The Finnish horror punk/metal troupe The Ghoulstars are this week’s featured Meet The Band artist. The group’s debut album is The Dark Overlords Of The Universe. Guitarist Markus “Daddy Ghoul” Laakso introduces us to his band.
Chad Bowar: Give us a brief history of The Ghoulstars.
Markus “Daddy Ghoul” Laakso: The Ghoulstars started as a non-serious therapy side project that quickly transformed to the full scale monster that it is. I wanted to write the type of music that blew my mind as a teenager, and has stuck with me ever since. I used to collect obscure horror and sci-fi VHS’s back then, and The Ghoulstars is basically an extension of my love for the mysterious, gothic and macabre. The songs just flooded out of me as I felt extremely inspired. Very soon I realized that the songs are so good that they need to be recorded properly and played live, so I phoned up a few friends, and the rest is history. Now we’re preparing to release The Dark Overlords of the Universe internationally via Season of Mist, one of the biggest and best metal labels in the world. How ghoul is that?
Describe the songwriting process for The Dark Overlords Of The Universe.
The songwriting process was both spontaneous and structured. As I was feeling super inspired and pumped up, I gave myself a time frame of ten days to write ten songs. I ended up writing eight songs in nine days, most of which are on the album. The rest I threw away. Some of the songs I literally wrote in less than an hour, some took days. Polishing the lyrics, arrangements and song structures take the most time and effort, but somehow coming up with concepts, riffs and melodies has always been easy for me, which is a blessing.
What is your strongest memory of the recording of the album?
I personally recorded a lot of the tracks on the album, so many of the memories are tied to sitting in front of a computer screen and pressing the ”R” and space buttons on Logic Pro. Recording percussions and all the ”extras” on top of the basic band tracks is always fun. I remember having some beers with our drummer Toni ”Ghoulio” Ronkainen, recording güiro on the C part of ”Graverobbers from Outer Space” and laughing our asses off. I mean, how many horror punk songs have you heard that have a güiro in them! Recording Arthur ”LL Ghoul A” Thure’s vocals was mind-blowing. He did a fantastic job, and his voice and style fit the music perfectly. He’s a down to earth dude that has a bear-strong work ethic. No LSD – lead singer syndrome – there.
What was the biggest challenge in its creation?
Technically, recording the guitars. I recorded my parts at a studio, but ended up re-recording everything later at my home studio, as there were some fine tuning inaccuracies on some of the tracks. Some of the songs I recorded for a third time because of other technical issues. It felt like a never ending process, but it worked out well in the end.
How would you characterize its style/sound?
Our label promotes it as metal-infused horror punk, which is quite accurate. However, there are tons of other influences on the album, too, like surf beats, western movie soundtrack style melodies and ’50s rock’n’roll grooves.
What lyrical topics do you cover?
The lyrics are mostly inspired by movies and pop culture, but occasionally they deal with very personal topics. Tons of intertextual references and nerding out everywhere. The lyrics are there to set the mood and to entertain, so on Shakespeare there. I’m not saying that the lyrics aren’t important and high-quality – which I think they are – but the poetic value of them is not measured by the same set of rules than, say, Jim Morrison’s, Lana Del Rey’s or Bob Dylan’s texts.
How were the video shoots for “Graverobbers From Outer Space” and “Too Ghoul For School”?
Great but exhausting as video shoots tend to be. I enjoy making music videos a lot, and I usually work with the director with the script, mood and details, sometimes with the editing, too. ”Too Ghoul” demanded a lot of behind the scenes work, as we need to get permissions to shoot at two different schools in our home town. Meetings, signing papers, arranging schedules and so forth. It was much easier to get Alexi Laiho’s (Children of Bodom legend) Cadillac in the video than to hire young extras for the shoot. (laughs)
The shoot for ”Graverobbers” was completely different. The Antiteatteri film crew had planned everything very well beforehand, and even built a ”graveyard” with realistic tombstones. It was much easier to shoot as there was only one location instead of many. There will be a third video coming up shortly. I directed ”The Dark Overlords of the Universe” myself, with my long-time cooperator Riku Jokinen filming and editing. The video is set in a spaceship, where the band is playing, and the ”astro clones” attack our audience.
How did you come to sign with Season Of Mist?
It was our dream to sign with Season of Mist, and sometimes dreams come true…
What are your goals and expectations for the album?
It’s hard to expect anything as this is our first album, but our goal is to sell as many albums as is needed for us to have the opportunity to make more records. Sorry, erase that: our goal is to claim our throne as the dark overlords of the universe that we are.
What has been your most memorable The Ghoulstars live show?
We’ve played annual Halloween shows at our local metal bar for three years now, and they’ve all been great – as for us, everyday is Halloween. At those shows, our set is more over the top with wind machines blowing, spiderwebs hanging and tombstones standing on stage. Playing a sold-out show with Nyrkkitappelu, who are probably the biggest punk band in Finland right now, was definitely a highlight for us, too.
What are your upcoming show/tour plans?
We are negotiating with an agency right now, but it seems like there will be a pretty sweet tour coming up at the end of the year. We hope to tour Europe as much as we can, and obviously it would be a dream come true to play the States at some point. Right now it’s not realistic as the logistical costs are so high.
What are some of your non-musical interests and hobbies?
I watch a lot of movies and read a lot of books. I’m also an avid record, book and movie collector. I used to do photography semi-professionally, but I just don’t have the time to shoot anymore. I’ve also written a couple of non-fiction books (Amorphis and Folk Metal Big 5). I’ve been thinking of writing a novel someday, but right now I’m concentrating on music as much as I can.
What’s currently in your musical heavy rotation?
I’ve been listening to new music quite a bit lately. Especially Hollow Grounds (2026) by Underground Fire, Heartwood (2026) by Iterum Nata, Neverland</em< (2025) by Ulver, Buried Blue (2026) by For My Pain and the advance digital promo of the forthcoming Mortiis album Ghost of Europa</em< (2026), which is spectacular. I think everyone should listen to Sofia Isella. She’s the greatest lyricist of her generation, hands down.
Anything else you’d like to mention or promote?
As we’re a quite visual band, we’ve got killer merch available at the Season of Mist shop and Levykauppa Äx. Much more coming. See you at our shows!
(interview published May 16, 2026)
Watch The Ghoulstars – “Too Ghoul For School” Video
