LOITS - Ei Kahetse Midagi (SEVEN GATES OF HELL - CD 2003)
Damn, this has been so long since the last time
I have listened to this excellent album that I had to wipe the dust from it
first, but then I have actually been playing this CD for the whole day
yesterday and today and will carry on tomorrow as well. Hell yeah, I almost
forgot how awesome Loits is. First time I have actually heard of them and “Ei
Kahetse Midagi” was when I got the cassette with this album from somewhere. And
I couldn’t believe that somewhere in Estonia plays band of such high quality
and with such musical style. It was somewhere in 2002 or 2001 and back then I
didn’t know much about the Baltic scene of Lithuania, Estonia or Latvia (except
Poccolus only), so it was huge, huge surprise for me to hear band such as Loits.
I remember that I interviewed Lembetu sometime later and from then on every
Loits release, which I could find, was quickly purchased and I really liked
them all. Yeah, definitely this band is very special and certainly they’re the
best Eastern European band for me (and by East European I mean countries East
to the Polish border – I always hate when people call Poland an Eastern
European country as geographically we’re in the fuckin middle of Europe; we
used to be called like that because of the politics in the communism era, but
that’s fucking history now and past… look at the map and see that we’re in the
centre of Europe FFS!).
Loits is special – not only for music they
play, but also for the whole concept which they’re dealing with – telling about
the patriotism, national pride and the history of their country during the
World War II with almost kind of soldiers’ memoirs, feelings, etc. Some people
may accuse them for being even Nazis, seeing the band wearing the uniforms,
which look so much like the uniforms of the German soldiers, but please – read
the lyrics, check some more details about the band and more so, learn about the
history of Estonia during the WWII and you will know why it is all like this
(certainly not because they’re fuckin Nazis!). To tell the story short –
Estonians were fighting for their independence against the Russia who occupied
them, so they thought that taking the side of the Germans would help them fight
Stalin… German troops were kind of liberators and definitely not such a great threat
like in many other European countries and soon the country became part of Reichskommissariat
Ostland. So, this is why the Estonian troops had the symbols and uniforms alike
the German ones (these were the Estonian Legions which were for example joined
to the famous Waffen SS Verfügungstruppe units).
OK, history aside (but remember that it is very
important aspect of Loits’ music!)… Musically Loits gives a lot of credit to
the Norwegian black metal scene, I think. If I didn’t know what band and album
I listen to, then I would certainly think it is a lost gem from Norway or maybe
new recording from one well known band from this country. Honestly, I really
think that there are many influences from such bands as Gehenna (some of their
albums at least, plus the vocals sound quite similar), Vreid / Windir, Tulus,
Enslaved and even from Dimmu Borgir (from their “Stormblast” era) or Ulver’s
“Bergtatt”. The riffing has many similarities to each of these bands and more
so, the atmosphere of the Loits music is similarly cold and dark. From the
other hand I can sincerely say that Loits – even if was influenced by all these
bands – managed also to create something original and unique. And don’t get
fooled by the bizarre term “flak ‘n’ roll” – whatever that would mean; in many
ways this is classic, Norwegian-like, maybe little bit folky in some riffs,
black metal record. Loits creates awesome atmosphere, I like how they diverse
the music, so there are some more aggressive and harsh parts, but with many
more melodic themes here and there, where Loits uses some keyboards or folky,
quite catchy riffs, so in the end there’s always something great going on and
the music is monumental, epic and cold atmospheric black metal… And I love it. The
production of “Ei Kahetse Midagi” is also just superb; very clean, but with
that harshness, which is necessary in this kind of music. Then I really like
the vocals of Lembetu, who sings all the lyrics in Estonian and that always
brings an extra feeling to the music… just like when Norwegian bands sing in
Norwegian, Polish bands sing in Polish – the use of different language in black
metal than the usual English gives something unique and characteristic and even
if you can’t understand it, it just sounds damn awesome and apart the band from
many similar acts.
Every time I listen to “Ei Kahetse Midagi” I am
just really impressed by it. The riffing is just excellent, Loits managed to
compose some truly awesome songs and the performance from every band member is
just excellent. If I can be honest I just don’t see any faults on this
particular album. It is just flawless and with 36 minutes on the clock it provides
an excellent listening experience, which – even if I’ve listened to the album
so many times already – never gets monotonous. I mentioned some Norwegian
bands, which I find similar to Loits, but honestly I think that these Estonians
are just better than say Vreid or most of Gehenna albums… “Ei Kahetse Midagi”
is for me a superb classic and I really, really recommend it to you all… I feel
like this band and especially this album are somehow forgotten and
underestimated, so it’s time to give it what it deserves. Get it now!
Standout tracks: “Tulisilma Sünd”, “Valge Nägu”
Final rate: 90/100
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