Following on from some Italian rock at #34, I have placed some Finnish (rap) rock at #33. Blind Channel describe their music as “violent pop” and that certainly is what you get from their song “Dark Side” which swept to victory in the Finnish national final. Finland love their heavy metal and rock, and of course their best result at Eurovision came in 2006 via the hard rock/heavy metal band Lordi.

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Finland held a national final this year, with last year’s winner Aksel entering once again. There was no repeat victory fpr him though as “Dark Side” achieved a huge victory, taking over half of the entire televote. Blind Channel have been around for quite a few years but this is has been their first big chart success (reaching number 1 in Finland).

While this is clearly a different genre of rock to Italy’s entry, my feelings stand about loud rock overall – it’s just not something I enjoy very much. I’m not a fan of the aggressive, nihilistic lyrics either, though I do find there is a bit more of a catchy Eurovision hook in this song (than Italy).

I’m not sure how this will do at the contest. Their live performance will definitely be energetic and explosive but will the seeming popularity in the fandom translate to televotes? They are in the “easier” semi-final and a good place in the running order but were they to qualify for the grand final, I expect they would probably be eclisped by Italy.

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Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest