Before stepping into the “Forest of Forgetting“, we sat down with Johanna Kurkela, the voice and heart behind Eye Of Melian. Born from a shared love of Tolkien, fantasy, and cinematic storytelling, the project she created together with Martijn Westerholt (Delain) feels less like a band and more like a living world. With their new album “Forest of Forgetting“ arriving on February 20, 2026 via Napalm Records, Johanna opened up about kindred spirits, creative freedom, time pressure, guest collaborators, and why this music feels like home. What started as a conversation about a new release quickly turned into a deeper journey through imagination, intuition, and the magic that happens when art is allowed to breathe.

–Forest of Forgetting clearly carries a Tolkien-like spirit, but it’s still your own. How did you find the balance between inspiration and originality?

I think what we do with Eye Of Melian is already pretty unique. There’s no other band combining elements in music the way we do.

The fact that we’re all kindred spirits, sharing a love for this fantasy-driven expression — not just in music, but in other areas of life as well — has really enabled us to create something magical together.

And with the second album, I’m honestly so stoked about all the songs. I feel like they’re all my favorite, I couldn’t pick just one. That’s how proud I am of it, and how happy I am to finally share it with everyone.

-Many believe Tolkien was inspired by Finnish nature and the Kalevala. When you look at his stories, do you see Finland in them?

-Well, since I’m a Finnish person, I might be a bit blind to my own culture in a way. When you’re so close to something, you don’t always see it with the same mystical or magical vibe that others might. That said, I do appreciate the beauty of Finnish culture, and I definitely see the enchantment of Finnish nature, even the language itself, and how it might sound to someone who isn’t a native speaker. I’m very proud to be Finnish, and the fact that Tolkien fell in love with Finnish culture, and especially with our language and way of speaking, is a really fun connection.

-Is there a certain feeling, scene, or idea from Tolkien that guides you the most when you create?

-Oh, I think it’s more something we carry in the back of our heads and in our hearts, that love for Tolkien and his world of fantasy, elves, and that whole aesthetic. I don’t think it’s a very conscious thing that drives us; it’s more an element that naturally seeps through us because of what we hold close.
That said, there are definitely influences from Tolkien’s world, even lyrically, on this second album as well (“Child of Twilight”, “Lady of Light”, “Forest of Forgetting”, as you mentioned. You can clearly see tinges of Tolkien’s universe embedded in our music and lyrics. But it’s not strictly all about that. For me, when I write lyrics, it’s always important to inject a little piece of myself: something current in my life, or a fragment of who I am day to day. Just thoughts, feelings, and musings that speak to me in that moment.

–What was the first idea or emotion that sparked the creation of “Forest of Forgetting“?

-I think we simply wanted to make a new album, and Martijn started writing the music. I just love the way he writes, he’s one of my top three favorite composers of all time. He’s incredible. I’ve honestly never heard anything from him that I didn’t like.
So whenever he sends a new song, it feels like Christmas all over again, like a new gift I get to unwrap. And the fact that he’s given me the freedom to soar over the music, to find my vocals on top of it and really follow my heart, that inspires me so much, both as a vocalist and as a lyricist.

-The album moves from soft, dreamlike moments to big, cinematic ones. How do you work with that contrast as a vocalist?

–I love dramatics and contrast, and the freedom of not being stuck in a certain style. That’s something I really cherish. I also love tuning into the song itself — what the song needs and wants — and then trying different things to serve that.
That’s one of the reasons I love working in my home studio and recording my own vocals. I’ve been doing that for about ten years now, and it allows me to tune into a song so deeply that I can completely lose track of time. I don’t have to worry about wasting anyone else’s time if I want to focus on a single word, a small phrase, or just follow a moment of inspiration when it calls.
My studio is always ready to capture new vocals and new ideas, so finding the right vocal approach for a song always feels like an adventure.

-You worked with strong musical personalities — Martijn, Troy Donockley, Patty Gurdy. How did you keep the album’s world consistent with so many different voices in it?

-I think they all complement each other. We’ve been so lucky to have guest musicians and vocalists on our albums — Leah on the first album and Patti Gurdy on the second. Also, Troy Donockley joining us with his amazing arsenal of instruments. I’m so grateful for that, and I think it really helps enrich the sound of Eye Of Melian. What we always try to do is serve the music. We constantly ask ourselves: does this actually complement what we’re creating?

It’s not something we do just for the sake of doing it. There needs to be a purpose, and that purpose is always serving the song: really tuning into what the song needs, what it wants, and how it wants to sound.

-Covering Bruce Dickinson’s “Tears of the Dragon” is an interesting choice. What made that song fit into the album’s world?

-Thank you for bringing that up. It was actually a pitch from Mikko, our wizard of orchestrations and arrangements, he’s the one who came up with the idea of “Tears of the Dragon”.
I think we all found it a bit amusing, especially because we were so grateful to have signed with Napalm Records. At the same time, Napalm is very much a heavy metal label, and while we all love heavy metal and our hearts are in that scene, Eye Of Melian isn’t really heavy metal in the strict sense. Our music lives a bit on the border of that genre. So we thought it would be a fun idea to cover a metal song with Eye Of Melian as a way to pay tribute and celebrate signing with Napalm.

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-What was the most challenging part of creating this album? And what part felt the most natural?

-I think the most challenging part was time. We did start early, but toward the end it felt like we were running out of it, because the Auri tour was approaching, and Eye Of Melian also had touring coming up. There were a lot of things already looming on the horizon, and we had to speed things up toward the end to meet the deadline, which we luckily did. I’m really happy with how the album turned out, but I’d say time was definitely our biggest challenge. The easiest part, on the other hand, was how natural and lovely the creative process felt. Making this music feels like home to all of us. We love it so much, and we love each other, and I truly hope that energy comes through in the music for the listeners as well.

-Your Auriwear creations also have a magical, fantasy touch. Were they inspired by the same world that shaped Eye of Melian?

-Yes, with Auriwear, it all started thanks to Eye Of Melian’s first crowdfunding campaign, when we needed some special items to offer.

I’ve been knitting for as long as I can remember, basically since I could hold a knitting needle, so it’s always been a passion of mine.

During the COVID years, when the world was shut down, knitting became a way for me to channel my creativity. I worked with yarn, fantasy themes again being a huge inspiration, and I also noticed a gap: I was looking online and couldn’t really find much fantasy-related knitwear or handmade yarn pieces like that. So it grew into something really fun. I hope that at some point I’ll have more time to dedicate to it, because COVID was such a special period. It gave us time we don’t normally have, and thanks to those years, Auriwear finally came to life. Now I’m so busy with music that I haven’t really had the chance to realize all the designs I have in my head, things I definitely want to knit one day. But there’s time for everything, and I trust that time will come in later years. I know it will.

Interview: Ditty
Cover photo: Tim Tronckoe