Following on from the 2017 EP Kirous Finlands’ Väki release debut album full-length Kuolleen Maan Omaksi (translated – Succumbed to the Dead Soil) traversing bleak atmospheres of deliberate gloom and unexpected ferocity, reflecting the adversity of human existence, manifesting the unpredictable yet inevitable nature of death.
The band waste no time in opening the floodgates to fury with the first track “Vaisto” (The Instinct) it’s seven and a half minutes of bruxism inducing heaviness and to be perfectly honest I wasn’t ready for the relentlessness of “Kuihtuvan maan puoliso” (The Consort of the Barren Earth) so much so that I had to briefly pause it, take a moment and get myself ready for the onslaught.
Already at the midpoint of the album, “Ennustus” (The Divination) is one of the longer tracks at just over nine minutes, and even though it’s one of the slower tracks of the album, it in no way strays from the path of self-annihilation the band is following with this release. Following this is my highlight track of the entire album “Ikiuni” (Eternal Sleep). The harsh vocals mixed with the melodic undertones that run throughout this track are just fabulous.
Did someone order a side of riffs? The opening of “Painajaisten syleilyssä” (Embraced by Nightmares) is stacked high with them before woefully sliding down into the slower despairing soundscape before the final track and again at just over 9 minutes, delivers a final multi-layered intentionally punishing end to this opus…
Actually, that’s not quite the end as there is the bonus track “Kylmyyden ytimessä” (At the heart of the cold) which is yet another seven-minutes of savage, atmospherically bleak where submission is the only allowance.
Väki define themselves as “a musical act embodying the profound manifestations of death, impurity, and chaos, dedicated to capture the darkest aspects of reality.”
A cataclysm of perfectly melded chaos.
Kuolleen Maan Omaksi will be released July 17th via Redefining Darkness & Saturnal Records
