It has been couple of months since this opus came out, but like they say in these Northern parts of Croatia, it is never too late for great music eh? Verikalpa are hailing from Finland and this is their third full length opus. Members of Verikalpa are playing or have been playing in Catamenia, Obsessive Art, Against All and many other, so they know how to make quality metal and write great songs. This one contains 11 songs of ‘troll beer drenched metal’ like Verikalpa say for themselves. It is basically a mixture of melodic black metal and folk metal with some death metal influenced parts here and there, sounding a bit like early Finntroll in couple of songs, but not polka metal, rather more straightforward metal, we can safely say that Verikalpa lean more on metal side of things than on folk. There are some harmonica and keyboard parts that are folk metal passages, but guitars are more often and they create such beautiful melancholic yet aggressive atmosphere and melody, like only Finnish bands can. Songs are all in Finnish, so I don´t understand a word but the music speaks for itself. Riitti, Tunturihauta, Verikauhu are my personal favorites on this opus, but I am glad that I discovered this band because I love the music they create.
Swedish black metal legends Dark Funeral are soon celebrating thirty years of existence in the scene led by their guitarist Lord Ahriman, the only founding member still in the band after all these years and driving force behind their black metal machine. This is Dark Funeral´s seventh full length opus and it contains nine songs of fantastic melodic black metal. Although I love the legendary old material, this band is like fine wine, their albums in my opinion get better and better with years. This album totally reminded me of one of my favorite bands Dissection and the hole they left when Jon Nodtveidt left this world. Now, no despair anymore, Dark Funeral deliver their music so mighty and strong, there is no fear the hole will be still here. This is melodic black metal par excellence and a lesson how it should be done. Although fast songs with blast beats and thrash influenced drum parts are my favorites like Nightfall or When Our Vengeance Is Done, the slower heavy hitters like Let The Devil In are the treasure of this opus, being anthems that hit you straight into your black heart. Heljarmadr´s vocals are superb, you can make out the lyrics but they are aggressive and he is for sure one of my favorite black metal vocalists in the scene. Go get this one, you will not be sorry.
Ostajemo kod finske black metal scene koja me neprestano oduševljava i fascinira odličnim izdanjima i bendovima. The Mist from the Mountains su relativno novi bend na sceni, ovo im je prvi dugosvirajući album, ali članovi benda su pekli znanje u mnogim odličnim projektima i bendovima kao što su And Oceans, Havoc Unit, Alghazanth, Black Beast…
Ovaj opus nudi 6 podužih pjesama, a glazba je odličan energični melodični black metal, gitarske melodije se jako dobro upotpunjuju sa dva vokala i blast beatovi možda nisu česti, ali ovaj bend daje možda više na melodiju i epsku liriku black metala kao i melankoliju nego na agresiju koja je u drugom planu, ali dakako prisutna. To ne znači da se album neće dopasti ljubiteljima sirovijeg black metal izričaja. Tekstovi su više osobni, daju više prenesenog značenja na unutarnje borbe i demone, kao i na prirodu i ljepotu tamnog srca pojedinca koji pati, ali uživa u mraku. Moji osobni favoriti na ovom albumu su A Paean to Fire, Master of Wilderness i After God. Vi pronađite svoje favorite. Finska, zemlja tisuću jezera i odličnih bendova i projekata.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 