Kalmanto

Ajattara has always been specific, even in the context of Finnish black metal. "Kalmanto" appeared to be not just specific, but much more. This album is performed in the style, which generally isn't appreciated in black metal circles and among any traditional metal fans. "Kalmanto" is highly influenced by nu-metal and groove metal. In fact, there's only one black metal element on the album, it's typical for black metal screaming. Riffing, drums and keyboards could be easily placed on any groove or nu-metal album.

Actually, rhythm section has been a distinctive feature of Ajattara before. The music of Ajattara has mostly been mid-paced on the previous albums. The drums fit a lot of kinds of popular rock music, Ajattara has never been a blast beat grinding machine. Yet "Kalmanto" also features a lot of non-black metal guitars, keyboards and some clean vocals.

The guitars are downtuned and there're tons of palm muted riffing, which is common for groove and nu-metal. It's barely possible to find a resemblance of tremolo-riffs on the album. Well, there're some atmospheric keyboards, which are common for black metal and the early version of Ajattara, but there also are many industrial samples, which are often used in alternative metal. Bass is prominent enough, it sounds rough and it isn't hidden behind the guitars.

The album starts with its main hit, a truly heavy track called "Ilkitie". It just pounds with harshness and energy. Its main riff is Korn-ish as hell. "Kalmanto" features quite an amount of similar stuff, but "Ilkitie" sounds the most nu-metal-ish for sure. Often the music of the album sounds in vein of the groovy Pantera and the groove-/nu-metal version of Sepultura.

So, "Kalmanto" is a very interesting album. It could have become controversial, but Ajattara just doesn't belong to the circle of the most popular Finnish black metal bands, that's why "Kalmanto" doesn't receive a lot of attention. It's pointless to recommend this work to die-hard fans of black metal or traditional metal, but the album worths a listen for heavy music enthusiasts with a more diverse taste.

Ajattara is a sort of side-project of members from various Helsinki metal bands, and takes its name from an evil goddess of the forest in local folklore. Beyond that, all song titles and lyrics are in their native Finnish, so I haven't a clue what this is all about. Not that the language barrier presents a problem; in fact, I enjoy it when black metal bands use their native tongue to communicate their sinister pagan ideas, as it makes it all more authentic somehow. And it's all inaudible noise when growled in that raspy yell in any case.

It's a shame then that Ajattara's use of Finnish language is pretty much the only point of interest here, and that's only because I haven't heard their previous four albums. I'm surprised the band has had such a prolific decade, as based on the sound of this most recent album, they don't have anything much to add to an already oversaturated genre. Pasi Koskinen, styling himself as Ruoja, provides a mix of black metal growls and medium range clean vocals, and his impressive CV features such notable bands as Amorphis, during their lengthy flirtation with commercial success, and the depressing doom band Shape of Despair. He also provides guitar along with Kalmos (Vesa Wahlroos), but this is just one of the instruments played to extreme dissatisfaction throughout, never scaling the emotive or energetic heights that Ruoja's vocals often attain, and mostly ambling along in an over-repetitive groove. Shade Empire's Juha Harju plays all-but-inaudible bass and provides modest backing vocals under the alias Tohtori Kuolio, and Sinergy's former drummer Tommi Lillman plods through with some brainless double bass work and fittingly repetitive and similarly bland rhythms, adopting the pseudonym Malakias IV perhaps to draw attention to the band's revolving door of disillusioned musicians that has seen a different drummer (among other members) for nearly every release.

It's a disappointment that musicians from such prestigious and varied backgrounds within the lucrative Helsinki metal scene came up with something so worthless, their powers of melodic death, funeral doom, black and power metal combining to form a crap Captain Planet out of tedious, talentless, badly played trite. Even more disappointing is that the album doesn't even go the full way to being absolutely godawful, which would at least grant it some reluctant comedy value. No, it's far more boring than that, coming in towards the 'very rubbish' part of the spectrum, like those films that are so pointlessly awful, they don't even hold a prestigious position on the IMDB's Bottom 100 list of must-see garbage. It's the 'Hercules Against the Moon Men' of melodic black metal.

Most songs on this disappointingly/mercifully short album (depending on your perspective. The second one is more correct though) sound similar to the point of total blurring, especially as the listener isn't invited to pay too much attention to the droning repetition of simplistic groove riffs overlaid with often jarring and misused keyboards and Ruoja's vocals, which are by no means excellent, but are the only aspect of the music that manage to impress to any degree. In most songs he opts for a reliable emotive growl in the vein of Norway's Count Grishnackh, but some choruses, such as those of the first and fourth songs, usher forth a more melodic and sing-song performance that's joined by his companions. His clean vocals aren't up to as much as his growl, judging by this album alone (I haven't heard anything from his era of Amorphis), but the final song certainly demonstrates his range if nothing else whatsoever within its four minutes of background noise and slowed, staccato riffs.

As with many Helsinki bands, chiefly the rather extreme Finntroll, there seems to be some yearning to connect with folk history, which would be in accordance with the band's alleged pagan themes, and elements of some songs border on the edge of a folk direction, most notably the keyboard melody of 'Naimalaulu' that seems intent on replicating a wind instrument. More successful are the two tracks that veer towards a Viking metal style, namely songs five and eight which adopt a slightly slower tempo and for once, manage to incorporate the keyboards properly to enhance the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the rest of the album is taken up by dull, lowest-common-denominator riff-centric metal that lacks the vital ingredient of riffs that are any good. There's something of an atmosphere created by the album, but the songs are all so repetitive, mechanical and relatively short that this mood isn't granted time to gestate in any form, try as they might to artificially enhance it with samples of tortured screams in several songs, replaced with the highly original idea of a woman having an orgasm in track seven (the same thing having been done to a far greater degree by Aborym).

Ultimately, 'Kalmanto' is a worthless album of melodic black metal that lacks energy, creativity and pretty much everything else that should be expected of such a release. It isn't hilariously bad - there are no ambitious ideas falling flat on their face - it's just very rubbish.

I am sick and tired of being let down by bands I consider to be promising. In all fairness, Ajattaras lack of skill has shown for a couple of years already, but it is here that they lose grip of everything. After last years “Äpäre” I was kind of hoping they would let the band die, but as I heard the news about this new album coming out, I couldn’t help but to get my hopes up a little. Such impact had their “Kuolema” album on me that I can’t let Ajattara surpass as the complete failure they have become.

Why it is that the albums I come to despise most, begin with such heavy tunes which instantly forces me to headbang like there’s no tomorrow, I don’t know. Opener “Ilkitie” shows a different side of the band than before, with its style being even more simplistic than their previous efforts. This one works fine though. It’s too bad the good in it can’t last forever, or save the whole release from the abomination it is. Halfway through the song it enters a paralyzed mode, with guitars and synth playing what seems to be nonsense. After five listens it still seems like nonsense, so it must be nonsense. This is their main problem. They kill good songs with shitty parts. Not that there are plenty of good songs here, but still. One thing that really bugs me when listening to this record is that you can tell Ajattara is capable of writing good music; it’s just as if they don’t want to. “…putoan” is a good example. All the elements for a good song is there. Crunching riffs, heavy drumming, segments of gloomy clean vocals mixed with the tormented screams… And they managed to fuck it all up. And I can swear it’s because they try to sound “different”. They desperately try to pull off very weirdly structured choruses, mainly making the vocals suffer. There are tons of bands who know what they’re doing when trying something new, but this lot should simply quit what they’re doing with this worn-out band.

I mentioned the screams sound “tormented”. I don’t know if it’s because Ruojas voice has turned for the worse, or if it’s intentional, but his vocals definitely sound more forced than before. Still, on the closing title-track, it works from time to time. The screaming, not the singing, sounds even more tormented here, but not in an awful way. The last song ends with what must be the worlds worst choir chanting the main melody. It’s embarrassing to listen to. I wonder how the hell it could have made it unto an album. And I’m sure I’m not alone…

If one takes everything into perspective, not much has changed since the release of last years “Äpäre”. They still lack new ideas that actually lead somewhere, the synth still follows the pattern of the riffs (or isn’t present at all at times), they still play pretty much the same music, but they have even worse songs to present this time around. Kalmanto is rushed, flawed and unfinished from every possible aspect. I can recommend every other of their releases, if you just can stay clear of this one. This band is now officially dead to me.