Ratbreed is the band from Finland and their new record is coming out via Inverse Records so I was able to listen to it and review it for this webzine.
Finland is the land of metal as everybody knows, this relatively small European country holds a great number of excellent bands be it melodic like Stratovarius, Nightwish, Sonata Arctica or Impaled Nazarene, Finntroll, Children of Bodom, to name only a few more known bands. Ratbreed comes from melodic approach to heavy metal playing a combination between classic pumping heavy metal and fast power metal. This record contains 8 songs plus one cover song by Warlock. The songs sometimes remind of the 80-ies classics for example Helloween or Gamma Ray and early Hammerfall in the second half of the 90-ies. Vocalist Jasmin is convincing with her voice and not trying to sound like anyone´s copy so, that is another plus for this band. Musically, the band is incredibly tight and the production of the record sounds great like a metal record of this kind should sound like. My personal favorites of the record are “Blaze from Below” and “Through the flames”. This is nothing new or special or revolutionary but it is a decent metal album.
Revolvd come from Finland, to be exact the city of Jyväskylä which is situated somehow in the middle of Finland. Formed in 2014. they are kinda new band, but their music speak for themselves and I had the privilege to listen to and review their debut album.
The album contains 11 songs and the music these guys play is melodic punk mixed with a lot of pop punk and skatepunk influences. The songs are upbeat, catchy and melodic with a lot of choruses and vocal melodies that leave you hum them for hours afterwards after you finished listening to the album. “Innocent” and “Bad for me” have some really memorable chorus melodies, especially the latter. For me, one of the absolute highlights of the album is “Had to go” which I listened to for a couple of times in a row. The music of this band is easy to listen to, kinda dreamy, but there is one thing that I must mention. What I love about the Finnish underground music scene, being metal or punk or whatever, is the vibe of melancholy and sadness that only Finnish bands can provide in their music. Music is art and art is supposed to stir feelings in the listener and this music stirs a lot of feelings in me. The piano undertones of “Go your way” add to the melancholic feeling and I love punk with emotions. The title track is faster and melodic anthem which goes very well live I suppose. “Land of the free” and “Wasted years” are also highlights of the record being awesome songs. Get this one, you won´t regret it!
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 