So Pale Is the Light

There's only two things I hate in this world: people who are intolerant of other people's cultures, and the Finns.

Probably because they turn out a lot of lame, bland stuff like this. In between consistently excellent black metal and funeral doom artists, the nation has a loathsome propensity towards releasing cheesy, douche-chill-inspiring power and folk metal. This is probably a result of being a country which has metal occupying a (relatively) popular musical position, so it's only natural that there'll be a lot more of both good and bad. But let's look at Cadacross, a band that managed to do power/folk metal long before the genre launched into full swing in the mid-2000s.

So yeah, this is pretty bland, stale power/folk metal that manages to be ahead of its time as far as sucking. It's exactly what you would expect: vaguely Celtic folk mixed with tremolo riffs and double bass. The art sums it up pretty well: generic photo with generic logo and title slapped over it. It's not bad but I can't particularly find anything to recommend for it. It's about as generic as this style of music can possible get. It's a mixture of power metal and folk metal and absolutely nothing else. None of the tracks are memorable despite the desperate incorporation of folk into metal. I guess if anything this resembles Skyclad, but not significantly enough to inherit some of that band's talent.

It doesn't have interesting riffs, it doesn't have catchy melodies, vocals are bland, everything's generic, there's nothing to say about this stuff. It's the folk/power version of Relentless. No one cares, probably not even the members of the band.

This album doesn't give a clear picture of the band. Cadacross's debut's some parts were recorded at their rehearsal room. Sounds are awful and the ending track "Turmion Taival" was actually re-recorded for the next album, Corona Borealis.

Still there's some beauty in the album. The intro track "At the Heart of Night" has beautiful, somehow cold keyboard sound combided with harsh guitars, which really creates peaceful atmosphere. Peacefulness is also in the cover art. Music from the snowy forests and castles. Then the song "Twilight" starts in the same atmosphere, going with fast tempo through the whole album.

But as aforementioned, sounds are mostly appalling. Vocals are too similar to other finnish metal bands like Children of Bodom and Norther.
This if definitive Cadacross. Not Cadacross at their best, but still Cadacross...