Yep this is Finnish but boy listening to it there is a good chance you will get transported off to the Wild West and the lawless frontiers. Perhaps that is due to the fact that it has been the musical accompaniment for me while reading a good, old-fashioned Cowboy and Indians book (The Pony Riders by Guy N Smith) and it has really brought it to life. There’s wild whoops aplenty, horses whinnying and war parties ready to scalp you at every twist and turn of this epic album. Not getting quite to grips with translating titles online but these are tales of “star night and horses’ and they really are quite fantastic. Havukruunu are a quartet with a couple of albums prior to this and if it wasn’t quite so difficult to pronounce, they deserve to be a household name alongside the likes of Moonsorrow and Ensiferum after this.

The album is set up with some clean vocal croons which are absolutely fantastic and then the title track literally explodes and romps off full of heathen / pagan bravado. The clean sweeps have a fair bit of Bathory’s glory about them but there are more ferocious and feral rasps to accompany them over this bloodthirsty journey. The quartet are absolutely accomplished and working in perfect fusion with each other. Drums roll, guitar solos spiral out and as mentioned here come the horses neighing as driven into battle amidst glorious fist-pumping melody and huge sense of passion. Wow, talk about having your head practically removed from your shoulders on the first track but make no mistake our Finnish braves carry on resolutely determined throughout the 8 tracks and the 46-minute running time. Essentially, they do so without a hint of cheese about things. Yes, we listened to the new Ensiferum which sees the band moving more into power metal territories but there’s none of that here, Sure, there is a heavy metal charge, even some proto metal licks that have a hint of NWOBHM about them embedded in the second number but it’s dead serious stuff every step of the way.

We are told (naturally in Finnish) that “And Finally It Is Night” and with it comes a sudden stampede and a battering salvo of blast-beats as our warriors embrace it. They are hardly hiding in the shadows though, whipped up with vocals spat out at 1000 words a minute before a snatch of acoustic warmth seeps in and everything eventually gears up into a furious charge again. Listen between the gaps of it all and somewhere amidst the fury there is cello, tambourine and naturally the thundering war drums. I feel like I am missing a bit here and that’s the meaning of exactly where the band are coming from narratively. Their facebook page tells me they like Tove Jansson but who in their right minds doesn’t love Moomins but it is the traditional history that I am intrigued about here. Are these tales of folklore and mythology ala the Kalevala as employed to great effect by Amorphis, or am I just reading too much into it? Does it really even matter with music as glorious as this is? Probably not and the simple statement that this is centred around “inner turmoil and woe and worry of life, will have to be suffice.

There’s so much to enjoy here, the album is totally action-packed from start to finish. Melody on numbers like ‘Kuin Öinen Meri’ is fantastic from the dramatic atmospheric keyboards to a long and flailing passionate guitar solo and guttural, angry vocals. Perhaps a pipe of peace is proffered fleetingly on a short interlude track and a rousing penultimate feast seems to be taken with no doubt copious amount of firewater shortly after. You should be more than happy to gorge yourself along with them. All good things must come to an end and this does so in fine fashion as the storm clouds gather and metallic licks ride roughshod on ‘Tähti-yö ja hevoiset.’ Wait till the chorus of this one hits, talk about grandiose and sweeping, this is a final heart-stirring piece full of passion and even has some errant psychedelia about it. Trailing off with some Enslaved like electronics which really shouldn’t fit in but do so perfectly the night sky glistens with stars lit up in cold shimmering magical mystery. I say it again “wow.”

This really is a rare and special album that simply has to be experienced and my problem is going to be stop playing it and give something else a turn. A definite album of the year contender here, make no mistake. Listen to the full album at the Bandcamp link below and prepare to be blown away….

(9.5/10 Pete Woods)

https://www.facebook.com/Havukruunu-433041490061411

https://naturmachtproductions.bandcamp.com/album/uinuos-sy-mein-sota