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A double surprise


Action: VELVET OCEAN
Title: tba
Base: Oulu • Finnland
Style: Alternative Melodic Metal
Genre: Alternative Metal, Melodic Metal, Modern Metal
FFO: Sleep Token, Amaranthe, Spiritbox
Type: Single
Format: Digital
Label: Independent
Release: May 15, 2026

BULLET POINTS
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Various circumstances led to a lengthy hiatus for the Finnish band. But their love for music remained undiminished, as VELVET OCEAN will soon demonstrate - a new single is set to be released on May 15, featuring none other than Mr. Lordi!

That sounds doubly exciting, since the globally popular monster rockers Lordi are the only Finnish band to date to have won the Eurovision Song Contest! But that's not all: Lordi will perform as part of a special intermission act at the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest final in Vienna on May 16, the day after the release of the new single.

Currently, the talented band from Oulu is also busy finishing their second full-length album. Five singles have already been released from this album: "My Life", "Rage", "Take Me Away", "Forever" and the Muse cover "New Born".

In addition, VELVET OCEAN is currently recording a special concept EP themed around the 90s, which will feature the upcoming single on its tracklist.





FLASHBACK
VELVET OCEAN is an ALTERNATIVE MELODIC METAL band from Oulu, Northern Finland. The story of the band began a couple of years ago as a co-writing project of the main singer Riitu and her husband, guitarist Jarkko 'Jake' Ronkainen.

As songs kept popping up the project soon evolved into a studio project with both session musicians and later other musicians joined in including Arto Alikoski, solo cellist of Oulu symphonic orchestra as well as an established Finnish keyboard player Marco Sneck. 


The debut album recorded in this way, which later got the title "Purposes And Promises", was handed over to Johan Örnborg and Jens Bogren for mixing and mastering at the well-known Fascination Street Studios. "Purposes And Promises" was released on February 7, 2020 via Helsinki Records and is distributed by Warner Music Finland. 



The title of the album describes the motivation of the Ronkainens behind the album project. It has been the sole purpose of their lives for the last few years, says Jake, and the promise they made to complete it has held the project together throughout the hard work period.

VELVET OCEAN believe that music is a connection between their own feelings and the outside world, and that is why their compositions tell stories about things that have happened in their personal lives. The music style of VELVET OCEAN is basically derived from all the music the couple has ever listened to, and also incorporates influences from genres other than Metal music. 



The independent style reminds a little bit of other contemporary Melodic Metal bands with female vocals, but adds a touch of Pop and Grunge as well as distinctive drum beats and acoustic instruments.

"Our music is about honesty and dealing with certain emotions that have caused some difficulties or challenges in life. It's about expressing yourself and dealing with negative feelings in a way that other people can identify with them," adds Riitu, who describes her attitude towards music itself as follows:

"Music is very important to me. It’s almost as important as the air that I breathe. Music gives a meaning to my life. It’s also a sort of therapy to me. With music I can express the thoughts and emotions that I go through. I’m the kind of person that I have a very vivid imagination and I feel that this is a quality that is very useful in making music. Music connects me very strongly to my emotions in a way that sometimes feels even a little bit excessive. It is very important to me to communicate with the people listening to our music. I mean an emotional level connection that would make the people try to understand the feelings we have put into the blend that has eventually made the music exist. I am also very visual in my composing. I would like the mere music and the sound to fill the whole inner space of the person listening with images and landscapes. Today the world is packed with visual information and leaves less to the imagination which is kind of a negative thing sometimes. In the end, I would love to think that our music will prevail after everything we’ve gone through."

On May 21st, 2020 VELVET OCEAN released another music video,for the album song "Elysian Fields":







VELVET OCEAN

EMAIL

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TRACK
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total: tba min.

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LINE-UP
Riitu Ronkainen • Lead vocals, programming
Jake Ronkainen • Guitar, Vocals
Tuomas Vesa • Bass
Jami Alaverronen • Keyboard
Arto Alikoski • Cello
Markus Määttälä • Drums

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DISCOGRAPHY
2020 • Purposes And Promises • Full-length
2021 • My Life • Single
2023 • Rage • Single
2023 • Take Me Away • Single
2023 • Forever • Single
2024 • New Born • Single
2026 • tba • Single

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VISUAL CREDITS
Band: Jarkko 'Jake' Ronkainen
Artwork & Logo: Abstract Chaos

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2026 CONCERT DATES
[ All dates ]

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The band is looking forward to booking inquiries

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#️⃣ Tag cloud
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INTERVIEWS ➭ VELVET OCEAN are available via Phone, Teams, Zoom & email