Random Earworms III – Havukruunu “Kelle Surut Soi”

“Kelle Surut Soi”, which apparently translates to something like “For Whom the Sorrows Sing”, is comprised of heavy black metal coupled with sweeping, expansive folk melodies and deep pagan elements. The astounding production ensures that nothing is lost in the mix, and each component of every track feels thoughtful and carefully constructed. The musicianship is simply jaw-dropping, with sensational drumming complimented by stellar riffs and a vocal performance with a depth and diverseness that succeeds in conveying a deluge of emotions over the 51 minute run time. I particularly enjoy that the tone of the album shifts seamlessly from melancholic to frantic, to anguished, to exultant, all the while feeling authentic and natural.

“Kelle Surut Soi” is the type of album that I pine for, and therefore I find myself returning to regularly. I feel that albums of this calibre don’t surface all that often, so don’t let this title pass you by and if you haven’t explored Havukruunu yet, this is a great place to start. So, press play and prepare to enjoy the sweet sensation of your skull imploding.

Needless to say then, I didn’t love this, but I take reassurance that my fellow writers who appreciate the genre far better than me will have more useful insights to share. What did at least partly hold my interest while listening to this album was some of the variation from the band. As well as the typical, hailstorm of relentlessly battering guitars and drums, with the familiar demon shouting up from the bottom of a well, there were some fluid, almost epic guitar solos and some cool, haunting, near-ambient passages, with a variety of guitar textures throughout the record. I’m sure if I listened to this again I would start to pick out more interesting features, but I just find the whole BM aesthetic so off putting. This is not the record to turn me.

They have a wicked blackened focus in the drumming and most of the riffing but they also deliver huge on melodic portions and some out of the box old school solo juxtapositions throughout the songs. I also like the swap between traditional black metal vocals and the pagan chanting verses, it really works to set the tone of the madness at hand. A few of my favourite tracks off this one were “Vainovalkeat”, “Vainajain Valo”, and “Myrskynkutsuja” but realistically I enjoyed every second of it. Even if you don’t speak Finnish, Havukruunu are about to get stuck in your head!

It is that these boys are so good that almost no negative points are found in their work. In fact, for me and in my humble opinion, this record is not written in English, it barely takes one point, but on a musical level, these Finns know what they are doing. Just give a listen to this album and it will be enough to catch you and not let you out.

Anyway, the style of pagan folk in Finnish does not displease me, on the contrary, I find beauty to their songs that make me delight in their choirs and lyrical passages but the great thing here is the formidable proposal. More and more people should listen to this band and in particular this album.

This is on another level. 9/10 for me. Excellent.

However, there are some points where the vocals in the mix can’t fully compete with the general busyness of the album in places if you really had to pick a fault with the album as a collective whole; but the songwriting talents for crafting a supremely anthemic and deeply memorable song is up there with the best in the scene without any shadow of doubt. The clean vocal parts on the album are very reminiscent of the much missed Windir and have a flavour of mid period Enslaved too, which aids to a certain drama and power to the overall atmosphere they convey. Kinda annoyed I missed them first time around, really – so check these guys out or be an ignorant tone deaf root vegetable.

They managed to transmit that to the listener. They managed to create a very good album. The album is always on top, to be honest, there no up and downs related to quality music. But, yes is up and downs related to fast Black Metal or to those atmospheric riffs related to Pagan Metal. Better songs? I can’t choose one or two, or even three or four. All songs are together, and together they do the “Kelle surut soi” a very good one and unique piece. Listen to them…