I’m forever going on about how it’s important for an album to have a good strong opening that grips you and makes you want to hear more, and a band that have achieved just that is Hiidenhauta, a black metal band from Satakunta in Finland.
To say that opener Tuhkasta is a truly outstanding piece is an understatement. Following the ambient first few seconds, a more atmospheric tone is taken with the addition of an organ and then things swiftly build up into the whole band kicking in and utterly dominating the song. It just seems to have everything and is basically everything you could ever ask for from a black metal song. Quite simply: this song is completely and utterly mindblowing.
Something that really makes the band stand out from the crowd is the fact they also heavily utilise clean female vocals in addition to the harsh male ones, which is something a little different. It gives the album a softer tone atop of the harshness and the seamless blend between the two different vocalists is absolutely incredible.
It’s honestly quite difficult to find anything wrong with Noitia On Minun Sukun as a whole because it’s a technically flawless album but it just lacks that special spark in order to achieve full marks, but nevertheless I can certainly see myself listening to this album on a loop for a long time to come.
9/10
Hiidenhauta: Facebook
