I HELVETE have released Päätösmatka, the third and final single ahead of their upcoming album Halla. The Finnish melodic black/death metal band incorporate violin, piano and vibraphone into the song, with a choir featured in its choruses. Their third album is due November 6, 2026.
In the announcement supplied by Ironclad Metal PR, the band explain how the record's subject matter connects to its title. Its themes concern survival against nature in earlier times, with frost serving both as a natural threat and a figure from Finnish mythology.
“Halla is a theme album about old times when surviving against nature was a daily life struggle,” I HELVETE comment. “Halla is a Finnish word and lazily translated means ‘frost’. It is a phenomenon, but in Finnish mythology it is also a fairytale character that destroys the fields with its coldness.”
The work of Finnish painter Hugo Simberg (1873–1917) informed both the visual presentation and the writing of the record. “All the single and album covers draw inspiration from the works of the Finnish painter Hugo Simberg (1873-1917), whose art also inspired us in our songwriting and composition process,” the band state.
Päätösmatka follows an album campaign that began with Nälkätalvi. According to the announcement, that first single was included among Metal Hammer's Tracks of the Week alongside 11 other songs and was added to Spotify playlists from Season of Mist and Noble Demon Records.
I HELVETE began releasing music in 2018 with the double-single Pimeyden Ytimessä / Umpikuja. Their debut album, Sinisten Puiden Niitty, followed in 2021, with Yksi Yhteinen Yhteiskunta arriving in 2023. The group underwent lineup changes during 2024 before preparing Halla. Their supplied biography describes a combination of melodic black metal riffs, choir synths and hooks drawn from modern metal.
The announced lineup consists of Aleksi Mäkelä on vocals, guitar and keyboards; Manu Kujala on guitar; Iaroslav Korenskoi on bass; and Teemu Siipola on drums. The band report that they have yet to play live, having concentrated on writing new music while waiting for the right moment to begin performing.
