Finnish Nu-Metal Band Blind Channel Storm Eurovision – and Twitter Users’ Hearts

Italian rockers Maneskin won the Eurovision Song Contest last night, but another competing group has captured the hearts of viewers and dominated social media conversation: Finnish nu-metal sextet Blind Channel.

Hailing from Oulu, Finland, Blind Channel describe themselves as “violent pop.” It’s a fitting description, based on their pyrotechnic-filled performance of their popular song “Dark Side.” The melodic hard rock track combines aggressively rapped verses, massive sing-along choruses, beefy guitar riffs and breakdowns and electronic flourishes.

Meanwhile, the band’s all-black ensemble — including baggy shorts, studded wristbands and eyeliner — would not have been out of place on the Family Values Tour.

You can watch Blind Channel perform “Dark Side” on the Eurovision Song Contest below.

Blind Channel finished in sixth place in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest with Finland’s second-best score in the competition’s history, Yle reports. But they were the clear winner in many Twitter users’ hearts.

The group also drew several comparisons to fellow Finnish theatrical rockers Lordi, who won the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with their song “Hard Rock Hallelujah.” (Lordi even wished Blind Channel good luck on Twitter yesterday ahead of the Eurovision finale.) Lordi have since released several Top 10 albums in Finland and played major festivals such as Ozzfest, so their career trajectory would be a nice one for Blind Channel to follow.

In fact, they may already be on their way to achieving similar worldwide success. Blind Channel have opened for several prominent rock, metal and post-hardcore acts across Europe, including Hollywood Undead, Enter Shikari and Simple Plan. Last week, they also signed a worldwide deal with Century Media Records.

”We’re extremely excited and grateful to join the Century Media/Sony Music family,” Blind Channel said in a statement. “To join forces with one of the world’s biggest rock/ metal labels is a great honour to us. We’ve been working hard for almost 8 years and now it’s time for yet another level up. We can’t wait to start working with these awesome people to show everyone what Blind Channel and violent pop is all about. This week we’ll start with Europe. Next: the whole planet.”

You can also check out last night’s winners, Italian rock band Maneskin, below.