Finland has always produced a very fine fruits in terms of extreme metal and if speaking in particularly of Doom, we can find numerous well-known bands e.g. Swallow The sun, Shape of Despair, Unholy. Today, the band that we're pleased to have an interview with is Rupture. With only 3 albums in its asset, Rapture has held us captive within its melodic doom/death sound wherein clean vocals are intermingled with growls. Though, the band had some setbacks with a record companies and a lot of lineup changes, they still no matter what keep going ahead. The band's guitarist Aleksi Ahokas kindly answered on the questions that we prepared for him and here's the result.

---------------------------------------------

1. Rapture came into existence in 1997. How was it?

At the beginning, Rapture already had a few followers and some habitual listeners. Pete (Raatikainen) and Tomi (Ullgren) had a band called Wintermoon, and they were doing tape-trading for many years, pushing many young artist shortly after becoming a concrete bands to record their albums. Me, I joined the band around in 1997, and stayed there until the recording of the first Rapture album "Futile". Back in those days we recorded 5 songs for an upcoming demo in one of the friend's studio.

2. You released the demo "Broken Daydream" in 1998, on which there is a very minimum information over Internet. How did this demo sound? Where can we get a copy of it, maybe ebay?

I've never even seen it in Internet! I have my own copy stored in the old cassette that still works, I'd enjoyed the sound of those days. It's much more slower in contrast of what came after; it's hard to define it. Maybe some label will edit it someday into a bootleg or something like that. Most probably, it has more of a value as a nostalgic thing other than the music itself because for that epoch it was considered pretty good.

3. After this demo it came what was the first album "Futile" which marked the debut of Rapture into the death/doom scene and won lots of fans with its sound that is very much in common to Katatonia Braver Murder Day period, but perhaps much more ethereal and profound. How was the process of recording of "Futile"?

The band entered the studio with a new drummer, Samu Ruotsalainen, and Jarno Salomaa as a guitarist, to record something that for some seemed as the revelation of the doom scene back in those days. Without any doubt, Katatonia is the band that had a major influence on us at the beginning.

4. How did you feel about the contract with the label Spikefarm? Were you contented with its job throughout the years?

It's very likely that after all that I've learned over the years, there is something that we could have done differently. But on the other hand... It contains everything that I know, I mean, probably the albums are that good just because we chose to do so in the past. We are grateful for what they did for us. Especially, with "Songs.." when we were cooperation with Century Media.

5. The song from "Futile" - "Someone I (Do not) Know" is the best in Rapture's career. That rhythm structure which little by little ends in an "doomish explosion". What do you think about this tune? Could it be considered as the "anthem" of Rapture?

A great song. I suppose that each and one has his favorite.

6. “Songs for the withering” was released in 2002, and marked a shift in the sound of Rapture, not drastic, but very different from "Futile". What provoked such a shift in the sound? Were there a lot of reformations?

There were reforms in the band. I returned to the band and finished half of the songs with Tomi (Ullgren). To be honest, I wasn't aware of how the sound was going to be until we did the pre-demos and hit the studio. We left some room for the improvisation. The tune "Farewell" for the first time was played in the studio. Henri (Villberg) did a great job as a new growler and Petri (Eskelinen) executed very profoundly with his clean vocals.

7. What is the meaning of the chain strings that appear on the cover art of “Songs for the withering”?

It is certainly something that will be concealed under the vail of mystery, and I don't believe it will ever be known.

8. How this "new sound" was accepted by the fans of Rapture?

As far as I can tell, we gained plenty of fans with this "new sound", thanks to promotion and license agreement for this album. I guess that some labeled us as Gothic-Death Doom. We have lots of fans and it is impossible to know whether everyone liked this change. In general, reviews and comments have been good. Honestly, I've never seen a bad one.
‎9. What bands have influenced you the most?

Obviously Katatonia, Paradise Lost and Opeth. In addition, there is a presence of Black and Death Metal in our past and present stage. We are six in the band and everyone has his own wide range of influences. For a musician it is always a pleasure to explore some new musical realms.

10. Your latest album up to this day is "Silent Stage"(2005) is a sequel of your previous album (Songs for the..). what are the major differences you distinguish between two Cd's?

As I've said before, once again, there were some changes in the group. We had a new bass player. I assume that the producer had a different approach this time. Probably he already knew what the band was capable of and he just wanted to polish that sound.

11. After releasing of the "Silent stage", Rapture wasn't pretty active in terms of material editing, there were some lineup changes, rumors, few gigs. What exactly happened? What happened to the contract with Spikefarm?

I have the feeling that “Silent Stage” wasn't really licensed (This means that a big company purchases the album rights and distribute it to the masses through the stores and promotes it). Our second album was the most appreciated, but mostly within Finland. We didn't perform lot's of concerts, but it doesn't mean that no one likes our music, it's just simply that there was no one doing the management for us. There was a high interest from our fans, but the most frustrating thing is to hear people complaining about the absence of our CD's in the stores. Technically speaking, we did our part, but that was it. Making of “Silent Stage” was very entertaining and since then, all the gigs we've played were good.

12. Most of the Rapture members play in various other bands. Can you briefly talk about them?

The fact we play in many other bands also keeps us busy during the time when we put Rapture on-hold, meaning that it improves us as musicians at times, and maintains us in a good shape until we get together as Rapture again. Moreover, it allows Rapture sound more fresh and heavy, and when we all get together working on Rapture, we come up with some innovative ideas and other musical devices to enrich the overall sound of the band. At any rate, I would recommend listening to Shape Of Despair and Rain Paint.

13. Last year you took part in Madrid is the Dark II, here in Spain. How was you first visit to our country? How did the public react?

Impressive! It was incredible, we're all very excited.I don't think we were conscious of what was going on until the last minute before the concert. Many people waited eagerly for us and I think we did our best as a band!!! Many thanks to all of the assistants!!! Moreover, everything was organized very professionally. We were treated as a true artists and we left with the feeling that we'll be coming back to Spain very shortly.

14. And what are the future plans of Rapture? Will we have a new album soon?

In summer we played a couple of gigs and went on picking some of the material that we have already composed to restructure individually each component of the band. I believe that the work on the upcoming album this time will be more difficult than before. For us “Silent Stage” was a very important album, supposedly it was our best musical achievement, and if we do a new material in future, it must be either least equal or superior to “Silent Stage”. Doing whatever management requires and signing to a new label would be a great opportunity for us to go further and maybe function like a one active band; this would be the best way to give to our fans a new material that they anticipate from Rapture!

15. What Finish bands you consider the best?

Personally...well...without any order, Rapture, Swallow the Sun, Before The Dawn, Dauntless and many other bands and musicians with whom I've had opportunity to play.

16. That's it Aleksi, thank you for letting me do this interview, cheers from Islas Canarias and I hope to hear something new from Rapture in the future. Would you like to add something or say goodbye.

I would like to thank our fans on behalf of the whole band. Consult our official pages and follow us on facebook. Send your greetings or questions and we will try to answer them in no time. Don't hesitate to talk to us and ask us whatever you like. And if you want to see us live, demand your promoters and we will be delighted to play once we can. All the best!