Scars And Guitars host Andrew McKaysmith conducted a long and far-reaching conversation with Kimmo Kuusniemi, talking about the end of Finnish metal godfathers Sarcofagus and his future plans. The video interview starts with a short history of Sarcofagus and Kimmo Kuusniemi with music video clips.

Conversation topics include the thinking behind ending Sarcofagus, a comprehensive summary of Sarcofagus’ albums and other releases, Kuusniemi's plans for the future and projects he’s working on, the impact of COVID-19 on the music business, film and TV work, The Promised Land Of Heavy Metal DVD, and more.

Sarcofagus, the godfathers of Finnish heavy metal fronted by filmmaker and guitarist Kimmo Kuusniemi, declares the band has returned to the Valley Of The Kings.

Kimmo Kuusniemi: "Sarcofagus has been great balance of fun and pain. My albums have always had social commentary as many of my films have. I had come to the conclusions on the Core Values re-release video long before the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, that I am fed up with writing songs about social problems. Technology is progressing with ever increasing speed but us as humans we seem to be doomed to repeat our mistakes.

Since Covid started I have been working on a new audio visual project. This combines my need to create something new both in music and in film. There is already several songs finished with collaboration with great musicians from Siberia to Los Angeles.

This project will be released as album, videos and a world tour. Without going yet into too much detail this project is designed to work in the post Covid world. When we get over this virus I do not think the music business will ever be the same. So it is time to re-invent the wheel ;-)

Ending Sarcofagus has been in my mind quite long time but this year it became very clear that there is no space for Sarcofagus in my mind anymore. Time for a reset.

Sarcofagus has been an interesting and complicated 43 year rollercoaster ride, but everything comes to an end. At the end of this press release there is the Sarcofagus story ‘in brief’. The same story with plenty photos, some never published before, are available online at Sarcofagus.com.

On digital platforms (Spotify, iTunes...) you will also find the newest single release "Absence Of Light", accompanied by a fresh remake of the song "Go To Hell" featuring an almost original lineup of the band. We started the band with Hannu Leiden, Juha Kiminki and Esa Kotilainen, so like the title of the first album, Cycle Of Life, another Cycle of Life has come to a full circle with the "Absence Of Light" release.

The "Absence Of Light" was meant to be the next Sarcofagus album but in 2019 I decided to stop working on it. There already were few songs made for it.

Now the fantastic artwork for "Absence Of Light" by Toni Hietomaa are available as Sarcofagus T shirt and A3 Poster from the Sarcofagus website. These are made to order for awhile. So there is no stock and these are aimed for the fans and collectors to commemorate the 43 years of metal work.

The next project will be introduced soon so stay tuned. Thank you for all the fans who have been supporting us through these years!”

Kimmo Kuusniemi

Sarcofagus in a nutshell:

Sarcofagus is reputed to be one of the most influential & original Scandinavian Progressive Heavy Metal Bands (formed 1977). They have inspired numerous new metal bands.

- Officially the first Finnish Heavy Metal Band

- First Finnish Heavy Metal Band singing in Finnish

- First Scandinavian Heavy Metal Band to have a female vocalist (Muska Babitzin)

- First Scandinavian Band (first in the world?) to release a FULL ALBUM length story/broadcast quality video ever (Moottorilinnut/Motorbirds). This was before MTV, rental or sales videos and before people had VHS players

- 1979-1982 Released 1 Single and 3 Albums (Single: Go to Hell/All those Lies 1979, Albums: Cycle of Life 1980, Envoy of Death 1980, Moottorilinnut 1982)

- Kimmo Kuusniemi was the 1st spoke person for Finnish Heavy Metal. He also started the Finnish Heavy Metal Association to bring together all the Finnish metal fans

- Kimmo Kuusniemi brought metal to radio, TV and papers where he was often used as the expert to explain the metal philosophy to reporters

- 1996 the albums Cycle of Life and Envoy of Death re released as CDs in Italy by Mellotron

- 2004 Kimmo Kuusniemi released a downloadable free web version of 1981 Moottorilinnut (Motorbirds) album with original alternative Sarcofagus cover

- 2006 Cycle of Life re released in Finland

- 2007 Envoy of Death and Moottorilinnut (Motorbirds) re released in Finland

- 2007 the 4th Sarcofagus album Core Values came out after 25 years with most of the original band onboard; Kimmo Kuusniemi (guitars/drums), Esa Kotilainen (keyboards), Juha Kiminki (bass) and Tanja Katinka Karttunen (vocals)

- 2008 limited edition CD release of an previously unpublished studio tape Sarcofagus Live in Studio 1979, and a limited edition DVD release of the 1982 full album length music video “Moottorilinnut"

- 2008 Kimmo Kuusniemi produced a feature length HD TV documentary, Promised Land of Heavy Metal, that tells the story of the Finnish Metal Phenomenon (featuring also Sarcofagus) - Finland is the only country in the world where metal is now mainstream. The film is directed by Tanja Katinka Karttunen. It is in worldwide TV and DVD distribution (and also available as an iPhone App)

- 2009 Sarcofagus Anthology 1979-1982 double CD by Rocket Records published in Finland, including the first Single and 3 Albums, artwork and booklet with lyrics, history of the band and a foreword by Kimmo Kuusniemi

- 2010 First Finnish Metal Band to have an iPhone App