Interviews About Albums: Mandy Manala - Something Wicked (2026)

In this new interview, we sat down with the Finnish Dark Heavy Rock project Mandy Manala to ask questions about their album, "Something Wicked".

1. What can you say about “Something Wicked”?

We started writing the album way before the first album was released. As a matter of fact, we recorded it a week after the first album was released. We tried to do our best not to be affected by other people's opinions about the first album. For example, reading reviews beforehand was strictly forbidden. That way, we felt that we maintained the artistic integrity that Mandy Manala is all about for us. It is super important to make music that we like to make and listen to ourselves and not be biased by what other people think.

”Something Wicked” is a follow-up and a direct continuation of the lore of Mandy that was present on the first album, where we also develop on what we thought was good about the first album.

2. What is the meaning of the album name?

After Amanda von Treiss had been burnt as a witch, she was born again as Mandy Manala, a wicked witch out for revenge to defeat the bloodline of all who did her wrong. Out of the ashes comes something wicked.

It is also a wordplay on our way of writing and how we interpret the world.

3. Which one is the composer of “Something Wicked”?

The album was written the same way as the first one. David might have a riff, and I always have lyrics in my ”little black book,” and then it's a matter of ”finishing the puzzle”. We jam the riffs and the melodies together until it feels right for us. Or a melody might strike me all of a sudden when I do some everyday chore, and I quickly hum it into voice memo on my phone and send it to David, who then sends it back as a guitar riff, and then we work from that.

There is no particular composer; one may plant a seed, and the rest nourish the seed into growth.

4. If you had to pick one song, which one would you pick?

It’s like picking one of your children - it’s quite impossible. But if I had to pick one, I’d probably pick ”Nocturnal Bites”. We had eight finished songs, and we were missing an anthemic one. The ”radio hit”, if you prefer to call it that.

As I drove home from the movie theatre after watching Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, it hit me. I wrote the lyrics in my head as I hummed the melody into voice memo when driving. When I parked the car at home ten minutes after leaving the movie theatre, David sent back the riff exactly as it is in the finished song. That was it.

5. Is there a special message in “Something Wicked”? If there is what it is?

If you find a message within the album, well, that message is personally for you. It is very much about how you interpret it personally. If you don’t find a hidden message, you can always try to play the record backwards.

6. Are there some lyrics that you'd love to share?

Where we come from, there are a lot of independent churches and different beliefs. Some are more aggressive than others. We touch on those subjects in the song ”Psalm 77:7”

”They tell me there is relief

Sugar-coated in belief

Free will carving like a drill

Makes me swallow a bitter pill

They drank the drink, the kool-aid

Got my future, my future delayed

With their big, their big charade

In their own make believe parade”

7. Which inspirations have been important for “Something Wicked”? Like musically or friends, family, someone you'd love to thank especially?

Films by Robert Eggers, Benjamin Christensen and Ingmar Bergman. Dante’s Inferno, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the world beyond this one and the world beyond that one, the stupidity of human(un)kind, insanity, the celebration of life & death, the force of nature, the alleged power up above and the evil below.

Inspiration is everywhere. Especially the evil ones.

8. Something to add?

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