Typical Suomi Black Metal
Sammas’ Equinox is a relatively new band with a few demos, a compilation and a split under their belt and this is their first full length of Finnish quality in black metal style that’s well known worldwide. But even though the band (project) being not old, the members are veterans including Adar and Sùrya-Ishtara, both from Blood Red Fog and the latter also from Pantheon of Blood. There’s another member called Voidraugr.
The music is typical mid-tempo black metal with nothing new to show up, but the result is very pleasant to the eardrums, although there’ no earworm elsewhere.
The disc starts with monumental track Fire that shows quality from the onset and one thing that is predominant in the whole album is the gritty production that is made to sound polluted and not crystal clear. That adds a sense of oldness to the formula that so many finds essential for black metal being black metal.
The Staunching is relatively short track that has some intricate tempos, but the old way to make the real recipe for BM is always there, raspy vocals, drama-like riffs, dirtiness in the final sound (or direct from equipment) and outrageous vocals that sounds like a disrespectful ode to the any form of monotheistic religion.
High Seat Of The Pain Mountain has the simpler-the-better approach sounding primitive and veteran at the same time with a cosmic keyboard on the background that never would characterize the band as being anything like melodic black metal or any nonsense like that, at least in their raw black metal world.
Tulikehrät is essential for oldschoolers because while there is TONS of bands trying to capture the “old spirit” in their press releases to no avail, Sammas’ Equinox take the bull by the horns and make things work the right way.
Tulikehrät is out now on Signal Rex.
Rating: 7.5/10
Roderick Totentanz
Dark Souls United 