Considering that music, and life in general, has become increasingly less local and much more globally accessible and transferable, it is powerful and interesting that there is something intrinsically locked to a place about certain bands and musical styles. And, accepting their protagonists were forging recorded Metal identities since 2000 when there was more of some semblance of “local” and “scene”, it is fair to say that Kuolemanlaakso are undeniably and gloriously Finnish, with national metal musical traits from the land of the thousand lakes littered in abundance throughout their third album, Kuusumu (Svart Records).
Often coverage of this melancholic force focuses on the identity of vocalist Mikko Kotamäki (also of Swallow The Sun), and while his input enhances the overall quality of the act as a diverse focal point, crooning, imploring, growling and ripping his throat, to do so does a disservice to a collective capable of raging the dying light with surging blackened death and stripping things down to vulnerable reflective passages, all while maintaining a level of depth, quality and gravitas. Happy music this is not, but neither is this caked in gloom to the point of oppression or disengagement.
Rising from a cinematic beginning, ‘Pimeys Laski’ is a reverential Gothic Metal opener, hewn from the mills of My Dying Bride’s finest dejection; fine minor harmonies rent from the light at the end of the world itself enhancing the tension and setting a theatrical scene as chanted vocals interplay with harsh anguished howls. ‘Katkeruuden Malja’ continues the drama, while recalling the fertile Gothic Metal European scene, led by Century Media amongst others, of the mid-90’s, playing female vocals as a counterpoint in a song that pulls back on the darkness to allow the melodies dance in the moonlight.
‘Surusta Meri Suolainen’ ups the ante, pushing a raging blackened death pace and power to inject dynamic presence and further shades of dark, before ‘Kuohuista Tulisten Koskien’, a shorter, more succinct offering, plays with an Amorphis style middle eastern hook. ‘Surun Sinfonia’ returns to that gorgeous, stately MDB core, building to an emotive and powerful crescendo, weaving in different sounds and layers, before ‘Pedon Vaisto’ bares a blackened soul; from an open, icy introduction that calls to mind earlier Satyricon, the musical darkness leads us through wind and snow-swept mountain passes before ‘Tulessakävelijä’ closes things out, indulging a lurching internal battle that moves from a more traditional “doomy” style, through to a symphonic and epic war against a stomping metal base.
Described by its creator as a winter album, Kuusumu takes elements from the best European underground sounds of yesteryear, manipulating them through two and a half decades of growth and refinement, with nods to those who developed the style such as Insomnium, while still creating something wholly now. This is a summation and reflection of their influences and roots, and as such, there is still light amongst the dark, hidden though it is in the shades of pre-dusk solitude,
Buy the album here: https://kuolemanlaakso.bandcamp.com/album/kuusumu
8 / 10
STEVE TOVEY