SENTENCED - Interview with Sami Lopakka
by Martin Popoff

Finnish grey disposition practitioners Sentenced have decided to do something different, fashioning a fully new and grim record and then announcing it would be their last! Very good at discussing death, decay and depression, Sentenced now get to put their somber words to action. The Funeral Album will be followed by limited touring and then... silence, an eerie Finnish finish, perhaps, the dawn of a new era of good cheer? Guitarist Sami Lopakka weighed in with his usual gravitas, on what is to be the last of Sentenced.

What is The Funeral Album's personality, versus the last few Sentenced albums?

"Well, obviously, as this is the last album, it has a very final feeling to it. And I think that is the most decisive thing to differentiate it from the previous ones. But also, it's a pretty diverse album, as there are some pretty rocking and aggressive songs, and then again, there are songs that probably go deeper than we have ever gone, with our music, and with the lyrics. But then again, I would say, that kind of comes out of the fact that this is a farewell album, the last one of the band, and then the band will be no more. So we just wanted to say the things we needed to say. And have this ending with dignity for the band, so that we can look back on it as something that we could be satisfied with, and not have any regrets."

What do you think is the most experimental or out there track on here, and why?

"There are songs that go in different directions. The first one to come to mind, is the last one, which will be the last one of the whole band, "End Of The Road," which, arrangement-wise, atmosphere-wise, is pretty different from probably anything we've done before. It has a long instrumental ending to it, like a two-minute instrumental part, to lower the band to its grave, so to speak. We also had some new elements like a children's choir, on the album, and we used a lot of shit instead of traditional instruments, anything from spoons and zippers to air dusters and cupboard shelves, anything we could get our hands on. "End Of The Road," as a song though, will always have a special place in our minds. It is the last one we will ever do. And the atmosphere in it was exactly what we were looking for, to put the band to rest."

SENTENCED - Interview with Sami Lopakka Page 2