The Spirit of Ukko

Power metal is a tricky genre to define. It’s an easy thing to compare each and every power metal band to either Stratovarius or Helloween, and yes, Thunderstone for instance shows a lot of similarities to Stratovarius. But at the same time, darker and heavier bands like Powerwolf and Sabaton should be considered power metal as well. Some aspects we all seem to agree on when it comes to power metal are that the songs need speed, melody and preferably a ridiculously capable singer with a voice reaching as high as the sky. This roughly makes sense, right? Most of the power metal bands as we know them go by these standards, while some other bands add a few musical or lyrical elements that set them apart from the others.

But what would happen if you’d combine said speed and melody with thrash metal riffage and harsh vocals mostly found in death metal? Add to that the mixing of Nino Laurenne (who originally played in a thrash metal band), orchestrations and blast beats. Exactly, all this should never be allowed to work out. Funnily enough, Kiuas had other ideas in 2005 and did the unimaginable: they fused countless metal genres and created a one-of-a-kind album, the quite aptly titled The Spirit of Ukko. For those unfamiliar with Finnish mythology, Ukko was the god of pretty much everything concerning nature, just like Kiuas was the band of pretty much every metal genre.

Each song on The Spirit of Ukko is filled with energy, innovation and emotion. Ilja Jalkanen’s delivery is unusual and comes closest to thrash metal singing, but like I mentioned, sometimes he uses harsh vocals to intensify the songs. ‘Across the Snows’ is a perfect example of Jalkanen’s versatility and packs ten minutes of action in just six. There’s so much going on, for all you know it’s actually two separate songs in one. Kiuas even hint to Ensiferum with a small passage of Finnish spoken text, which confirms the folk metal atmosphere created here even more. Although ‘Across the Snows’ is a good song, it feels like the least ‘Kiuas’ track on the record.

The first half of the album is magnificently strong. Kicking off with the title track that has one of the heaviest and most addictive choruses the band ever wrote, Kiuas immediately sets the mood for the remaining 40 minutes. Grandiose tracks, soaring guitars, fast drums and wonderfully placed keyboards here and there. I can listen to that intro of ‘Until We Reach the Shore’ repeatedly: the keys are in perfect harmony with the guitars and never feel cheesy or unnecessary. Again, Jalkanen sounds different than any other vocalist and while his voice is rather gritty sometimes, he matches the music like no other could. The other band members might have realised that as well when Jalkanen left in 2010 after Lustdriven.

‘Thorns of a Black Rose’ and ‘And the North Star Cried’ together form an epic ending to The Spirit of Ukko. Everything Kiuas stood for comes together in these two tracks. The first one begins calmly and chugs along nicely, with some parts even feeling like a ballad. The epic orchestrations which I mentioned before give ‘Thorns of a Black Rose’ an extra dose of weight to impress even more towards the end. The closing track is a blend of everything once again: blast beats, dark melodies, heavy guitars and cinematic strings. The complex rhythm section makes my brain lock for a few seconds and when the strings make an entrance again, I can’t help but smile yet feel like I’m in a haunted house at the same time. God, this is something else.

Power/thrash/death/folk metal band Kiuas did something incredible back in 2005. The three albums that followed were all fantastic in their own right, but never quite felt as special as The Spirit of Ukko. As much as I like Kiuas’ music I can’t help but wonder what a new album of theirs would sound like. Guitarist Salovaara plays in his band Leverage, however, and when Jalkanen left the drummer and keyboardist decided to part ways with the band as well. With Kiuas’ recent activity on the social media platforms I do have a tiny bit of hope in my heart left for a reunion, but before we all get too excited, let’s enjoy the amazing piece that is The Spirit of Ukko.

(Total rewrite. Original shitty version posted November 8th, 2007)

The benefit of hindsight has really made this album significantly better, hasn't it? For the time travelers amongst us, we should have known that this couldn't last. Kiuas started off as some sort of blasphemous creation that has no business existing on this plane of reality, so it was only a matter of time before they had to shed their extra layers to eventually pass as human. In plain English, what I mean is that The Spirit of Ukko and Reformation saw Kiuas step onto the scene as something truly unique, taking influence from so many different branches of the metal family tree while still somehow remaining unified and cohesive, and it made them almost defy classification. By the time The New Dark Age rolled around, they had dropped pretty much everything except punchy mid paced power metal from their sound, and I couldn't even tell you what Lustdriven sounded like because nobody actually listened to it, since the whole reason everybody fell in love with them in the first place is because they were so creative and unlike anything else, so who the fuck wants to hear them drop all of the cool parts?

So what this means is that their debut here marked a very special point in time, when they were young and hungry and completely unafraid to take any risks, because The Spirit of Ukko is quite a risky album, particularly in comparison to the humdrum safety of the second half of their career. To understand the sheer eccentricity displayed here, consider that the most accurate description of this album would be "Epic Melodic Power/Death/Black/Thrash/Heavy/Folk Metal", and I'm not even kidding when I say that apart from power metal being the obvious base of the music, all of the outside oddities are displayed with equal strength, oftentimes within the course of one single song. Take a gander at the opener, the title track. It opens with straight meloblack tremolo picking and crazy fast blasting, but the melody is a bit more on the epic power metal side, with stinging keys accenting the note changes. And then with a simple change in rhythm, without losing pace at all, it morphs into a more overtly melodeath riff, with the synth stings hitting even harder than they were previously. That slows itself even further into a midpaced heavy/power metal groove, and all the while the main theme has stayed consistent. After a short segue, it starts rocketing through a pinch harmonic laden thrash riff with subtle smatterings of melodeath, building upon itself larger and larger until the guitars start shredding and give way to Ilja Jalkanen's iconic voice, a lower tenor with enough oomph to launch a cannonball with just enough grit to sand it clean on the way out. His full on cleans simulate the majestic soaring of... well, a god damned cannonball, and the harsh vocals that he doesn't utilize quite as often but still often enough to keep the variety unpredictable hit like a... fucking cannonball. In between his vocal lines in this first verse, the riffs switch from beefy melodeath with a titanium backbone to equally strong power metal keyboard melodies, which eventually overtake the song and deliver a chorus that's just straight ahead crunchy power metal. And that's just the first two minutes of the first song. The fact that the band somehow managed to take this completely fucked-out mishmash of genres on paper and turn it into something that sounds like the most natural progression on the planet is nothing short of stunning.

Despite all of the genre hopping, the songs are all more or less recognizable as straight ahead power metal with little room for debate. "Warrior Soul" showcases this the best, as it's probably the most "normal" of the good songs on display, and even then Jalkanen flails all over the place, utilizing his amazingly versatile voice in as many interesting ways he can think of while simultaneously giving us the best chorus on the album. Seriously that hook is unreal, it's stuck in my head right now and I'm not even listening to that song. "On Winds of Death We Ride" is potentially my favorite song on the record thanks to the pure thrash of the verses and the most venomous delivery the dudes can muster. For real, the "Like beasts we now just SEEK OUR PREeEeEYyY" part makes me want to rip my own head off in an adrenaline fueled fugue, and that first natural harmonic run that explodes into furious blasting death is just head-spinningly masterful. Special shoutout goes to "Across the Snows" as well for exploring the folkier side of the band, featuring a cool cleanly sung Finnish section and one of the hypest fucking build-and-release intros of 2005.

"Awesome! What about the rest of the songs?"

The production on the album is excellently meaty, letting the riffs tear chunks of flesh off of every nearby flesh-having entity. The drumming in particular stands out purely for how hard they pound despite the patterns themselves not being nearly as creative as the overall songwriting and riffing. The Spirit of Ukko is very thunderous in this regard, and it's a huge boon to the album's overall enjoyment.

"Um, that's cool and all but didn't answer my question. How are the rest of the songs?"

The uhh, did I talk about the vocals enough? I feel like it's not mentioned often enough, but I can sense an almost grungy tone to his more snarly and theatrical vocals. I think that's a neat feature, his voice is unique enough on its own but that inflection he has on the mid range croons are really cool and something I really haven't heard before or afterwards in the context of power metal.

"BH, how are the rest of the s-"

THE REST OF THE ALBUM SUCKS, OKAY?? Fuck I hate this part so much but it's true, apart from the four songs I namedropped up there earlier there is nothing at all worth listening to here. All that eclectic fire finds itself conspicuously absent throughout half of the album, and even when the band does stray into more interesting territory, it's always too little too late. "Until We Reach the Shore" has a wicked keyboard solo but it's only after several minutes of plodding chug riffs that go fucking nowhere on their own. "And the North Star Cried" has a cool breakdown to round out its intro but the rest of the song is so lame and pointless that I don't care to sit through it. The remaining two tracks have no redeeming features whatsoever, being quasi-ballady chugpower dullardry. It's hard to even spend time on this part of the review because seriously, I said it all already. So little happens during these songs. It's baffling to me how a band who can so effortlessly exude such boundless creativity and tie it all together in such a concise and powerful package can also be responsible for such maddeningly inconsequential crap. This is sort of a harbinger of what would eventually signal the band's precipitous fall, and it's why I'll never bother to review their other albums. These four songs will soon stretch the runtimes of full albums, and god dammit nobody wants to listen to the sixteen squintillionth generic hookless chuggy midpaced "power" metal band. There's a reason "Warrior Soul" is such a celebrated monument of eccentric power metal and why most fans of the band forgot "Thorns of a Black Rose" existed until this sentence.

This is a really difficult album to score, because the high points are so high and the low points are so frustrating and disappointing. The album's momentum is inconsistent thanks to almost every weak track falling between two good ones, so it's constantly starting and stopping and just lurching forwards on a hobbled foot. The excellent vocals can't save the lame songs, the badass riffs only exist on the great songs, it's almost like The Spirit of Ukko is truly a split album between Kiuas and Nega-Kiuas. The songs that sound like power metal getting super combo'd with a Wabbajack kick total ass, but the songs that just sound like normal old songs but without any hooks or emotion fall so flat that they leave Kiuas-shaped holes in the dirt. I think overall, the album deserves a positive score simply because of how much I love the good songs, because this outside-the-box anarchism was pure lightning in a bottle that they only managed to recapture a handful of times. Just go into it knowing that you're gonna have to keep a trained finger over the skip button.


Originally written for Lair of the Bastard

The Spirit of Ukko is one hell of a debut, putting nearly all of it's chips down in support of it's eccentricies and clearly having a blast with all of it in the process. This free-form songwriting style clearly transcends onto the listener, delivering everything you expect and more. In a genre so heavily devoted to clichés, Kiuas has always stood out from the pack by going against the traditional Finnish grain - even if they themselves fell prey to many of the common pitfalls later on.

At the risk of devolving into a sordid track-by-track affair, I have to mention the three gems of the album immediately: "Warrior Soul", "On Winds of Death We Ride", and the title track. Salovaara is clearly the centerpiece and most influential band member from a songwriting standpoint. What makes The Spirit of Ukko so appealing is the consistent emphasis on the riffs, never failing no matter how distracting and overblown the rest of the performances may be. His riffs are at their knuckle-twisting best during the three aforementioned tracks, with "Warrior Soul" having the most lasting power courtesy of it's head-bobbing main groove and measured use of keyboards. While I can contest that it is far from the best song here, it appears to be most individual's favorite Kiuas track. I will agree that it is immediately accessible and showcases all of the band's strengths efficiently, serving as a nice introduction to the stylistic mixing pot being drawn from here.

"On Winds of Death We Ride" is more anthemic than it is bludgeoning, and the clinical thrashing that is exhibited during the verses makes this one a keeper. The title track draws influence from both "Warrior Soul" and "On Winds of Death We Ride", embodying a functional opener and a decent namesake piece to the album proper. An EP consisting of these three tracks and the atmospheric "Until We Reach the Shore" would be near flawless, but we still have half of the album to go, so does it stack up to these three masterpieces?

Well, no, but honestly, what can? I consider The Spirit of Ukko a companion piece to it's direct successor Reformation, as it contains many similar high points yet falls prey to many of the same shortcomings. Kiuas has always had a problem emoting effectively during the half-balled crooners, and this album is certainly no exception. I don't have many qualms with Jalkanen's gritty tenor, but he struggles to maintain the appeal of the proceedings on his own without much of marked value going on behind him. As such, "Thorns of a Black Rose" and especially "No More Sleep for Me" are complete throwaways, only picking up sporadically and certainly not enough to warrant their existence.

The only other track worth noting is the aforementioned "Until We Reach the Shore", which is a great ambient mid-paced tune that gives Tanskanen's synths a chance to coat the proceedings in a dense atmosphere, complete with buzzing leads and a breathtaking keyboard solo near the end. This track exhibits Jalkenen's stronger clean tones, which are far superior to the parched death growls he feels the need to sporadically radiate in an attempt at keeping The Spirit of Ukko heavy. His effort is largely unneeded, as Savolaara's incendiary riffs fill that void effectively on their own. Other than an overuse of the pinch harmonics, the riffs are constantly pulling the album back toward it's more well-meaning origins just when it begins to stumble and fall into typical Finnish pitfalls.

The Spirit of Ukko has certainly aged well, as the band never managed to come close to the eclectic appeal featured here. In fact, the only other track on the entirety of the band's remaining discography that would fit nicely on here is "Race with the Falcons" from Reformation. The rest of Kiuas' discography is far too safe and limp-wristed at times to fully sell the appeal. While this album is not without it's faults either, it's high points are stratospheric, truly redefining the overplayed Finnish power metal formula. Worth the time of fans of this style, but clearly loses some steam after the halfway point.

Finnish power metal is a subject that seems to be generally stereotyped by more down and dirty metalheads as being fluffy, light, and that hand-grenade of a genre descriptor, “flowery”. This is an interesting release, because with one smashing debut album, Kiuas managed to play around with, AND shatter that stereotype.

Keyboards are ever-present here, bringing out the kind of wintery atmosphere characteristic of the Finnish scene in bands like Nightwish and Sonata Arctica. But they’re reinforced by enough riffs to slap any would-be dissenter across the face for days, accented by a sharp, blunt production job.

I disagree with certain people’s phrasing of Dragonforce as “extreme power metal”. They’re pretty stereotypical power metal in their melody structuring, albeit hopped up on that trademark speed that’s made them infamous (among other things). This album is a much purer representation of the idea of “extreme power metal”: it’s power metal, but with elements more characteristic with extreme metal such as tremolo-picked riffs, blastbeats that interplay with the riffs in such a way, and the occasional harsh singing backing Ilja Jalkanen’s already naturally rough lead vocal work.

For me, the highlight songs are those that play up on this unique, frosty blend of power metal and extreme metal: the title track is extraordinarily up-front with its extreme tendencies, yet in the same breath proudly boasts the strong melodies and memorable vocal lines more characteristic with power metal, while On Winds Of Death We Ride grapples with thrashy melodies that possess a sense of grandeur – I hesitate to use the oft-oversaturated term Epic, but there is a sense of it here. Warrior Soul is an exceptional display of performer dexterity melded with aggressive, yet supremely catchy and memorable writing.

The less furious songs are by no means bad, though – No More Sleep For Me delivers a haunting tale whose atmosphere draws you in and is a welcome break from the assault, while the soft breaks that occasionally enter into the heavier tracks not only deeply accent the frigid atmosphere, but don’t even feel out of place, instead complimenting the rest of the song.

The only thing holding this record back for me is that the second half doesn’t quite match up to the furious majesty of the first half. Even then, perhaps I just need to let it grow on me some more. None the less, this is a wonderful, unique album. A requisite for fans of Finnish metal.

This band has gotten quite a lot of praise heaped upon them since their inception, and a lot of that praise is indeed deserved. Kiuas play Power Metal, except not in the way you'd expect. Sure, they have fantasy-based lyrics, but the music here is about as far from derivative as Power Metal can get, having elements of Death Metal and 80s hard rock blended into the colorful palette of influences on display. An accurate description might be Children of Bodom with less keyboards, less harsh vocals and a more serious thematic but even that is pretty far off from what The Spirit of Ukko sounds like.

The vocals range from a midranged, gritty snarl to a much harsher sort of rasp/growl, and the music is a majestic cacophony of heavy, pugilistic riffs, riveting guitar leads that border on neoclassical at times, a few slight folk inclinations, and even a few "epic" overtones with grandiose synths and orchestrations, although these are few and far between. While that description doesn't sound too off-the-wall, it's the songwriting style that's uneven and bizarre. The title track opens this disc, and it's a triumphant, pounding Power Metal epic in the style of old Blind Guardian, except with that unique Kiuas touch that was already in place even here. "On Wings of Death We Ride" is a double-bass throttled speed cooker with a high-octane shout-along chorus, and then "No More Sleep for Me" is a sludgy, distorted romp with a more hard rock vibe to it, having a chorus slightly reminiscent of AC/DC's heavier songs; quickly kicking into the next song, "Warrior Soul," which is a full-fledged galloping volley through 80s Helloween country. The album plods on further with a few Prog Rock/Metal influences, and one song ("Thorns of a Black Rose") that sounds like Gutter Ballet-era Savatage, except about three times as heavy...see what I'm going with this?

What I'm getting at is that Kiuas are exuberant and very inventive, cramming as many ideas as they possibly can into this. It all makes for a very interesting listening experience, with some really killer ideas and a great sound overall, with no real weak links, but at times it's just a bit too much. Kiuas on this debut album comes off as the equivalent of an enthusiastic young artist, filling a white canvass with every color on his palette, eager to create just about the best fucking painting in the entire world; one so enamored and dense in color that it could eclipse the sun, to put hyperbole to use. He has not learned the meaning of the old adage, "less is more," and thus, while having immense talent, creates something that is jumbled and rather messy, in spite of being somewhat pleasing to the naked eye. The Spirit of Ukko is a diverse, musically rich album, but the band didn't even try to restrain themselves here, just blazing away with the speedometer at 11 on every single song, and sadly they don't all come together as well as I would've liked.

Nevertheless, though, that weakness also ends up being one of Kiuas's greatest strengths. While I would've preferred a more restrained, slightly more subtle style of songwriting, Kiuas's manic creative energy is really something you have to hear yourself to believe. They might throw everything they can possibly think of into the 40-odd minutes of music contained within The Spirit of Ukko, but there is a certain charm to it that simply can't be denied. Even when you take Kiuas's faults into consideration, if you're a Power Metal fan, you will no doubt drool over the combination of genres on display here. And like the eager young painter, there is an earnest, genuine sense of pride at work on this album, and that is heartwarming as well as worthy of respect from any serious Metal fan.

Originally written for http://www.metalcrypt.com

Kiuas play a very oringal, unique style of metal that mixes everything from folk to black metal, and epic, symphonic metal with bombastic , crushing power metal. Let me tell you guys: This is quite possibly the best metal album of 2005, and perhaps the best metal debut of all time. From the moment you shove the CD into your playing device and hear the fast, crunchy riffs of the explosive title, "Spirit of Ukko" track all the way until you reach the the dark, ponderous yet epic "And the Northe Star Cried", any fan of heavy metal will be totally hooked by guitarist Mikko Salovaara's techincal soloing and quirky riffs, singer Ilja Jalkanen's energetic and aggressive vocal attacks, not to mention the stunning drumming, and totally awsome, yet non-cheesy keyboarding, not to mention the solid basslines. I've decided to briefly run through each song.

1: "The Spirit of Ukko" The album immediately launches you into the title track of the album, which consists of a minute and thirty seconds of fast and heavy riffs backed by symphonic keyboard elements. If you're not pumped after 30 seconds, then keep listening, it'll happen soon. The energy of the song only increases once the vocalist enters the scene, and his powerful singing totally fits the music. An amazing, though rather short guitar solo follows, which leads into a serene moment in the song, which is destroyed by heavy riffing, and a sweet guitar lick/mini-solo. Oh, fun fact: for those who don't know, 'Ukko' was the top Finnish god back in the day.

2: "On Winds of Death we Ride" This is a cool song that is slower, but still starts with a pounding riff that escalated into a lightning-fast riff with the help of the vocalist, who shows off his talent by singing with a a harsher voice tone, and actually layering death metal vocals underneath his noral singing. There are plenty of heavy, death, black, and folk metal moments in this song, and it's a amazing blend.

3: "No More Sleep for me" This is a mid-paced song that begins with a snare drum intro, then a very cool headbanging riff. The verse is a change from the first two songs, in that the guitars are left out until later. This song isn't fast, but the band's enthusiasm never dwindles at any point in the song.

4: "Warrior Soul" This is the best song on the album. Fuck, this song kicks ass. If everyone here could only listen to one song from this band, it'd be this song. It's so cool. It begins with a huge drum intro laden with double-bass kicks, then some deep guitar notes, and low death growls. Then, a dual keyboard/guitar lick opens into the explosive verse. Jalkanen puts up his best vocal performance here, and the chorus of this song is amazing and memoriable. It's a great sing-along chorus. "WARRIOR SOUL! BLAZES THROUGH THE LAND OF FROST AND SNOW! HIS PAGAN HEART AND FLESH BUILT TO ENDURE THE COLD!" Man, if that doesn't get the blood flowing, nothing will.

5: "Until we Reach the Shore" Another slower song that beings with a nice keyboard melody that is joined by a melodic guitar solo. This song is actually the weakest one on the album, though the begining is very nice, as well as the chorus. That's pretty much all I've got say about this one...

6: "Across the Snows" Okay, time for another sweet song. This begins with wind in the background, and footsteps in the snow. Some very catchy acoustic guitaring in a folk style catches the listeners interest, and the addition of a flute melody is very cool. The nice setting is shattered when Mikko's nutjob guitar riffs start blasting at a healthy head-banging pace. Some cool hooks with crazy harmonics are thrown around by Mikko, and the outcome is a very sweet folk metal song. I'd like to take a moment to point out that this is one of the songs featured on their demos, and the demo version is much better, although the mix is poor.

7: "Thorns of a Black Rose" SLowing it down again, this is probably the clostest thing that this album gets to a ballad. It's several steps above "Until we Reach the Shore", the other balladish song on the album. The chorus to the song is acoustic with some very powerfl singing, backed by some wicked licks and melodies in the guitar. Totally cool, and a very different style from the rest of the album. The chorus is soaring and epic, and the song changes in style. Very good song.

8: "And the North Star Cried" This is pretty much that 'epic' of the album, clocking at 7 minutes. In this one, the band is backed by a string quartet, so the song is very epic sounding, with the strings and keyboards playing these chilling melodies with the guitars chugging away with some solid, heavy rythms. The vocalist doesn't even enter the song until 2 minutes into it. The song features more qicked guitaring, and a sweet-ass keyboard solo. Plus, the whole symphonic element is very awsome.

With that all said and done, I'm going to recommend this to anyone interested in music ranging from rock to heavy metal of all types. This band is so cool that I seriously doubt that many non-power metal fans will dislike this. The amazing level of variety contained in the songs is mind-blowing, and the sheer memorability (Is that even a word?) of the songs will knock you off your feet. I can't get through a day without singing/humming/thinking the choruses to the songs "Warrior Soul", "Spirit of Ukko", or "Across the Snows". The playing ability of each band member is stunning. Jalkanen belts out the vocals lines with his versatile voice (Powerful with a rough edge) and performs death metal growls occasionally. He makes up for his slightly limited vocal ranged with his obvious enthusiasm for the material. Man, Salovaara is an undiscovered guitar god. I think he's way better than Alexi of Children of Bodom. His riffs are crunchy, fast, heavy, and laden with wierd hooks such as crazy harmonics and shit like that. His riffs rules, and I believe he's one of the main songwriters Also, he does both the lead guitar and rhythm guitars on the album. Drummer Nareneva is great. His double-bass kicks are flawless, and he hold tons of variety behind his kit. Tanskanen is the man behind the keyboard, and he's blood brilliant. Half the time, good power metal is ruined by mediocre/cheesy keyboarding, and while the keys are up front much of the time in the songs, it never gets bad. Synth counter-melodies, string sounds, and funky winter-sounds are flung ever which way with amazing precision. And Bassist Tuominen hold his own of the feild of glory with his solid bass-lines that admittedly follow the guitar much of the time, though he get his shots in here and there.
Kiuas's next album, "Reformation", is set for May 24th, 2006. "The Spirit of Ukko" was release May 4th of last year. That's 385 days betwen albums Holy crap! I'm pre-ordering this shit! For those that missed this album back when it came out in 2005, don't worry. Most people missed it. Listen to it. Download it, buy it, get the samples, I don't care how. It'll be worth your time if you're up for some wicked heavy metal.

What a mess this album is. Having heard of Kiuas as a Finnish power metal band I was expecting nothing more than another average Stratovarius clone – in any case, I was certainly not expecting THAT. I must say it was a rather good surprise even if I stayed quite puzzled after the first listen of this odd thing.

Basically, like their fellow countrymen of Ensiferum, Kiuas play Viking-influenced power metal, finding their lyrical as well as musical inspiration in Nordic legends and epic tales. But unlike in the aforementioned band, folk elements, while not totally absent, are less present here and have been replaced by several other and sometimes a bit weird influences. The first striking element is the singer, constantly switching between the standard high-pitched power metal vocals, an harsher style a la Children of Bodom and, more surprising, a sound far closer to 70’s or NWOBHM vocal style! The same goes for the music: while On Winds of Death we Ride contains so many blastbeats (for a power metal song) that it becomes almost disgusting, some others tracks like Until we Reach the Shore sound actually far more hard-rock than metal – just imagine what would have happened if AC/DC had suddenly decided to turn Viking. Add to all this some harsh riffs which sound like they were borrowed from Pantera or, better, Symphony X, acoustic guitars playing traditional melodies, growled backing vocals, black metal influences (in the last track), a lot of energy and a slight touch of madness, now you get an idea of how this album sounds. The production is the standard power metal one, the double bass sounding sometimes too much triggered to be honest, but nothing awful.

Power metal fans won’t be disappointed by the furious Warrior Soul which can exhibit everything they like: high pace, pounding double bass, aggressive high-pitched vocals, a memorable epic chorus, shining but not overwhelming keyboards, this song, pure Ensiferum inspiration, is without doubt the masterpiece of the album. In the same vein the title track as well as Across the Snows – featuring indeed nice folk melodies – should please even the most close-minded of them. On the other hand, listeners who don’t object to more hard-rockish tunes and/or who are nostalgic of the 70’s and 80’s may prefer No More Sleep for Me, the almost progressive Until We Reach the Shore or, above all, Thorns of a Black Rose. If you have even wondered how the encounter of metal from 1975 with metal from 2005 would sound like, this mid-paced semi-ballad is the song for you, where you will find bluesy verses – well, who is singing there? Robert Plant? Ian Gillan? – alternating with a rather bombastic chorus and Symphony X – esque riffs.

Eventually, the seven minutes long closing track, And the North Star Cried, is a strange mix of power metal with some touch of black metal and orchestrations some may like, but which failed to really convince me. Some points prevent also this record from being an ultimate masterpiece, amongst them its patchwork nature – the listener might wonder where a song like On Winds of Death we Ride really leads. Besides the singer, occasionally trying too hard to sound aggressive, may become slightly annoying, while his NWOBHM sympathies sometimes just can’t fit with the music. But these minor flaws are nothing compared to the evidence this band and this album show: no, power metal isn’t dead! And no need to say that after such a debut I’m eagerly waiting for the next album.

Highlights: The Spirit of Ukko, Warrior Soul, Across the Snows, Thorns of a Black Rose

Kiuas, yet another good but relatively unknown band from Finland. After a couple of demos and a failed contract with Rage Of Achilles, they signed with Spinefarm Records and have finally released their debut album The Spirit Of Ukko. What an album it has become..

Basically, Kiuas play power metal, but there's a lot more to their music than just that. They're influenced by other genres such as death, thrash, folk, speed and so on. The diversity is, in my opinion, endless. To be more precise about their sound; imagine Pantera crashing their tour bus into that of Stratovarius, Children Of Bodom striking a deal with Iron Maiden or any other pact you would reckon to be VERY unlikely. And that is exactly why Kiuas is so refreshing.

The album opens with a killer song, simply titled The Spirit Of Ukko. Immediately, the sheer, raw power of Kiuas becomes apparent. Their insane drummer does some fantastic work here, the guitars are very nifty and the vocals are just amazing. Imagine very raw, near-death vocals on top of a power/pagan folk song. Sweet!! The lyrics are very simple and stick with you in minutes..

And this is only the beginning.

The next songs on the album are of equal quality. All of them cover themes like pagan religion, battles and the honour of ancient warriors. Nothing new under the sun here, but Kiuas make it work. The only bad thing about the lyrics is they don't rhyme too often, which can sound very strange at times. It's hard to explain, but you'll see what I mean once you hear it. Songs that suffer from this the most are 'Warrior Soul' and 'Thorns Of A Black Rose'.

Overall, this is a really good, well-produced and refreshing album that is worth listening to for anyone who likes any of the above mentioned genres. Even if power is totally not your thing, you should go through the trouble of checking this out. You will NOT be disappointed!