KUOLEMANLAAKSO

As any dedicated fan of ultra-miserable, deathly doom metal will tell you, the Finns have absolutely got their shit together. Although less well-known, KUOLEMANLAAKSO deserve to be regarded along those other benchmarks of funeral and melancholic doom metal: SHAPE OF DESPAIR, SKEPTICISM and SWALLOW THE SUN. Across a series of fascinating and emotionally supercharged albums, this shadowy unit have become increasingly potent. Led by the enigmatic presence of SWALLOW THE SUN frontman Mikko Kotamäki, KUOLEMANLAAKSO have long threatened to produce something special, and "Kuusumu" is precisely that. More overtly gothic and theatrical than any of the aforementioned, the Finns' sound has truly blossomed here over seven wistful but punishing nose-dives into the dark.

A feast of macabre keyboards and leaden grooves, "Pimeys laski" is the perfect, bleak entry point into KUOLEMANLAAKSO's fourth full-length. Echoes of MY DYING BRIDE are unmistakable, but this band's love of haunting, horror atmospherics and multi-layered vocals sets things immediately apart from anything so familiar. Kotamäki's vocals are as versatile and commanding as ever, as he slips seamlessly between scabrous bark and sonorous croon, gaining intensity as the song gathers speed. "Katkeruuden malja" takes the mid-paced fervor a step further, evoking a cracked-mirror mirage of SISTERS OF MERCY and SENTENCED and hurling giant chorus hooks into the opaque ether. In wild and vivid contrast, "Surusta meri suolainen" brings things back down to the slow-motion syrup of funeral doom, before embarking on a thrilling, chameleonic journey through prog-psych peaks and cudgeling, death metal troughs. As the whistling spiral of an analogue synth collides with triumphant, ornate riffing, KUOLEMANLAAKSO exhibit depths and dynamism that marks them out as masters of this stuff.

Unencumbered by anything as old fashioned as a formula, "Kuusumu" has space for both great heavy metal songwriting and prolonged moments of off-the-wall inspiration. A thunderous death / doom anthem with atmosphere, character and grit, "Kuohista tulisten koskien" swings in an old-school way, armed with another titanic chorus. On the flipside, "Surun sinfonia" is a staggering, eight-minute blaze of refined majesty, KUOLEMANLAAKSO's progressive tendencies are on full display and a wickedly guttural and charismatic vocal from Kotamäki wrings yet more hooks from the glacial slurry. After that, "Pedon vaisto" turns the lights out and veers off on a pummeling, blackened tangent, with more infernal menace than seems strictly reasonable; while the closing "Tulessakävelijä" is pompous, melodramatic and unashamedly overblown (but in the best way possible) and insidiously accessible with it.

This is a mature and sophisticated record, albeit one rooted in classically morbid musical archetypes. Despite often being cited as one of the best places to live on this accursed planet, Finnish bands seem linked up to the misery mainframe in a more profound and enduring way than everyone else. Whatever the reason, KUOLEMANLAAKSO are honoring and nurturing a noble tradition with records as gripping and colorful as this one.