Metal Underground.com

Much like the band's debut album “Uljas Uusi Maailma,” this short holdover EP from Kuolemanlaakso covers a vast range of sounds. Each song is disjointed from its neighbor, with only a general death/doom aesthetic offering a connection between the four tracks. As with the preceding album, that’s only as much of an issue as a listener wants it to be, because the music is high quality extreme metal from veterans of the scene, even if there’s no common thread throughout the release.

The combination of death and doom with a seriously gloomy vibe that Finnish metal has become famous for is out in force on this release, but it’s a base to build off and not the full extent of the sound. If it’s possible, there may be even more influences brought out this time around, from symphonic black metal to thrash and more.

Second track “Tulenväki” is deliberately paced, sometimes slowing to a crawl, and uses throaty and abrasive black metal croaks. Drawn out chanting in the background then rounds out the eclectic song. The follow-up track, “Kalmoskooppi,” is much faster paced with gang shouts in the background and a smattering of thrash-based guitar lines. Ending the disc is “Musta aurinko nousee,” which is the Finnish equivalent of Type O Negative, with deep clean vocals and a gothic vibe.

Kuolemanlaakso’s latest outing into metal is yet another genre smorgasbord, showing the band members have a strong grasp of nearly any sub-genre out there. The stylistic schizophrenia won’t work for everyone, but fans of the usual Finnish suspects should be right at home here, no matter which sub-genre is currently taking the forefront of the EP.