Shadow’s Mortuary 🇫🇮 Unohdettu Maa
Band: Shadow’s Mortuary
Title: Unohdettu Maa
Label: Purity Through Fire
Release Date: 31 May 2022
Country: Finland
Format reviewed: High-quality digital recording
Welcome to Finland for this review, and as a lot of us who appreciate Finnish black metal, Shadow’s Mortuary brings it with their 3rd album entitled “Unohdettu Maa”. The English translation for the title is “the forgotten land”, and no we won’t be forgetting the newest work by this band. They have been around since 2013 with two (2) EPs released in 2015 & 16’, and first full-length album in 2018, called “Tulen Valtakunta”. 2019 brought another full-length album, “Kuoleman Portit” and now I will be talking to you about their 3rd album. Shadow’s Mortuary are a four-piece band consisting of Ovda, playing drums, Kaos, playing bass, Raum, playing lead guitar and Void, as the band’s vocals. Shadow’s Mortuary are a band prepared to stay true to traditional Finnish black metal, and with that, lets get to the music…
The first track, “Hurmeen Virta” (The Stream of Charm), sounds a bite of war machinery blasting off artillery, to begin as an intro. After, it’s an all out jump into vicious vocal expressions and punishing, bludgeoning guitar and drum combination. A melody comes in, a melancholic thread played on lead guitar. Then those drums just pound and pound extensively. There is a punk feel to the delivery and rhythm of the guitars and drums. When the song slows a bit to pick back up on the melancholy it pulls the emotional side because the sadness is mixed with aggression.
Next, “Pohjola” (North), starts in a punk style rhythm again, but that rhythm gets you. The aggression is there, and the vocals are ragey. Guitars here, wow, just relentless hammering on the frets, and drums are blasting and pulling back to simple beats between all of this. As aggressively as this begins, it startle stops on one last note of furious guitar riffing.
“Teloituksen Aika” (Time of execution), punk inspired guitars and a slower intro, but then, look out, the guitars catch on fire and the vocal is on fire as well. Fast, rapid, guitar riffing almost seeming unhinged feeling. Off-kilter delivery. Deliberate tremolos, heavy and hard-hitting against the punishing beat of drums.
Now, “Haudanloyhka” (Graveyard), wow, precision tremolos, and drums, to kick this off. Just a powerful punch of tremolos and drums and vocals all combining in a marathon of aggression and energy.
“Veremme Voima” (The power of our blood), back to the punk delivery of guitars and frantic pacing. A black metal tremolo is brought in, and counterbalances the frenetic pace. More melody is thrown in with the skill of guitar to place another layer of sound to appreciate.
“Viimeinen Laukaus”, (Last shot), sounds again in the punk delivery, with more combination of tremolos and drums. The track carries forward in this same energy driven package.
In the seventh track “Ylistys”, (Praise), these vocals are firey and angry and does a killer stand up to the equally powerful guitars and drums. Solid frenzied instrumentation is being delivered in this.
The last one is “Kahleista Maan” (Shackles of the country), energized power being performed in this track. Everything is being thrown into this one, with the vocals and instruments on point, blasting out fury and roughened brutal sound.
The album concept is “a vision of a place where no religions reign” and from what I just heard; I want to go there. I don’t think Shadow’s Mortuary is pulling out new sounds, but what I do get here is the passion to push and push hard. Finnish black metal is here, and it’s not going anywhere. Many thanks to this band for bringing that point home.
I give 7/10 Metal Marie
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