Review: “Saint Devil in the Fields” by Nobody

“Eight Bullets of Death is a death ballad of madness and wicked desire that springs from the tale of the largest-scale massacre of policemen in Finnish history. Driven by their mutual hatred of society, two lovers engage on a rampage of murder across the Nordic landscape, leaving behind a trail of bodies from small town to small town. At their final moments of doom before their inevitable death, the couple vows to find each other in the next world, above or below.” ~ Nobody

A second extended play of 2025 from the ever prolific Acoustic Dark Folk and Black Metal being that is Nobody, also known as Tuomas Kauppinen is upon us. As ever, handling vocals, acoustic guitars, guitars, bass and drums while handing off cover art to Don Artvaara and mastering duties to Jaakko Luomanen (ex-Lähiöbotox). As you might expect, Kauppinen isn’t about to re-invent the wheel and with distinctive Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Johnny Cash  or even acoustic Wednesday 13 flavours he rides like a horseman of the apocalypse into “Eight Bullets Of Death“. A classic Murder Ballad style tune with an earworm piece of lead electric guitar, it’s upbeat musicianship is perfectly contrasted by the dark lyrics. It’s the kind of thing you might expect Quentin Tarantino to pick for the soundtrack to a sequel to Reservoir Dogs and you’ve had no clue that it originated in Finland. Moving into more sinister territory “I Fucking Hate Jesus” depicts the man that wore the crown of thorns to be a significantly different character to the one you think you know. The concept expands into anti religious rhetoric about those in power sitting on piles of gold while those beneath them starve. It’s something you’ll have heard before… but not with what sounds like a lap steel guitar and an evil grin. Aesthetically it almost feels like black comedy territory and not something we’ve heard from Kauppinen previously. “Pogrom Nights” takes a less bold approach with an almost bluesy style to it as he depicts the rape and murder of his wife by soldiers with a Southern twang. Anther classically in keeping with what you’d expect from Nobody, it’s a wonderfully macabre moment followed by another in “Swamp Dance“. A man and his acoustic guitar telling a tale of suicides in the backwoods and boys who never came home. Hangover music at its finest, you can trust in Kauppinen and coffee to nurse you from your self inflicted pain [8/10]

Track Listing

1. Eight Bullets Of Death
2. I Fucking Hate Jesus
3. Pogrom Nights
4. Swamp Dance

“Saint Devil in the Fields” by Nobody is out 8th May 2025 via Inverse Records and is available over at bandcamp