Finnish sludge metal band Sunniva unveils new single and music video »Valovaltimo«; debut album »Hypostasis« out in September 2025 via Svart Records!

Turku, Finland based sludge/post-metal band Sunniva share a music video for the second single »Valovaltimo« taken from their debut album, »Hypostasis«, scheduled for release on September 19th, 2025 via Svart Records.

Tracklist:
01. Mercurial Bloodstreams
02. Peine Forte Et Dure
03. Valovaltimo
04. Opening The Key
05. Sun Funeral
06. Hung From The Sky

Courtesy of Sure Shot Worx:

Finnish sludge/post-metal act Sunniva have unveiled another song from their upcoming debut album »Hypostasis«, coming on September 19th, 2025 via Svart Records.

You can watch the official video for »Valovaltimo« at this location.

Sung in Finnish and Swedish, »Valovaltimo« (which translates to “Artery of light”) is a deep, hypnotic journey into the band’s signature blend of psychedelic repetition, crushing doom, and heavy atmospherics. The track builds slowly, creating a sense of mounting tension before culminating in a dramatic, almost spiritual conclusion.

Photo credit: Aleks Talve

The song’s lyrics are inspired by a vivid, unsettling dream experienced by the band’s lyricist: a vision of a massive black hole consuming everything – people, animals, buildings, trees, the very fabric of reality itself. “At first I felt dread as I floated toward it,” the lyricist recalls. “But then I saw animals heading toward it, accepting it without fear. There was a strange sense of calm, and that stayed with me.” The dream ultimately became a meditation on death, unity, and the idea that we are all interconnected, spiraling toward the same end.

The track also features guest vocals and lyrics by Lotta, the lead singer of Svarta Havet, who was inspired by the dream’s imagery to create her own contribution, adding a hauntingly ethereal layer to the song’s dramatic finale.

Sunniva was formed in 2016 out of a shared hunger for the raw sonic power of heavy music. The band’s name, derived from the Old English Sunngifu, meaning “gift of the sun”, hints at the layered darkness and light woven into their sound.

Blurring the lines between death doom, sludge, and post-metal, Sunniva summons the same seismic intensity as titans like Amenra, Neurosis and Dark Buddha Rising. Their past releases – »The Holy Mountain« (2017), self-titled EP (2020), and the sprawling single »This Reality Only Speaks In Blood« (2018) – have cemented their reputation for crafting immersive, soul-crushing soundscapes.

Listen. Witness. Be undone.

The band is in its full elements in live shows which you can experience as follows:
29.8. Seinäjoki (FI), Bar15
30.8. Oulu (FI), Tukikohta
18.9. Turku (FI), Nirvana
19.9. Tampere (FI), Maanalainen
20.9. Helsinki (FI), Lepakkomies

New full-length album »Hypostasis« will be out on September 19th, 2025 via Svart Records. Pre-order HERE.

Sunniva is:
Oliver Webb – Vocals, Guitars
Tuomas Mikola – Guitars, Backing Vocals
Timi Ketonen – Bass, Backing Vocals
Jaakko Ojanperä – Drums

Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well