The Rasmus, who release their new album, Weirdo, on 12 September 2025, are just back from headlining the Atlas Festival in Ukraine. The festival, at Blockbuster Mall in Kyiv, was held over three days with a theme of Inspires. Unites. Helps. The charitable goal was to raise over 100 million UAH for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. “A trip to a warzone was eye-opening,” lead singer Lauri Ylönen told MetalTalk.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February 2022, when Russian forces launched a full-scale military assault across multiple fronts. Today, Ukraine people are still fighting for freedom. Atlas Festival featured over 100 artists across six stages.
“It was crazy to witness the everyday life in fear of drones and missiles,” Lauri Ylönen said. “We even got to experience an evacuation and a night of an air strike from Russia. There were 300 drones and 13 missiles in the sky.
“We slept in a shelter that night. We were honoured to be the only foreign artist to play along with Ukrainian musicians. Atlas Festival was a charity event, and we raised money for a children’s hospital that was bombed last year.”
Playing in Ukraine in 2025 carries a weight beyond the music. This was recognised by The Rasmus. “It felt like our lyrics had new meanings while singing them in front of the Ukraine audience,” Lauri says. “Songs like No Fear or Livin’ In A World Without You brought tears into my eyes.”
Ukraine Metal fans have always been passionate. But this year’s crowd felt especially electric. The resilience and spirit from the audience was felt by the band on stage.
“These people are true Fighters,” Lauri says. “I was exhausted after spending four days there. But for them, it’s already been over 1,240 days of nightmare. I really wish the war would be over soon and we could go to visit them again.”
The music of The Rasmus has long been rooted in emotional intensity, something Ukraine deeply connects with. Across the fourteen songs in the band’s Atlas Festival set, Lauri says the band felt a different kind of emotional dialogue happening, even across language or culture.
“I feel related to Ukraine people and culture,” he says. “Something about the way they are quite reserved and shy reminds me of Finnish people. My Finnish roots as a songwriter are based on the same Slavic scales and vibes they are using.
“Music can be a great tool for escapism and healing. Despite the dark layers in our music, our songs are often written to bring hope.”
The Rasmus closed their set with an encore of In The Shadows, performed with the Kalush Orchestra. If this song defined an era, their sound has never stood still. When they look back at that early 2000s chapter, how much of it still resonates with who The Rasmus are now in 2025?
“There are a lot of things happening in music that remind me of the early 2000s,” Lauri says. “Rock and Metal are, in fact, more popular now than ever. These things come in cycles. The world is a scary place right now, and people need stronger and louder music.”
In these post-COVID times, many world touring bands have spoken of a change in the relationships with their audience. The same holds true for The Rasmus. “It seems people appreciate these gatherings more now after Covid and isolation,” Lauri says. “We should all try to get along and live in peace. We’ll all be dead in a second when an asteroid hits the Earth.”
With the new album, Weirdo, less than two months away, the excitement is certainly building. There is real fire on the singles released so far. Rest In Pieces is icy and reflective, Creatures Of Chaos is feral, and Break These Chains sounds like it could rip a hole in a stadium roof.
“Every song lives a separate life of their own,” Lauri says. “I want to have a tailored production for each one of them based on the mood of the lyrics and melody. This is, anyway, the heart of a song. Everything else is just decoration around it. A good song should be able to be sung in a shower and still sound complete.”
Finnish music has always had this elemental quality, like it’s carved from forests, fire, and long winters. Does that geography still bleed into the band’s sound?
“It’s true,” Lauri smiles. “If I want to have a full Finnish musical escapism experience, I would listen to Sibelius. The greatest classical writer who ever lived. His way of painting the picture of the Finnish landscape is as good as it gets. The long and cold winter periods have a huge effect on all of us up here in the North.”
After nearly three decades together for The Rasmus, people see Lauri Ylönen as spearheading a duty, a calling, a way of documenting the chaos. “It’s a lifestyle for me,” he says. “Something that started off as a hobby, out of passion, has become my job. I feel lucky to be in my position, but I’ve also worked my ass off for this. The band is the first and last thing I think about every day.”
The Rasmus have outlasted trends, scenes, and algorithm-driven chaos. What’s the one thing that has kept Lauri’s compass steady while the entire music landscape has been flipped upside down?
“It’s the passion for music and learning new things,” he says. “I feel I can still get better with each song I’m writing. Music is an endless world of different combinations and unrevealed secrets. There are no limits.”
“I wrote our first song, Myself, in 1995. It’s about being my weird self and being proud of it. It’s been the main message of The Rasmus ever since.
“We should celebrate our differences instead of trying to look and think the same, as Social media is strongly suggesting to us to do.”
If music in the past was a kind of escape and healing, then, especially with their performance at Atlas Festival, The Rasmus are carriers of light in dark places.
The Rasmus release Weirdo on 12 September 2025 via Better Noise Music. For pre-orders and limited edition merch, visit therasmus.lnk.to/weirdoalbum.
