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Never heard for the Finnish band Kiuas before? Me, too. On their debut the guys combine everything from melodic power metal to melodic death metal and add some keybaords here and there. Opening with The Spirit Of Ukko they show the variety of their sound. Here they present fast double bass drumming and guitar riffing as well as more mid-tempo anthem-like parts. Btw, Ukko is the highest God in the Finnish mythology and can be compared with Odin or Wotan. Followed by On Winds Of Death We Ride is presenting fast parts and growls, this one is more black / death metal, but on the other hand there are slower parts which have an epic touch. A good choice to check them out anyway. With singer Ilja Jalkanen they have a frontman who can sing powerful, aggressive and clean, but also offers some black metal like screams and some growls. With his ability he can always add the best fitting vocals to to track. Heavy, brutal guitar riffing is added by Mikko Salovaara who also plays the more emotional soli. The rhythm section is laying the perfect playground for guitars and keyboard. Luckily the keyboard is most of the time more a background sound element. On Warrior Soul they started into the right direction, here they play mid-tempo with fast riffing, but mainly the songs are up-tempo. But never forget to add melody! Listen to Across The Snows where they added some folk elements - interesting. But don't expect a folk song! Not that they can be combined with Finntroll, but Finntroll also use folk elements, but are still heavy.... In this case thrashy. Another song with folk elements is the black metal-ish And The North Star Cried, here they work with breaks and elements which remind me of Grieg's Hall Of The Mountain King.... Really interesting. Perhaps one of the best songs on the album...
The song Thorns Of A Black Rose starts slowly, but then speeds up to mid-tempo. It's nice to have something different then the fast ones, but at the same time this is a song which partly lacks something... The slow parts are very emotional and the bridge is full of pathos, but the refrain can't keep the level. Not bad, but....
One of my favorite tracks is Until We Reach The Shore. Here Jalkanen is sounding a little more aggressive which makes his voice more unique. The chorus is almost catchy... Not a song which will sneak in your brain when you listen to it first, but it's a grower! But I can also recommend And The North Star Cries and Warrior Soul to check out.
A little more variety - tempi-wise - would have made this one more interesting for the listener, but this is their debut and they should get the chance to do better. Even if they offer everything from melodic power metal to thrash to black metal and even some melodic death metal. I can recommend this to every open-minded fan of power, black and death metal. I'm really looking forward to hear more from this band! Hopefully they get the chance to tour and present their music to more metal fans! Thumbs up for the Finnish!
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