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Horna > Musta kaipuu (Saatanan toinen evankeliumi) > Reviews
Horna - Musta kaipuu (Saatanan toinen evankeliumi)

Sort of hidde and worth listening too - 75%

southernisolation, August 29th, 2019

Musta Kaipuu is a strange album in Horna's discography. It's status as a release is kind of complicated. Even though it's listed as a compilation album, it in fact consists of new material that, for the most part, can be heard on no other Horna release. Basically this album is a bunch of songs from an earlier session that were either not used or not completed in time. So, even though Musta Kaipuu is technically a compilation, it makes more sense to view it as a legit studio album, which is why I am writing this review.

Overall, Musta Kaipuu isn't really Horna's best work. However, when one takes into consideration the fact that these songs weren't deemed worthy of being put on a studio album, this is a fucking good album. It feels like a real album, besides a few things that I will get to later. Anyways, Musta Kaipuu begins with "Piina". I've always loved this song, it feels very dark and depressive yet at the same time there's this heavy energizing riff in the chorus that gets me hyped the fuck up. Speaking of energizing riffs, there's a lot on this album. I'd say that out of the Horna albums I've heard, this one has the most headbang worthy sections. It might be Horna's heaviest to, especially on the second side, which contains two tracks that are probably the heaviest black metal songs I've ever heard. The melodies typically associated with Horna are a strong presence as well. Sections of "Marraskuussa" have this more typical Horna vibe to them, and they do a really good job at mixing melancholy with the more traditional evil stylings of black metal. Then there's my favorite track on this album, which is "Oi Kallis Kotimaa". This one might be a little out of place to some, but I really don't give a fuck because its an awesome song. Maybe its just because its the first Horna song I've heard, but it just has a really cool battle chant type feel to it.

Now onto the less enjoyable aspects of Musta Kaipuu...most of these are really just minor quibbles and they don't really bother me but they are still worth mentioning. For one, the album isn't that cohesive. Again, I don't really give a fuck, but if you were expecting a consistent masterpiece from start to finnish you will be disappointed...this is just something to put on and enjoy the atmosphere of, not really something that has to be listened to in full. There are a few weirdly out of place songs like the aforementioned "Oi Kallis Kotimaa" and the fourth track. I'm too lazy to actually type that one out but it feels like less thought out version of "Marraskuussa" than its own song. But like I said I don't really care that much about these details, its a fucking compilation album, and those are normally just ways for labels to profit off of recycled material.

Overall, I really like this release. I don't really have much more to say, other than state what should now be obvious, that Musta Kaipuu isn't another record label moneymaking scheme, rather it is in fact a real album, and a good one at that.

Darker halves reconstituted - 60%

autothrall, July 16th, 2012

Though it has the packaging and consistent writing of a full-length, Musta Kaipuu is not actually a new album, but rather a collection of tracks off vinyl and tape sources that were recorded around the time of Envaatnags Eflos Solf Esgantaavne but not released on the CD version. There is nearly an hour of material here, so Horna fans should be able to dig deeply in. Though I certainly count myself as one of those fans (Horna stands alongside Impaled Nazarene and Barathrum as a favorite Finnish outfit of this sort), much of the material here on Musta Kaipuu is average at best, and I can hear why the band wisely chose not to include it on one of their previous full-lengths. Yet here it stands, and if you mine far enough into into the material you can find a few grim and disgusting bits like "Pohjanportti (Northgate)" or the lengthy "Marraskuussa (In November)".

This is raw black, done much like any other Horna recording of the past 16 years. No refinement necessary, no experimentation or progression, and no pop finish. Just hopelessness and malevolence caught in audio form, as true as it gets. By the mid-'oughts, the Finns were utilizing a lot of straight, slower to mid-paced driving chord patterns in place of the constant tremolo one expected from much of the scene (though they do speed it up on occasion), and in this way they certainly mirrored some of the earlier Darkthrone recordings which in turn had a direct influence from Hellhammer. The central riffs to tunes like "Piina (Misery)" could have just as well belonged to some grimy punk rock outfit, but Horna infuses them with moodier bridges and splices of haunting, steady metallic melody below the dismal din of the production. Often I would find myself involved with a particular riffing progression, only to become numb at its slightly excess repetition, and several of the tracks don't entirely justify their length, even if I enjoyed some of their constituent pieces.

The stripped, flayed flesh of its presentation does work in the disc's favor, because it's hard to imagine a more authentic and honest sound for this genre, which Horna have consistently clung to through their career. It might seem somewhat cruder than a few of their most recent full-lengths, but all of the instruments are clear enough, with the guitars and bass slightly overpowering the tinnier cymbals and the less booming double bass drums. The thick, decrepit rasp of the vocals is more or less what you'd expect, they've always had one of the most pure and savage deliveries in the field whether it was Nazgul, Corvus or the newer front man Spellgoth, though no one would accuse them of the style's innovation or evolution. Abusive, bloody barks resonate just above the level of the guitars and fit in resplendent contrast to even the most glorious passages like the airy pearls of melody that adorn "Unohdetut Kasvot, Unohdettu Ääni" (taken from the band's 2005 split with Tenebrae in Perpetuum).

Still, apart from the stylistic proximity this music bears to several of my favorite Horna records like Envaatnags... or the underrated Sotahuuto, I did not come away from this wholly satisfied. A lot of the riffs are mediocre, also-ran sorts and I never felt that same, spike-fisted, mounting excitement which I felt for the latter of the aforementioned full-lengths. The material here is internally consistent, while varied enough that I wouldn't exactly dub it 'boring', but there were certainly a number of times throughout in which I all too easily phased out of the experience. That said, if you're a diehard collector of the band, or an advocate for the purity of the Scandinavian black wrought by Darkthrone, Bathory, or earlier Mayhem, you won't be offended by what you hear on Mustai Kaipuu, and the songs are decent enough to be given a voice if weren't able to acquire them on earlier, rare issues (like the split 7" or limited double LP of Envaatnags... which the band considers the official version, including a number of these songs).

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Musta Kaipuu - 45%

ApochWeiss, December 13th, 2009

Horna is one of those bands that the Black Metal community consider a common knowledge type of band, sticking to creating underground releases, whether they be a plethora of split releases with fellow bands of the style, full lengths, and so on. There was much confusion with the release of Musta Kaipuu, both within the Black Metal fanatics community, and outside of it, simply because many people believed this one to be another new full length release. Well, Musta Kaipuu may be a full-length release, but there's nothing too new about it, as it is a compilation of material that didn't make it to their 2005 full length release Envaatnags Eflos Solf Esgantaavne. In late November of 2009, Moribund Records reissued this release, leaving the questions of whether this release was that good, or just something the band or labels put together for some quick cash.

Well, while it's not the worst release you'll ever hear, there's nothing that spectacular about it. The music on Musta Kaipuu definitely gives off the whole Satanic cold and grim feel to it, but musically some of the material does leave a lot to be desired. The openning track, "Piina", is phenomenal thanks to the guitar riffs throughout that give it a heaviness that really shines through. After that, the release starts to go downhill fast with plenty of speed bumps of tracks that are good all littered along the way. Take "Unohdetut Kasvot, Unohdettu Ääni" as the perfect example. The guitars are set up a lot like "Piina", though the distortion is higher and the quality of the song seems a little lower. Aside that, you have a rather fast paced track with some killer Black Metal riffs that doesn't seem to just drone on endlessly in a boring, repetative manner that "Haudanvarjo" presented. Given this, it shouldn't be shocking that the other longer track on here, "Sieluhaaska", is very well done as well and has a nice flow to it from start to finish without any repetition to really kill the song outside the very last set of guitar chords on it, but that's moreso for effect to close the song with. The same can literally be said about the closing instrumental track "Menneiden Kaiku".

"Oi Hallis Kotimaa" is perhaps the oddest track of the bunch, utilizing singing, and a chorus that would best fit in a Viking Metal act like Tyr, making this already pretty bad song sound even more lame, but at least this is the only track to get cheesy. But the funniest, and perhaps lamest thing of all, is the track "Pohjanportti". Instead of just not including this boring track all together, it was placed on here, but it is incomplete, as if the band realized while recording it that they need to just stop and scrap it, leaning more towards the concept that this release was mostly put together of cannon fodder. These are really the only hit the skip button on the play as soon as possible type tracks on this release. Sure some of the others on here, like "Vuohenlahko" and "Sieluhaaska" kind of feel as if the band really tried to stretch the track lengths and do get a little boring, at least they show a little more common sense musically.

To put it blunty, if you're a die hard Black Metal fan, chances are you're going to pick this one up anyhow and run around saying it's one of the best b-side compilation discs that were made available in this style. if you do, awesome, more power to you, but unfortunately if you're not too into the whole underground Black Metal scene, there's nothing really here you haven't heard before. With "Piina", "Unohdetut Kasvot, Unohdettu Ääni", "Marraskuussa" and the instrumental track "Menneiden Kaiku" really being the only tracks that are worth it, and the rest hitting the ground hard as a pretty standard quality of music.

Originally posted December 13th, 2009 on Apoch's Metal Review
www.apochs.net