Blame Me! 28.07.2026 (Finnish)

Finnish alternative metal band Blame Me! return with “Time by Time,” their first new material since “Edge of War” in 2024, bringing a faster, fuller sound into a renewed lineup as work continues on a second album. In interview singer Bini Silvennoinen and bass player Juho Jokimies tell more.

For Bini, the years since debut album “The Invisible You” have brought a kind of maturity into the band. She hears a new direction and feeling around the material, but also relief that the group can finally begin releasing music again with the next record already far along.

The reinvention did not begin from one planned stylistic decision. Bini traces it mainly to lineup changes, including two drummer changes after the debut, and says every new person altered the internal dynamic enough to open different ideas.

Finding Maiju Mäki gave that process a clearer center. Silvennoinen says Mäki brought new enthusiasm and a drummer’s pride in shaping her own parts, while Juho points to the practical momentum she created around songs, videos, meetings and the unfinished work that keeps a band moving.

Her influence is most audible in the rhythms. Where drum parts could previously begin from a guitarist’s idea, the band now hear what happens when a drummer rebuilds them from inside, adding movement and detail that changed the material beyond a simple personnel update.

At the same time, songwriting has become more collective. Jokimies says guitarist Jesse Lindstedt still brings in many of the main structures and remains highly productive, while Silvennoinen continues to shape vocal melodies and lyrics, but the whole group now chooses between demos and builds the arrangements together.

That is a clear difference from the earlier period, when some members could remain more peripheral to writing. Juho says everyone now has a defined place in the process, not only arranging their own instrument but also reacting to how the other parts can serve the full song.

The pause itself arrived through ordinary but major life changes. Bini mentions marriages, children and the drummer transition, and sees the break as close to inevitable, even though several of the songs now moving toward release had existed in finished or nearly finished form for years.

Jokimies is direct that two quiet years are not ideal in a music scene that rewards constant visibility. For Blame Me!, however, the distance gave the songs time to mature and left the band with more energy once the new lineup began working at full speed.

“Time by Time” was chosen as the return because it carries both versions of the band. Juho hears the familiar melodic hooks and immediate movement, but also a more mature and layered construction than the material around “The Invisible You”.

For Bini, the defining moment came during vocal recording. The first chorus melody stopped feeling convincing, and during a short cigarette break in the session she stayed with the song, searched for a stronger hook and found the final chorus within a few minutes. That quick rewrite became the piece that pulled the track together. Lyrically, the song follows the slow collapse of a relationship, where good memories and denial keep two people holding on until letting go becomes the only honest end.

Choosing it was still difficult. Silvennoinen says the band had several strong songs ready, and “Time by Time” won partly because its pace and hook felt right for summer, while Jokimies adds that the timing allowed the renewed group to be shown clearly in the music video after a run of winter shows.

The emotional core remains familiar. Bini needs the lyrics to feel like something and offer listeners a point of recognition, while Juho describes the songs as stories drawn from the members’ lives or from close enough around them to carry real weight.

The new elements are often less dramatic when isolated than they are in combination. Jokimies points to additional instrumental layers, effects and production details that make the songs feel fuller, and says the difference becomes clear when the new material is placed beside the debut.

The second album is already taking shape as a defined body of work. The track list exists, most of the songs have been recorded and only four remain to be tracked, with some lyrical, melodic and production details still open.

It is not a concept album in the strict sense. Bini instead talks about a human emotional arc, while Juho sees a compact and flowing collection where every song remains an individual piece inside the wider Blame Me! identity.

One song will also shift that emotional range. Silvennoinen says the album contains the first genuinely happy song the band have made, a notable change for a writer who has usually reached first for sadness, anger, bitterness and feelings of inadequacy.

That abundance creates another problem: deciding which songs not to release as singles. Silvennoinen says each one feels important enough to place directly in front of listeners, but the band also want the album itself to keep some discoveries of its own.

Looking ahead, Blame Me! will take the new lineup into autumn shows with Crimson Sun and Without Warning, a three-band pairing built around different corners of heavy music but a shared live energy. More singles are planned before the second album, currently expected in early 2027, with the band hoping the release period can lead into a wider run of shows.

Blame Me! Interview from 2021: https://anti-commercial.media/blame-me-10-06-2021-finnish/