Finland’s melodic death metal mainstays Omnium Gatherum return with their latest release, May The Bridges We Burn Light The Way — a record that sees the band pushing their signature balance of melody, heaviness, and atmosphere into bold new territory. With nearly 30 years under their belts, OG has never shied away from experimentation, and this new album proves they’re still as creative, passionate, and intense as ever.

We caught up with vocalist Jukka Pelkonen and guitarist/songwriter Markus Vanhala to dive into the creative process behind the album, working with studio legends like Jens Bogren and Björn Strid, their philosophy on balancing progressive and death metal, and yes—even their favorite Street Fighter mains. But first…

Omnium Gatherum’s sound has continued to evolve over nearly three decades. With May The Bridges We Burn Light The Way, what themes or musical elements did you intentionally push further compared to Origin or Grey Heavens?

JUKKA: Yes, we have. It’s been a long road and there are still ways to go, corners to turn, and side trails to explore. The band is living its adulthood, and we are eager to tour and grow as a group and as individuals.

Musically, the new album is a combination of new ideas and known OG style. We have never been afraid to take certain chances and explore the possibilities within the genre we are described to be in. This new album is a more straightforward album than Origin for sure. The songs are heavier in my opinion, and the excess flow of melodies—which Origin had a lot—is replaced with kind of like a competition of aggressive approach and melodies to spice up the concoction.

The new album partly takes the listeners to OG’s roots when it comes to the overall feeling and vibe of the album. Still, it is fresh music in the sense that we did not want to repeat the older stuff but rather use it as a guide to make even better music. And I think we did a pretty good job with this goal.

Grey Heavens was an album that was more on the progressive side of our music and is very different compared to the new album. May The Bridges We Burn Light The Way does have its progressive side, but the main focus is on heavy (melodic death) metal.

You’ve long walked the line between progressive metal and melodic death metal. How do you keep that balance fresh without repeating yourselves or losing your identity?

JUKKA: Sometimes this can be challenging. We want to keep a certain distance from both of these styles and yet combine them in a manner that satisfies us as musicians. It is a constant process—balancing between the two and arranging the songs in a way that it does not feel forced really pushes us to think this thing through time and again.

Markus, as a main composer in OG, has done a great job juggling with this thing. The way to be fresh, in my opinion, is to be courageous and not hesitant in exploring the unknown within the song. This can be really hard sometimes, and the number of versions of the song before it is finished sometimes feels overwhelming. Still, it is a testimony of all the effort we put into each song.

When it comes to repetition, it is something that really cannot be avoided. It just happens—and not all of it is a bad thing at all. It helps to create the identity of the band’s music. One just has to be careful not to do it blindly. With this I mean that there must be a point when a musician chooses a path not taken instead of repeating the old one. That is how things remain fresh.

Vocally, “My Pain” hits on some very visceral emotional states. Jukka, how do you approach translating such raw internal themes into performance—especially in the studio where everything is under a microscope?

JUKKA: Oh, do you think that My Pain does that? Nice. I am glad it arouses feelings and reactions. That tells me I have had the right angle to the song and to the lyrics specifically.

There is no specific formula or special trick to this transformation of raw material into the finished piece of art. From the earliest demos, the way for me is to start writing lyrics bit by bit. That way, I have a perspective of the evolution of specific lyrics to a specific song. This can be a long and arduous process because there can be inspirational pauses and blockades along the way.

When I am finally satisfied with the result and the song is in a state where no major changes (I hope 🙂) will be made, then it is just a matter of my emotional state to bring the song to life. Performing live, this happens again and again, and every show is unique in its way. In a studio, it is a bit different, but there I have time to record multiple times. And while it is a studio environment, I never enter unprepared—so there, it is just a matter of time and persistence.

OG has worked with some metal legends in the studio—Dan Swanö, Björn Strid, and now Jens Bogren. With so many strong producers in your history, how do you decide who’s right for a particular album cycle?

JUKKA: There have been real professionals working with us, and we have been so fortunate to have these wonderful people as our companions in this musical adventure we call OG. And I really mean this. Those people have positively shaped the final sound of the albums, and at the time of their release, we have been completely satisfied and happy with the collaboration.

Mr. Swanö did several albums with us and managed to up the game with each album. The only reason we decided not to work with him anymore was the fact that the sound needed a fresh perspective—that’s it.

With Mr. Bogren, this is the third installment. He did Origin, the Slasher EP, and now the new album. He really made his mark on each and every one. His way of playing with the sound was different compared to Mr. Swanö, and that was what we wanted. I will not put their work in competition with each other because it makes no sense. They are different, and the nuances vary—and that is cool.

Now with Mr. Strid, it was “only” the vocals he was producing, and may I say as a vocalist I enjoyed his contribution immensely. I was like 98% ready with all the songs when I went to SolnaSound Studios in Sweden, and he was able to tweak things here and there and suggest various ways of performing certain parts. He really is an amazing singer and a fine vocal producer.

The decision of who we work with is made by going through their past works basically, and deciding if their contribution will be a good thing for OG. So far, we’ve been happy.

What have been the biggest challenges of maintaining OG’s creative integrity while also adapting to modern trends in production and metal in general?

MARKUS: I don’t think we’ve ever adapted to modern trends at all, so I haven’t thought about that. OG has always sounded like itself and has an old soul. I think the creative influences come from a different and bigger universe than modern trends—more like salutation to the past and getting inspiration from there, as a huge music fan and collector that I am.

Your music has always carried a cinematic, atmospheric quality alongside its heaviness. How much of that comes from collaboration with your producers and mixers, and how much is baked into the writing process itself?

MARKUS: I always see music a bit like cinematic or landscape-wise—there has to be some kind of infinity and hope in sight in OG’s music. So it is indeed already present in the writing process.

Also, I like albums as a whole because of this. An album has to have a musical story told, like some TV series or movie. You don’t usually pick just one or two episodes from a whole season of a show—so I don’t like the modern streaming way of thinking where only singles matter. An album is an entirety in itself.

Jens Bogren is known for dialing in powerful, dynamic mixes that don’t lose clarity. What was it like working with him at Fascination Street Studios, and how did his mixing or mastering choices elevate this record specifically?

MARKUS: Jens’s way of doing things is perfect for Omnium Gatherum, and he knows exactly what we’re after. It’s heavy and metal enough, but there’s still dynamics, clarity, and atmosphere that serve the melodies and easier parts—but it still kicks some serious ass when needed.

This was already the third time OG worked with him, as he also did Origin and Slasher. His sound is like his beard—big and heavy, but still well-polished without losing any street cred, haha.

From leads to rhythm textures, OG’s guitar tones are rich and layered. Were there any new guitars, plugins, or amp setups that played a key role in shaping the sound of May The Bridges We Burn Light The Way?

MARKUS: I recorded and produced the guitar sounds together with my really good friend Juho Räihä from Before The Dawn and Swallow The Sun (and we even play in the same band nowadays, I Am The Night!). He knows what I’m after, as this was already the fourth record we worked on together.

He knows I’m old-school—and he is too—but he still tries to get a bit of the vibe of the day for my sounds. We used all real tube amps and cabinets on this one, and a hellish amount of old guitar pedals on top. Even my newest gem is present on the album: the Type O Negative signature chorus pedal that I ordered all the way from the U.S.—a limited edition version!

Main new elements used were Juho’s Diezel amp head, and my new Jackson Kelly Brandon Ellis signature model, whose greatest trick was the Parallel Axis Seymour Duncan pickups. They rip!

Streaming services like Spotify have helped metal reach global audiences — but they’ve also changed how artists survive financially. What’s your take on the current state of the music industry, and how do you make it work for OG?

JUKKA: This is a tough question because as we all know the reachability of music today is unsurpassed. While this being a good thing there is at the same time a situation with money spreading unfairly. Until it changes it is also for us a shitty thing. We are on many platforms and are glad this way our music is available globally and easy to access. So it is like Judas Priest says, being “between the hammer and the anvil”. I really do wish things would change for the better financially for smaller artists but it still needs time and for the people in charge not to be obsessed with making only profit but rather see this thing as beneficial for the global community. They still would get their fair share of other people’s creative work. This is my two cents on this topic. Let’s crash the internet and get back to cassettes, CDs, vinyl and shouting! 🙂

With the North American tour kicking off soon, what are you most looking forward to — and how do you keep the energy high over such an intense, coast-to-coast schedule?

JUKKA: The live shows are what we are expecting the most, of course. Nothing better than that. It will be a 27-show joyride. North America is always a pleasure to tour. Amazing crowds and a rock ‘n’ roll attitude can be felt through both the United States and Canada. There is a special feeling touring North America. Distances are madly long and one must be in the right state of mind to handle that. But like I said this matters not. It is totally worth it because touring is what we love and personally I think our music is best experienced live. So the energy is kept high by performing to the best of our ability and to enjoy every moment of the live shows. That is how we power up the crowd too to share the intense feeling with us.

Word is some of you are gamers. So, Street Fighter time — who mains who? And beyond fighting games, are there any go-to games or platforms you rely on to stay sane between shows or during long drives?

JUKKA: I love Street Fighter! Been playing it since Street Fighter 2 when I was a kid. My personal favorites are Ken, Ryu, Blanka and Chun-Li. So for me those are the characters that main everybody else of course Hah-hah! Still, I enjoy playing with all the characters and back in the day I was SUPER excited when the versions of Street Fighter came out where you could play as the bosses and they even had new characters. It was wonderful! Mortal Kombat is also one of my favorites. Nothing beats a good beat em up game. 😁 As for other genres, I love JRPG and I am always playing those games. I myself don’t play that much on tour because I don’t have any carry-on console with me and I don’t have any games on my phone. Other dudes do play to some extent and do have games on their phones especially our lovely keyboardist Aapo. He is hooked on puzzle games and loves to pass time solving those problems.

If Omnium Gatherum had to write a concept album based entirely on the plot of Street Fighter II, who would be the tragic main character… and who in the band would try to out-solo Vega just to prove a point?

JUKKA: Atte, our drummer would of course be the main character. He is a tragic yet happy go lucky kind of a person so he would be perfect. He would team up with Ryu and they would go and solo out Vega, just to prove a point. 🙂

After nearly three decades, Omnium Gatherum continues to forge their own path—fearlessly evolving while staying true to their roots. Whether it’s pushing genre boundaries, exploring emotional depths, or just nerding out over classic video games, the band approaches everything with a rare mix of intensity, humility, and passion.

As they hit the road for their North American tour, their message is clear: this music is meant to be felt live, loud, and with a crowd. OG isn’t just writing albums—they’re building immersive experiences, one riff at a time.

So crank the volume, grab your ticket, and prepare to burn a few bridges—because Omnium Gatherum is lighting the way. Pre order here

Categories: Interviews, Omnium Gatherum

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