The Finnish melodic, blackened death metal band are back with their sophomore album, and anticipation is pretty high. Following up from their more folk-infused 2022 EP is going to be a rough task, but if anyone can rise to the task, it’ll surely be these guys. Let’s dive right in with our review!
After the intro track brilliantly builds through the use of various ancient folk instruments, ‘Mani’ explodes in immediately with the death metal. The crushingly heavy wall of a riff sets the rest of the tone for the album, providing just enough melody on top of the heaviness. It’s clear to hear their black metal influences with the tremolo lead too, which is a fantastic touch. The screams are low and growled at times, refreshing as I’d expect it all to be extreme, Dani Filth style vocals given the instrumentation behind them. We even get some clean, almost spoken-word vocals that are awesome too, and fit the tone of the track so well! It all combines perfectly to form something heavy, dark and yet with plenty of melody and depth behind it. It’s an awesome way to open the album!
Single ‘Fenrir’ is up next, having an almost symphonic edge to the sound at times. Don’t get me wrong, it is still heavy and death/extreme metal for the most part, but it does have an ever so slightly catchier feel to it, making it a fantastic choice for a single. Heck, the chorus even borders on catchy, which is almost unheard of in music this heavy. The screams throughout are incredible, be them growls or higher, and they fit the quick, brutal backing instrumentation perfectly. And that drop down to the folky stuff in the middle was really awesome too, building back up perfectly. I really loved this song, and it was one that easily made its way onto our playlist!
The pace picks up even more for ‘Suden Hetki’, it being a true death metal song through and through. However, it still has elements of melodeath in the chorus, including some more amazing, surprisingly fitting clean vocals. We also get a ‘bleh’ in here, which is never a bad thing! My only complaint for the track is that it arguably ended too soon, I’d have happily taken another minute or so with a bridge and final chorus etc. Still, it’s another excellent song, and the second in a row to make the playlist.
The transition between the previous track and single ‘Creator of Abyss’ is a tad jarring, the end of the former building the tribal instruments again before that immediately disappears as a single, rather far-back-in-the-mix guitar riff comes in. It’s a damn good riff, especially when the rest of the band join in, but didn’t fit after ‘Suden’ very nicely. The stop-gaps in the verses are incredible; so well written and performed and a real highlight of the whole album, honestly. And while another insanely heavy song, it does lean into more of the theatrical extreme metal side of things around the 1:40 mark, sounding like the perfect blend of Cradle of Filth and Wednesday 13. It was awesome! It’s another all-round fantastic song on an album so far packed full of them!
‘Waves’ was where I started to feel the length of the album just a touch. Yes, we’re only six tracks in, and it is another fantastic, slightly more black metal-esque song. However, the album is 14 tracks long in total, and songs like the aforementioned one, the title track, ‘Ghost from the Past’ and ‘Rahku’ are all at a pretty similar level. It’s an awesome level for sure, and the occasional interlude tracks breaking up the heaviness were a nice touch. They were honestly the most interesting parts for me as, while the full tracks were also amazing, they kinda started blurring together a bit by the end. If the band could find a way to incorporate the two elements together slightly more, I may have kept my attention span a little longer. Still, again, don’t let this take away from the songs, each is amazing in its own right. It’s just this humble writer’s opinion.
The track in the second half that did stand out to me, however, is the epic ‘Sòl’. It’s the one full track that feels different to the rest, being more of a ballad than any other song on the release. It almost has a gothic edge to it; the low vocals and the clean guitars sound awesome! And then it builds to a still heavy, screamed yet catchy chorus. And that throat singing at the end, I have no idea where it came from but it was AWESOME. Another amazing song, and yet another that makes it onto our playlist!
Overall: This is a fantastic album still, despite my slight gripes with it. There is so much great death, black and folk metal on this album, and so many tracks that stand out. It also has a pretty decent flow through the album, with plenty of cool folky interludes and stuff. I just felt a slight lul in the middle after such a strong first few tracks, and the incredible closing 10 minutes or so. Still, this is how you return with your second album, it’s amazing and something that I will certainly be listening to in full a fair bit in the coming weeks and months. If you are into the heavy stuff at all, check this out, I’m sure you’ll love it as much as I did!
The Score: 8.5/10