Perdre le nord
Pohjoinen
(north in English) is a new stoner/doom metal band from Helsinki, the
capital city of Finland and they released their debut self titled
album back in April. I've been worshiping the doom scene of this
Nordic country since a while with Reverend Bizarre (rest in peace) at
the head of the pack but lately, the stoner scene has been decently
represented with bands like Boar, Domovoyd or Tombstoned. Pohjoinen
is new to the party but oh boy, they're perhaps the best guest I
heard yet.
The
sallproblem I often have with most stoner/doom these days is their
vocal approach. It's often viewed as unimportant and buried
underneath a thick layer of lava (think of Ufomammut or Sweden's
Monolord, not that I dislike these bands, they're awesome). Compared
to this raw, rough and buried vocal approach, Pohjoinen has a clean,
powerful and distinctive vocal identity and it's very pleasing. It
reminds me of the folk rock inspired vocals of well known (at least,
in Finland!) heavy metal rockers Viikate with their deep, profound
Finnish lyrics. I really like the intonations of this language, it's
unique in the European landscape and we're still unsure of its origin
(it's quite distinct from their neighbors). I think their vocals are
interesting and fits their music. There's some vocal harsher moments
here and there to emphasize certain parts but it's mostly clean.
They're
a power trio and they're loud as hell, the bass is crushing and has a
really important place in the mix, that's exactly what you need for
great stoner doom. The guitar, unlike many stoner bands only relying
on riffs, is often soloing and the huge bass tone is giving it the
liberty to do so since it's filling up the empty void. These solos
are wonderful and resounding. They're are also quite melodic. Tumppi
(guitar, vocals) shines as a Finnish Mike Scheidt (Yob), like the
American, he's a versatile and terrific player. A track like
“Luovuttaja” has some very cool solos and “Helvetin Aurinko”
has this extended soloing finale with this particularly Finnish vibe
that you can often find in the melodic doom/death metal scene but
played with a stoner doom spirit.
Their
music is varied too, there's many tempo changes and different
atmospheres. As an example, the song “Joki” has some really nice
space/psychedelic moments and the the interlude “Lehto” has a
soft feel to it. They intertwine between repetitive slow doom riffs
and faster stoner, dirtier stuff. Their riffs are super catchy and
memorable, they're sonically massive when needed and a bit more on
the soothing side when they feel it's necessary. The album has a
great production, it's able to withstand all the different approaches
and ideas has, it's rock solid and succeeding mix the clean vocals
with the stoner goods.
While
they're not reinventing the wheel riffwise, I feel their blend of
aggressive stoner metal mixed is totally fresh and an exemplary
offering to the slow, down-tuned god. I came for the huge riffs, they
were delivered with proficiency and I stayed for the truly great lead
guitar. Highly recommended.
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