Vilda Mánnu

This album’s very akin to older In Flames’ / Dark Tranquillity, leaning toward a Gothenburg sound that’s abundant in melody but doesn’t include its own identity. I count one song, “Coronach,” that actually does accomplish this, as it sounds very alike to what the band would play after this. Playing melodic death is fine, but only if it’s got some flavoring that sets it apart from the genre’s own mediocre standards. The two albums following this, Chaotic Beauty and A Virgin And A Whore, are albums that follow the melodic death format but have so much emotion, zest, and character to them that they’re exemplary. The awesomeness of those two albums are not found here, but there is still more to Vilda Mánnu to keep it from becoming a totally forgotten body of work.

The band didn’t find that bliss point between their own Finnish recipe and the typical formula for melodic death. Here, it’s a little bit of thrash blended with a melancholic Gothenburg style. The production’s pretty good, with lots of crispiness to the guitars and a proper balance between the instruments and Altti’s ghoulish, masticated screams. Altti’s bass lines, while less blubbery, are still acutely heard trailing the riffs. Eternal Tears Of Sorrow were (tops) half as vicious as their peers Kalmah, but the two are alike in the way they deliver harmonies. For this particular album, Kalmah’s got these guys beat in terms of memorability, structure, and in keeping things entertaining. Songs like “Scars Of Wisdom” (with its enigmatic break and harmonized outro) and “Coronach” (easily the album’s most notable song) show some nasty riffs and expressive harmonies at their most compelling for the album. They also show the band moving beyond the typical Gothenburg direction to show an expansive side that relays a taste for sorrowful atmosphere and the band’s yearning for an elegant quality.

The above is usually not the case for the rest of the album, which opts for lots of edge without doing anything to grasp the momentum. The opener and the title track, for instance, are energetic but uninspired, lacking in the same purpose and charisma that make the better songs enjoyable. The two songs that feature female vocals are probably the most intriguing when examining their effectiveness. The first one, “Raven (In Your Eyes),” is one that’s ripe with clean harmonies, a slower pace, and lots of keys to drench the song in order to emulate tenderness. The female vocals, a kind of gentle, mid-to-high singing, work to provide variety more than they pull off with emotion. That’s more positive than can be attributed to “Nightwind’s Lullaby,” which it me is a completely botched attempt at going heavy again while still attempting to apply female singing. The riff already stinks, and when the woman’s vocals come in, there’s absolutely no passion to it as she’s pretty much belting you lyrics the same way Sotiris from Septic Flesh sings on the new albums with his nasally, hook-less delivery. The lack of drive makes for a boring song and the incompatible pieces of the music makes the whole thing an awkward listening experience.

Vilda Mánnu’s got likability, but it’s not a stellar release at all. It’s got a select number of songs that, for what they are, make this one appreciable. Thankfully those songs are spread from start to finish instead of being bunched up at one end or another. Lastly, the programmed drums are utilized quite fittingly. The fills are appropriate and the general sound of it doesn’t suck (well, the cymbals are quite tinny), so it’s not something that’s unlikable. Not to uplift the album’s somber tone or anything, but it does its job as well as anything programmed would. If you want to hear something that’s dimensionally better than this, the check out the two albums after this.

Eternal Tears of Sorrow is definitely an underrated band and this is a shame. Their slow-tempoed, melodic death metal with thrashy riffs is something that must be cherished . These guys know what they're doing, and what they're doing is fucking awesome. Forget about the orthodox vocals you're used to in metal, Altti has a creepy voice, very similar to Antti's of Kalmah.

The whole album is dark and foggy, describing with talent Finland's gloomy atmpsphere. Olli and Jarmo deliver great melodic riffs and combined with the magical keys, they draw a line between tenderness and total mayhem. One more awesome thing regarding this album is that they added a feminine voice on two songs, respectively "Raven(In Your Eyes)" and " Nightwind's Lullaby". These vocals belong to Heli Luokkala, who also worked with the band on "Chaotic Beauty" and I swear that I've never heard something as beautiful as this voice, especially in "Raven" where her voice is so fucking creepy, melting on the same time with Altti's. This entire album is a huge contrast between darkness and light, if you ask me, containing sad, gloomy riffs, devastating blast beats, and hellish screams.

The highlights? I don't really know what to say, every song on this album has a certain magical...something, buuuut....listen to "Scars of Wisdom", "Raven(In Your Eyes)", "Nightwind's Lullaby", and "Vilda Mannu" to hear some fucking insane riffs. These guys totally deserve some fucking recognition, just like Kalmah. Two titans of what we call the mighty melodic death metal, or pure friggin' art.

You must check out all of this band's albums. You will never regret it. Trust me. I'm a huge fan of melo-death and it's difficult to find something that deserves such a high mark. I don't always find good band, but when I do I listen to its discography in two hours.

It may probably be a good idea to look back on an older release from Eternal Tears of Sorrow considering the band’s recent reunion and the release of new material.

The album starts of at a nice, fast pace with "Northern Doom". I wouldn't really know what to tell you about the musical style...some might say thrash, some might say melo-death or maybe something else even. I'll go for melodeath since the songs have some likeness to Dark Tranquility...but only very vague. The album is a reasonably good listen, but the first few songs don't stand out with anything. The riffs are nice, the vocals are what you would expect from any melodeath act with no serious variations. The lyrics are ok also, they might prove a forte at this part for those who actually put pretty much accent on them.

The album starts to go into a more interesting direction with the track "Scars of Wisdom" since we can see a little more variation. The next, "Nightwind's Lullaby" is even better and one of my personal favorites on the album as it contains also some female vocals and it takes a more melancholic direction than the other songs. From this point on, everything becomes even more interesting. Maybe the track "Raven (in your eyes)" might not appeal to all, it still maintains a female/male duo at vocals.

The title track, "Vilda mannu", is definately the best, the main riff being highly melodic and very catchy. Even though there are no more female vocals, the song loses no potential. The rest of the tracks are a good listen, "Coronach" being present on the band's next release, "Chaotic beauty".

At the end of the album we have and acoustic-based instrumental called "Nodde Rahgam" which is no more than an intro for the final track, "Seita". Both are very good listens, "Seita" also being one of the best on the album. All and all, this is a good release that will most assuredly please the "veteran" fans of the band who have not yet checked it out. Those who only recently got into the band with their latest release, "Before the bleeding sun", might find this album a bit raw compared to what they might consider Eternal Tears of Sorrow of being now. Still, I extend a warm recommendation to anyone who likes this band to check it out since it's easier to get than their debut album.