Finnish emo and screamo sphere expanding beyond niche pockets. Valorinne Emo Fest in Jyväskylä, repeatedly highlighted by the bands, now stands as a key cultural moment. Groups recall it as a watershed, a place where lineups of seven or more acts cemented a real community.
Not every song from this compilation is available on Spotify, but we have collected most
The old stigma that once shadowed anything “emo” seems to be lifting; younger listeners, DIY spaces like Tukikohta or Turku Book Cafe, and a rising number of new bands feed a cycle of growth and experimentation. As Moshimoshi puts it, there’s now enough momentum for a dedicated screamo festival, a prospect unimaginable just a few years back.
On the following pages, we present not only the tracklist but an extensive multi-voice interview that peels back the curtain on each band’s motivations, scene perspectives, and their personal 2024 favorites. It’s clear that their focus spans more than sound—this is a community charting its own direction in real time, drawing strength from DIY ethics, aesthetic variety, and the open-minded enthusiasm of those who show up. Here’s what they had to say.
Answering our questions are: Letterbombs, Videonauhat, Suite Green, Gallows (Fin), Väylä, Alas, Shakabrah!, Foxthroat, Moshimoshi, Claire Voyancé, Melinoë, Aaltoja, Kärlekslösa, Hauraus, Yks Pieni Elefantti, and Piot.
Can you introduce your band and give us a quick update on what’s going on—new releases, plans for the next few months, or anything exciting on the horizon?
LETTERBOMBS: We’re Letterbombs, a screamo/emoviolence quartet from all around Finland. We’ve been working on multiple releases, some of which we’ll be finishing later this month. We’ll also be doing some shows abroad in 2025, but more about those early next year.
SUITE GREEN: We are suite green and you guys are halfway to hell without us. One lady, three gentlemen, emotions, rock n roll, Hollywood.
We are looking forward to celebrating Christmas with our families and we might be making a Christmas EP if we can feel the spirit of the holiday season. Other than that, nothing special.
MOSHIMOSHI: We are moshimoshi, an emo/screamo band from Helsinki, probably on the mathier/twinklier side of things when compared to other artists on this compilation.
We just released a split with our Jyväskylä, Finland -based buddies Alas this autumn. Some sort of an mainland tour, focused around Italy and lots of new music on the horizon for next year!
ALAS: We are four friends who love screamo originally from Jyväskylä. The band has been active since 2020. Right now we are planning some shows abroad and planning our next LP. We have some exciting shows on the horizon but it’s too early to talk about them.
PIOT.: We are an emoviolence band called piot. from Oulu, Finland and have been playing together about a year now. We released our first EP online earlier this year and it will be released on tape soon. Also a compilation album called Grave Pleasures 8 was released a little while ago and it had one cover song from us!
We have one track on a finnish screamo compilation tape coming soon and next year there are some tracks coming out on a split 12” and a split 7”. There are also some gigs coming up outside of Oulu next year, which is great.
We have lots of new songs to rehearse and record, but we all play in other bands too and have other duties as well, so it’s not always easy to find time together. Despite that, I think we have managed to do a lot in a year. We are not that young anymore, so if you want to get something done, you have to focus on what is essential and be efficient!
HAURAUS: We are a trio from Turku, called Hauraus. Our music is heavily inspired by bands like Birds In Row & Pg.99, but we take inspiration from “regular” hardcore and other screamo as well.
We’ve been active for a little over two years now, playing about 30 shows in Finland, with a catalogue of a demo, an EP, Split w/ Kärlekslösa and a couple singles. We are currently on a “creative hiatus” for the first time, and are looking to play shows outside of Finland in the future.
AALTOJA: We are Aaltoja, a four-piece emo/post-hardcore group from Jyväskylä/Tampere, Finland. We’ve been active since 2018, and released one EP and “Aion unohtaa tän kaiken” LP in 2023.
We are currently working on some new material, which will be recorded during 2025. There has been some talk about doing some shows abroad also, but we’ll see!
VÄYLÄ: Väylä came to be in 2021 with Samuli on drums and Peetu on guitar. Started out playing blistering hardcore punk but eventually evolved into something else with Antti (bass) and Jesse (vox) joining the fold.
The two releases so far have been rather different from each other but with our upcoming LP we’ve managed to consolidate our sound to what’s audible on the Finnskramz comp. That being said, you can expect new music from us in the near future. Maybe shows too?
VIDEONAUHAT: The story of Videonauhat begun in early 2023. Initially we were planning on restarting Polemarch, a band that was active around 2008-2015. Those plans however fell through.
We decided to start a new band that would sort of continue where the old one left off, yet do its own thing. So we’re a relatively new band but have been playing this kind of music for ages.
Our first EP came out in 2024 and we will be recording a new six song EP already in January. The plan is to release it in spring or summer. If all works out, we will bedoing a small Baltic tour in spring too.
MELINOË: We are melinoë, four-piece band from Helsinki and we do emotional hardcore heavily influenced by the early 2000s post-hardcore scene. We put out our first EP this summer, which we recorded live at our rehearsal space and was originally supposed to just be a rough demo. The song on this compilation is one of the songs from that session which we left out of the EP. We’re currently writing new songs and planning to record some which we hope to put out on a split next year. Of course looking forward to play more shows next year!
SHAKABRAH!: “shakabrah!” began in 2018 as a two-person project and it quickly became an important way for us to cope, as well as connect and be honest with a friend through just simply playing.
Back then It felt like we just played for the fun of it, performed on birthdays and such and to be honest we never thought our thing would grow to be as important to us as it is today.
In 2022 two dear friends joined the band completing our lineup and in 2023 we played our first gigs as a four-piece.
The song on this compilation will actually be our very first release! through the years we have also recorded (and re-recorded) a bunch of songs which we will finally be releasing not too long from now.
GALLOWS (FIN): Gallows is my (Juuso) personal project (Alongside Claire Voyancé, Letterbombs, shakabrah!, Kuvotus etc.) that was ”active” from early 2020-mid 2021. The project started as an impulsive need to create something that payed homage to the discordant, chaotic and flamboyant style of early 2000’s post-hardcore and emoviolence; ”white-belt hardcore”, that I was heavily infatuated with at the time. I made 4 demos during that year, and self-published a compilation tape in 2022 featuring everything I had made with the project, which was, at the time, my way to ”bury the project.”
Early in 2024, Christopher (Letterbombs, Suspected Of Arson Records) inquired me about contributing to this compilation as Gallows, and I happily obliged. Listening back to the demos I made in 2020-2021, I can wholeheartedly say that out of all the things I made with Gallows, I’m the most proud of the track I made for this compilation. I can’t say what the future holds for the project, I don’t think solo-projects can really ever be ”finished”, I’ll probably make more music for Gallows once I feel that need to create more chaotic and discordant punk.
CLAIRE VOYANCÉ: Claire Voyancé is a Vaasa-native screamo band that we started in 2019 so we could have an excuse to hang out and do something meaningful in the meantime.
We meant play something along the lines of shoegaze and post-hardcore, but it quickly evolved into something more tangible and screamo-adjacent, and we just went on with it. We just released our new EP ”In Retrospect”, that we recorded, discarded and revisited over a period of 2 years, while also focusing on playing shows.
We just played our last shows of the year, and are planning our next releases and shows. Our goal is to release music at a more steady pace from now on!
FOXTHROAT: We are a four-piece “emotional alt-rock” band called Foxthroat originally formed in 2019 in Turku Finland. We’ve been writing new songs for the first time in a long while and we have plans for an EP for the summer. Possibly a small run through Finland around the same time.
YKS PIENI ELEFANTTI: Everybodys moving around constantly in different cities for different reasons, so no time to practise together. Were speaking of home studio sessions next summer.
KÄRLEKSLÖSA: We are kärlekslösa, founded in 2022 in Helsinki. The band started as a side project from our other band, and after a couple of lineup changes we have been playing with our current lineup since the start of the year.
Our first release was a split with Hauraus last May and we have played semi-regular shows around Finland since 2023, too.
After a couple of shows we played in September, this autumn has been somewhat of a hibernation period due to other projects and life generally taking a bunch of our time, but hopefully we will be back on the saddle next year again, recording new music and playing more shows.
What’s your perspective on the local scene? How would you describe it, and are there any bands, shows, or moments that have stood out to you recently?
LETTERBOMBS: The emo scene in Finland has been growing and new bands seem to be popping up constantly! As half of LB is living in northern Finland, the scene is a bit quieter here, but the more south you go it does get busier.
SUITE GREEN: The emo scene is sick, rad, heartwarming, and relatable. Unfortunately, we don’t have much of it in Tampere so we haven’t been to any emo shows recently, other than the once we have played.
MOSHIMOSHI: Finland has a pretty cool growing screamo scene relative to its size. When we started in 2020 a couple of bands were around at the same time. Nowadays there’s enough high quality and active Finnish screamo/emo bands for a full festival, as demonstrated by the recent Valorinne Emo Fest in Jyväskylä.
ALAS: The emo or screamo scene is buzzing right now. We have at least a dozen bands to play shows with and many people seem to be be into finnish emo at the moment. There was a fest in Jyväskylä with 7 bands a few months ago which was pretty awesome!
PIOT.: Local scene is very small in the context of screamo and emoviolence, because there’s only two bands (piot. and Letterbombs), but it’s a part of a wider local diy/punk scene which consists of bands from different genres/subgenres, with shared set of diy/punk values behind everything.
There are lots of great shows regularly, especially in Tukikohta, which is a cool local diy space/venue. Tukikohta is also the place where one of the best hardcore/punk festivals in the planet, Hässäkkäpäivät is held annually!
HAURAUS: Emo in Finland is doing better than ever before. We all have our roots in punk or hardcore bands, but three years ago we found out about our mutual intrest in screamo music, and when we saw Letterbombs and Alas play in our hometown (Turku) we realized that we have to start a band like that. We heard about Moshimoshi as well and in the next year we already booked a gig with them. I think it was their first Turku show.
Currently there is a lot of buzz around screamo in Finland and shows are being set up all around, lots of new groups. I think this is the first time ever that there is a real “scene” for this music. Great bands too, Alas, Claire Voyance, and Letterbombs are some of the best from the whole genre!
AALTOJA: The local scene here in Jyväskylä is quite vital, with many good small shows, mainly hardcore/grind/punk. We carry the emo/screamo torch with our loved ones Alas, and also the almighty eight. We were along on arranging “Valorinne Emo Fest ’24” this autumn in Jyväskylä, that was a huge success and lots of good emotion around. eight comeback show was something that still makes shivers go down our spine!
VÄYLÄ: I don’t think there’s ever been such a screamo scene in Finland as there is right now. The good folks at SOAR deserve a medal of some sorts for bringing so many acts together on the compilation.
Out of recent events the Valorinne Emo Fest that took place this September speaks volumes on behalf of the scene’s vitality. I mean has there been a music festival dedicated to skramz in Finland ever before?
VIDEONAUHAT: We are definitely enjoying the recent wave of Finnish screamo and emo bands. For along time, there were only a handful of Finnish bands that one could describe as”skramz”. It felt like anything related to emo was almost frowned upon in Finland,even stuff that wasn’t ”MTV emo”.
But nowadays it feels like people and especially younger punks are more open minded towards it. Many recent Finnish bands in this scene have a distinctive sound, which is great. There’s both bands playing melodic, atmospheric emotional harcdcore and more emo violence oriented stuff out there, and everything in between.
MELINOË: The Finnish scene is impressive. This is a small scene but you got bands thriving with a pretty good visibility like moshimoshi at the same time it stills feels like a small family where bands help each others. And every band has it’s own approach to the genre, making it quite diverse. Lots of talent within the musicians among the scene.
Very friendly people in all of the bands we’ve been in contact with, played with etc. One of the top moments of this year was to witness Valorinne Emo Fest in Jyväskylä and comeback of Eight. There’s lots of cool stuff happening with cool DIY spirit.
SHAKABRAH!: It’s the best you could ever hope for. I feel that for the first time ever so many amazing people around Finland just happen to be in the same place, at the same time making music everyone loves. It’s like there’s some kind of gravity pulling people together and everyone can feel it.
We have met and made friends with so many cool people just this year it feels unreal to think about. It’s kind of funny to talk about a local scene since there are so many bands from so many cities collaborating with each other, playing shows etc.
In our home town Vaasa, there exists a DIY collective organizing kick ass shows in all kinds of cool venues, Shout out to 65DIY! We also have the absolute pleasure to rehearse in the same building as our dear friends from Claire Voyancé.
As for a show that really stood out from the rest, it would have to be Valorinne Emo Fest 2024 held in Jyväskylä. The whole night was packed with amazing bands, and the reunion gig of Eight really was something to behold. The memory of that night will remain with me as long as I live, and the whole event was a testament to the power, sincerity and love that inhabits the finnish “emo” scene right now.
GALLOWS (FIN): About the emo scene in Finland, I wrote my perspective on that under the Claire Voyancé-section of this article!
CLAIRE VOYANCÉ: The local scene is a very warm and welcoming space, and we’re incredibly grateful to be a part of it. We all collectively have a passion of reviving a ”scene” which never properly took off. Unbelievably beautiful bands keep popping up all the time, and I’ve shared some of the greatest nights of my life with bands from our little scene.
The level of quality between the bands in Finland is amazing, and they deserve all the credit and appreciation they have received. Shows featuring only emo bands have also steadily gained more attention in Finland and some of my favorite moments are those where people come up to express their gratitude for these shows and the rising prevalence of emo-related activity in Finland.
Another very memorable highlight for us was the Sultans of Skramz-tour. That was the time for us where we all properly got to know the bands and get a good reading of what this scene is, and what it would become.
FOXTHROAT: The local scene in Turku is very much alive when it comes to the bands but the lack of venues has been an issue for a while.
Top gigs in turku are always at the diy worker/volunteer run Turku Book cafe!
YKS PIENI ELEFANTTI: I went to kannus and saw suntrace in 2017 and have been invested in middle ostrobothnia scene since then. Its always been a lot of parties and fun.
KÄRLEKSLÖSA: The scene is flourishing, and I think that this compilation is a testament to that. A drive and a sense of community present in the scene from both the bands and the audience has been especially apparent this autumn, and we have played shows that we are sure we will cherish for a long time. Especially Valorinne Emo Fest was a great effort, bringing together 7 bands, including the first show in 10 years from the great Eight. We also played an all-ages show to a sold out venue that proved that the scene has also attracted a younger crowd which is something that unfortunately can’t be said of all underground music genres.
Could you share a list of some of your favorite releases in screamo this year? Maybe ones that flew under the radar or really hit home for you? Please include your short commentary per each pick.
LETTERBOMBS: Here are some of our favourite screamo releases of 2024:
Votive – Towards the Pillory
Kid, Feral – Headlights
Demersal – s/t
Touché Amoré – Spiral in a Straight Line
SUITE GREEN: We are not familiar with this year’s screamo releases however we do enjoy listening to older screamo songs from bands such as ALAS, Radura, Moshimoshi, and Boy Problems. Maybe we have to look into it more.
MOSHIMOSHI: We recommend checking out the Massa Nera / Quiet Fear split and the new Claire Voyancé EP. Also shoutout Soma Konna!
ALAS: Our pals Claire Voyancé just released a killer EP. They play shoegaze influenced screamo with a great guitar tone. I think Larry released a very limited edition tape of it.
There’s been many good singles and EPs this year from bands all over the world but last years list would have been easier to make.
PIOT.: Here’s some releases we enjoyed.
Claire Voyancé – In Retrospect
Coma Regalia – Aul Taemacea
Gil Cerrone – Consumer
>> See our interview with GIL CERRONE and LETTERBOMBS here!
Videonauhat – s/t
HAURAUS: Everything that every group from this compilation has released! The new Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead LP is sick too.
>> See our special feature on DYPOTBOTD here!
AALTOJA: Our mutual favorite is definitely Touché Amoré with their latest “Spiral In A Straight Line”. TA is a very important band and an influence for us all, and they didn’t let us down with this LP!
Of course there are some nordic screamo releases, that we are fond of, for example Alas/moshimoshi -split, Claire Voyancé EP, Demersal LP and Kid, Feral EP. It’s a good year in nordic screamo!
VÄYLÄ: We have the answer by Heavenly Blue has certainly stood out of the crowd.
Lots of memorable moments throughout the whole album not to mention the stunning dual vocals and great lyrics. The final song is my jam of the year.
Piot.’s debut demo is as great as it gets but what can you expect with a lineup like this? I’ve been a sucker for Sami’s guitar tone ever since I heard Two Beats Off as a kid. Really stoked for what’s coming next from them.
We’ve all been waiting for Claire Voyance to release new material and when they finally did, boy it hit a home run. Subtle musicianship combined with original songwriting and style conscious instrumentation. What more can you ask for? The piano tune from Bokeh has been living rent free in my brain since October now.
VIDEONAUHAT: Some recent releases we enjoy include:
Piot.’s EP. It’s noisy, chaotic and has sassy keyboard parts. Would fit perfectly in Three One G’s roster.
In Retrospect by Claire Voyancé. It represents a more dreamy and shoegazey side ofscreamo. This band already feels ready to take over the world.
Kärlesklösa / Hauraus split. A perfect soundtrack for walks during dark winterevenings.
The World is Cursed by Letterbombs and Alas / Moshimoshi split. These are probably the biggest screamo and screamo adjacent bands in Finland right now, sot hey won’t need any further introduction.
MELINOË: The new Frail Body for sure. Amazing evolution while still keeping their sound.
Also a bit screamo-adjacent I guess, but the new Diploid EP has been on frequent rotation.
Speaking of Nordic screamo, the comeback EP by the Kid, Feral also blew me away.
Hammok from Norway also put out a great album (go see them live if you can!).
Otherwise it’s been more and mostly of a case of ”new to me” stuff that has been released earlier. Should prioritize more time for searching new music rather than sticking with good old classics. For example, I try to follow the japanese scene a little and some bands I’ve listened to a bunch this year are nhomme, ANORAK! and By the End of Summer.
And of course shoutout to Claire Voyancé and Videonauhat for the great EPs and Letterbombs for the top album!
SHAKABRAH!:
Frail Body – Artificial Boquet
Great album, came out of nowhere. I had waited for them to release more stuff. Loved to hear a little blackgaze and sludge influences in the songwriting. – Roope
aufhebn – Self-Titled
First release from this Helsinki based emo duo! Gorgeous tape-haze and an amazing atmosphere. Very good taste in production, samples etc. Looking forward to hearing more from this project. -Juuso
Claire Voyancé – In Retrospect
Definetly release of the year for me. The EP is a beautiful blend of high energy gut-wrenching distortion and somber sincerity with many of the riffs playing in your head on repeat day in and day out. It feels like their sound is fully realized on this release. – Nikke
journal/seahorsechoke – Split
I randomly found this on YT suggestions. I liked the cover art, spun it a couple times and kept coming back to “hermosa, the only one i love”. Absolutely love the raw production and style of both bands. Hi to Arizona and John! – Neo
GALLOWS (FIN): Three of my personal stand-out releases from this year include:
Kid, Feral – Headlights EP
Long awaited release from these swedish guys! Short EP with a runtime of 9 minutes, but every second is golden.
aufhebn – Self-Titled
First release from this Helsinki based emo duo! Gorgeous tape-haze and an amazing atmosphere. Very good taste in production, samples etc. Looking forward to hearing more from this project.
Basque – Pain Without Hope Of Healing
Dynamic, aggressive and passionate, all the things I love about screamo. This album was the first outing that I heard from Basque, and I’m very happy that I stumbled upon it.
CLAIRE VOYANCÉ: Some of our favorites this year include:
Basque – Pain Without Hope Of Healing
Dynamic, aggressive and passionate, all the things I love about screamo. This album was the first outing that I heard from Basque, and I’m very happy that I stumbled upon it. – Juuso
Frail Body – Artificial Bouquet
What can I say? the record feels really genuine and honest, a raw beautiful presentation of the gifted musicians playing in that band. Very diverse, groovy and melodic with them grinding emoviolence bits.
Another good one is Infant Island – Obsidian Wreath. I don’t know a lot of similar bands that sound (unintentionally) somewhat like we do but Infant Island is definitely the first band that comes to mind, mixing the honest rawness of screamo and emoviolence and hazy dreamlike noise from shoegaze and post-rock.
Obsidian Wreath is a like rough and beautiful rocky journey across the sea to the sunny shore where you belong.
FOXTHROAT: Your Arms Are My Cocoon – Death of a Rabbit
A long awaited follow up to the 2020 “bedroom screamo” self-titled EP with the same raw emotion and lo-fi production now with a full band. This album has to be the screamo release of the year for us.
Lagrimas – A Life of Destruction
The band with the perfect blend of neocrust and screamo that just doesn’t miss. One of the top bands in the booming cali skramz scene
YKS PIENI ELEFANTTI: We don’t listen to a lot of screamo but shoutout to soma konna, we’re looking forward to their releases.
KÄRLEKSLÖSA:
Konsta (drums): A bit screamo-adjacent I guess, but the new Diploid EP has been on frequent rotation.
Speaking of Nordic screamo, the comeback EP by the Kid, Feral also blew me away and Hammok from Norway also put out a great album (go see them live if you can!).
Obviously Frail Body too, amazing evolution while still keeping their sound. Shoutout to the new Letterbombs album too!
Riku: Besides what Konsta mentioned, Blind Girls – An Exit Exists is absolutely mad album, Your Arms Are My Cocoon – death of a rabbit was really interesting as a whole and also I enjoyed Touché Amore – Spiral In A Straight Line, meth. – SHAME and Valeska Suratt / Fishing With Explosives – split.
Konsta (bass): Demersal s/t -album really blew me away!
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