Kalmankantaja / Iku Turso - Ikuinen Tuli

KALMANKANTAJA / IKU TURSO - Ikuinen Tuli (WOLFSPELL Records CD 2018)

Finally, this split CD arrived. And I have to say that it easily fulfilled all my expectations and both bands delivered fantastic material. We're talking here about some of the most promising black metal acts from the current scene in Suomi!!! Both bands already proved they’re good, but if there’s someone who still have doubts, I hope that “Ikuinen Tuli” will dispel them all. 

First and foremost, we have here Kalmankantaja. An excellent project, which released a whole bunch of albums, splits and EPs – more than you could imagine. I haven’t had a chance to hear half of the stuff they recorded so far, but those releases, which I know – such as “Routamaa” and “Tyhjyys” albums – are splendid. Knowing the quality of their previous recordings, I was pretty certain that Kalmankantaja will not disappoint. And they did not! They provide killer black metal, played in that characteristic harsh, truly vicious and mostly very fast paced style, which is pretty common for many Finnish black metal bands. Unlike some stuff, which Kalmankantaja recorded previously, such as some parts of “Routamaa” (which was often slower, a bit mesmerizing), this time all their songs are mainly focused on that aggressive, savage and very bestial fast paced black metal. Their riffs are not totally derived of the melody, but I feel like this time melody plays a secondary role in Kalmankantaja music, giving a priority to anger and aggression. But when you hear a bit more melodic part, you simply know that Kalmankantaja has a good touch for it, because all melodic accents are great. And it works very well, I like how they create that malicious, cold aura in the music, I like these screaming vocals, which spit out all those insanely weird Finnish lyrics. Even the fact that these three songs are so ridiculously long (up to 8-9 minutes) doesn’t destroy the effect, especially if we deal with such godly anthems as “Valonkantajan nousu”. Or listen to neck-breaking “Tuonelan enkel”; hats off for this black metal masterpiece! Absolutely recommended band, in my opinion. 

Next we have Iku-Turso. This band blew my head off with “The Great Tower”, an album they released few months ago. I am so glad then that they do not waste time and I can listen to another killer material from them. Well, stylistically their music fits Kalmankantaja very well, although I have to say that Iku-Turso's black metal sounds much more like classic Norwegian stuff, in my opinion. It especially reminds me the earliest and most impressive works from Emperor (up to “In the Nightside Eclipse”), but also such bands as Enslaved (“Hordanes Land”) or Obtained Enslavement (“Soulblight”), Morgul’s “Lost in Shadows Grey” and so on. Again, there’re some insanely fast parts, but the music is more balanced, more epic and for example such “An Organism in an Azoic Era” is that majestic, raw black metal piece, which you could put next to “Emperor” MLP. I really like such obscure, aggressive, yet atmospheric black metal, with good sense of melody, great riffs, proper fills of keyboards... and these very screaming, harsh vocals, which remind me how young Ihsahn used to sound when he was young... Actually, everything here clicks perfectly; raw production, great songwriting, performance... So, if you’re fan of early Norwegian atmospheric black metal, you better give Iku-Turso a listen. This is fantastic band, which is worth all recommendations! 

Standout tracks: “Tuonelan enkel”, “The Inanimate Essence of the Colossus” 

Verdict: 85/100