Finnish Metal

Kalmah – Seventh Swamphony Review

By Steel Druhm on June 7, 2013 in 2013, 3.5, Black Metal, Death Metal, Finnish Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Reviews, Spinefarm, Thrash Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 10 comments

“As the only blackened thrash band willing to sing about fishing and fish generally, Kalmah always had a special place in my outdoorsy heart. I mean, who else can make simple tales of man vs. fish seem so epic and life threatening? I was impressed by their first four outings (with Swampsong being my favorite), but I felt really let down by their For the Revolution opus, which felt quite tedious. While things kicked back up for the enjoyable and energetic 12 Gauge, it still felt like a band entering the “spinning the wheels” period of their career. Thankfully, Seventh Swamphony sees these psychotic fishermen make a triumphant return to the off-the-rails, blackened thrash of old which straddles the line between the melodic tomfoolery of Children of Bodom and more extreme, cvlt black/death acts.” Do you like blackended catfish metal like Steel Druhm does? If so, you best don the hip waders and read all about the return of the swamp lords.

Decaying – The Last Days of War Review

By Steel Druhm on May 17, 2013 in 2013, 3.0, Death Metal, Finnish Metal, Hellthrasher Productions, Reviews, Death Metal, 2 comments

“I’m not one to suggest there can ever be too much war metal, and while Bolt Thrower has ground to a halt for the time being, there are plenty of bands trying to keep the flame of strife and global conflict alive. Hail of Bullets may be the most prominent at the moment, but the recent Just Before Dawn debut is good enough to challenge them for world domination. Finland’s Decaying also have a tank in this battle, and their 2012 Encirclement album was a well done, Bolt Throw-y dose of ugly death metal with a heavy war theme and vocals that could easily pass for those of the great Martin Van Drunen (Hail of Bullets, Asphyx, ex-Bolt Thrower, ex-Pestilence etc.). Now they’re back with The Last Days of War and hoping to carve off a bigger piece of the war market.” Steel Druhm loves him some war metal, so what does he think of the new battle-ready opus from these Finnish vets?

Battle Beast – Battle Beast Review

By Steel Druhm on May 14, 2013 in 2.5, 2013, Finnish Metal, Nuclear Blast, Power Metal, Reviews, Power Metal, 8 comments

“Sweet mother of Jesusabub, is there no relief from 2013’s merciless crusade against bands I like? One by one I’ve watched them fall to some diabolical curse of ungoodness and all I can do is stare at the release schedule with unease and wonder…who’s next? The answer is Finland’s bullet-belted cheese mongers, Battle Beast. As you may or may not care to remember, I made quite a fuss over their Steel debut due to it’s infectious brand of Euro-power tinged with thrash and traditional metal. It was ridiculously cheese-tastic, but it had more balls than a gym teacher’s storage closet and every song was an earworm Paul Atreides himself would be proud to ride. A huge part of the band’s charm came from the leather lunged power and presence of front woman Nitte Valo. She was part banshee, part rock star, all metal and her pipes were impossible to resist. Naturally, she bailed and now the Beast is fronted by new femme fatale Noora Louhimo and though she’s good, she’s no Nitte.” So how does a Nitte-less Battle Beast fare in the cold, cruel world of 2013? Steel Druhm says some words and points some fingers.

Hexvessel – Iron Marsh Review

By Steel Druhm on April 27, 2013 in 2013, 3.5, Finnish Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Stoner Rock, Svart Records, Progressive Metal, Stoner Metal, 8 comments

“Things seem to come on threes, be they good, bad or some combination thereof. As proof of this cosmic law, this week has graced me with three examples of stoner/doom/retro music: Ghost, Spiritual Beggars and now Hexvessel. I hadn’t heard of this oddball, psychedelic group of Finns until their No Holier Temple album last year, and I found myself quite taken with their folksy, trippy and hypnotic take on 60s and 70s rock.” And now they’re back with an EP that tells the rest of the story! Are you ready for more Finnish forest folk? You better be!

Deathchain – Ritual Death Metal Review

By Dr. Fisting on April 10, 2013 in 3.5, Death Metal, Dynamic Arts Records, Finnish Metal, Reviews, Uncategorized, 6 comments

“I first heard Finnish death metallers Deathchain nearly a decade ago, when a friend introduced me to what he described as “just crazy fast-ass death metal” (I’m paraphrasing here). His statement was accurate — at the time, the band’s style was straightforward and riff-driven, played at lightning speed with a heavy dose of thrash influence. Despite liking it a lot, I failed to keep up with the band’s progress over the years. Turns out this is a huge error on my part, since Deathchain has apparently evolved into a dark, weird death metal beast while I wasn’t paying attention.” A Finnish death metal band goes from “evil” to “more evil,” and Mr. Fisting rejoices. Grab a beer and begin the Fisting Dance!

Amorphis – Circle Review

By Steel Druhm on April 9, 2013 in 2013, 3.0, Death Metal, Finnish Metal, Heavy Metal, Nuclear Blast, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal, 34 comments

“If Amorphis fanboyism was an infectious disease, the AMG offices would surely be quarantined due to the terminal cases both AMG and myself suffer from. I’ve always regarded their Tales From the Thousand Lakes as the greatest melo-death album of all time, and few bands can boast a run of releases as consistently brilliant as Eclipse through Skyforger. The Beginning of Times had some great songs, but was overlong, a bit bloated and dragged badly on the back-end. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in expecting a big bounce back from the Finnish titans, and it was with typically high expectations that I welcomed the Circle promo when it finally arrived.” Amorphis is the big fish in the thousand lakes of Finnish metal, but will Circle keep them at the top of the food chain or consign them to the role of bottom feeder? Join Steel Druhm as he fishes for answers.

Noumena – Death Walks With Me Review

By Steel Druhm on April 3, 2013 in 2013, 3.5, Death Metal, Finnish Metal, Haunted Zoo Productions, Melodic Death Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, 19 comments

“Steel Druhm has been banging the drum for little known Finnish act Noumena for quite some time. Ever since stumbling on them, I’ve been a huge fan of their brand of morose, melodic death and I spin their Absence and Anatomy of Life albums all the damn time at Casa de Steelo. In fact, I think Anatomy of Life stands as one of the finest examples of melo-death every recorded. It had all the quintessentially Finnish “dead puppy under the Christmas tree” melancholy you’ve come to expect from countrymen Insomnium, Omnium Gatherum and Rapture, mixed with the guitar wizardry of early In Flames and rounded out with haunting female vocals (and winning guest vocals from Tuomas Tuominen of Fall of the Leafe/Man-Eating Trees to boot).” If you like Finnish melo-death (and you should), you had best join Steel Druhm’s drum circle as he sings the praises of this long overlooked band.

Finntroll – Blodsvept Review

By Angry Metal Guy on March 20, 2013 in 2013, 3.5, Century Media, Finnish Metal, Folk Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Folk Metal, 18 comments

I sometimes have wondered whether or not Finntroll is proof that we live in someone’s hypothetical universe. This smarmy imagineer in a banal universe somewhere, may have constructed an elaborate The Producers-like scheme to produce a flop that makes him money. “How about,” he says to himself, “a group of Finns, speaking in a minor dialect of Swedish, dressed up as characters from the LARP version of Changeling: The Dreaming and make folk-influenced heavy metal, complete with a screaming madman instead of a singer! Who on earth would buy that?” Were this hypothetical businessman able to see into our not-so-hypothetical universe he would most certainly be surprised to see that this motley menagerie of Österbottningar that fits his description are releasing their 6th full-length record in just a few days time — and it’s their second on one of metal’s premier labels.

October Falls – The Plague of a Coming Age Review

By Angry Metal Guy on March 13, 2013 in 2013, 4.0, Black Metal, Debemur Morti, Epic Metal, Finnish Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, 22 comments

Back in ’10—when I was wearing an onion on my belt ’cause that was the fashion in those days—I reviewed a record from Finnish atmospheric black metallers October Falls called A Collapse of Faith. At 40+ minutes of a single song, my Angry Attention Deficit Disorder hindered me from loving this record. While it was good, had great melodies, interesting ideas and an old school production that added a fuzzy atmosphere to the whole thing, I was never able to really bring myself to come back to it. It might have been perfect for some of the depressing, snowy days that we get here in Sweden, but I’ve got a quite bit of go-to music for that. Still, I was curious was when I received the promo for The Plague of a Coming Age. With its fantastic cover art, and its 9 easily distinguishable songs, I thought this might be a step in a direction I could enjoy.

Eternal Tears of Sorrow – Saivon Lapsi Review

By Steel Druhm on February 21, 2013 in 2013, 3.0, Black Metal, Death Metal, Finnish Metal, Gothic Metal, Massacre Records, Melodic Death Metal, Power Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, Heavy Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Power Metal, 6 comments

“Eternal Tears of Sorrow is an exceptionally fruity band name. The mere mention of it conjures images of a self-serious, black-garbed goth band (see photos) with a sultry, pouty femme fatale as front woman. If the name was keeping you away, you missed out on a quality band that blended black metal with melodic death, goth rock and symphonic power metal with good to great results. While I enjoyed all their albums, their crowning achievement was 2009’s Children of the Dark Water, which hit on the perfect combination of bombast, dark atmosphere, extremity, beauty and song writing that was shockingly good from stem to stern. At times it sounded like Cradle of Filth at their most symphonic mixed with early Cemetery, with traces of Kalmah, Insomnium and Amorphis added for good measure. After waiting over three years for a follow-up, we finally get Saivon Lapsi and with the long wait after such a great album, expectations were unavoidably high.” So… does this live up to those great expectations, or is it more of a bleak house? Get it? [YOU’RE FIRED! – AMG]