Kivimetsän Druidi

I’m not really a fan of female vocals or growls; in fact, they really break my mood but I decided to give them a chance. I like symphonic metal quite a lot and, hey, it’s mixed with folk here, thus, who cares about the vocals? This sounds great! It also proves that one shouldn’t judge a band by their aspect or personal prejudices (look at the picture of this band, it’s highly hilarious…) or you could be missing something awesome.

I stumbled upon this EP the same way we stumble upon a lot of stuff: randomly.

Indeed, Kivimestän Druidi (“Druid of the Stone Forest” in finnish and this is the first and last time I’m typing that thing) released this strange EP in 2006 and now I can’t wait for a good and full studio album to see what these guys are truly capable of.

Mustan Valtikan Aika features four extremely moving tracks where the clean and pristine female vocals exchange participation with harsh growling male vocals, backed up by a great use of several instruments (mainly keyboards) that flavor the environment with a notorious folk aura that drives you to the icy borders of the Nordic Realms ™.

The use of female vocals as a ‘hook’ and to add ‘emotional’ value has turned so sickeningly frequent in many branches of metal that there is zero novelty value in that. To put it in general words: it’s getting old. But let’s not rant in vain as today I have a review to write.

Once you start playing “Pohjonien Mahti” (Northern Might… thanks Internet for the magic of the search button!) you will notice something pretty strange: what in the name of all the divinities are they singing? What the hell is that strange alien language? Ladies and gentlemen, it’s finnish. Sadly the only thing I know about finnish is that it pronounces the letters almost the same way as in spanish so I can comment on the lyrics and I don’t want to give wrong information about them.

However, there is something particular about these guys not singing in english. The vocals have a strange feeling of, if not purity, at least fantastical imagery. They are really moving. Perhaps it’s the fact of having thousands, millions of songs in english what makes it hard to do something innovative. Well, they have showed metal is universal and sounds damn good no matter the language! I wish other bands whose vocalist/s can barely sing in english could open his/her eyes and sing in his/her mother language. Perhaps we may find out they were extremely talented but limited by the language barrier.

Anyway, back on the music, the first track offers a balanced use of keyboards, guitars and bass. The drumming sound fine, just a bit desynchronized with the rest. This is a bit more noticeable in the last track. Maybe it was a mistake caused during the final mixing but it can be easily forgiven. After a brief intro, the vocals kick in and when you hear Jenni’s vocals you know you stepped into something good!

The second track, Koston Miekka (The Sword of Revenge), sounds almost like a typical Rockman X series background music (don’t ask…) thanks to the ultra-melodic keyboard approach, which also feels quite folkish. It’s not bad; moreover, the song turns heavier and catchier as it progresses. This is one of the highlights along with the quite long closer.

Pedon Loitsu (The Spell of the Beast) it’s a slower and haunting piece, a bit long but it offers a change of direction by letting the listener hear the bands’ members playing a great instrumental passage towards the end. It’s not epic or anything similar, just a good display of musicianship.

The fourth song, Mustan Valtikan Aika (no translation for this sadly, my searching magic has its limits), is the second in importance, both in length and overall vocal and instrumental feeling. Throughout the whole album we can hear a great display of heavy guitars and a good bass but all of them conjoin in this last song, which clocks around seven minutes, and works as the perfect closer for an EP that breaths mystical and folk waves.

If you read the translation of the song titles (Northern Might… egocentric are we?) you can notice they aren’t nothing out of this world but the fact that the band sung and wrote everything in finnish gives a ‘local’ feeling and makes it stand out.

Overall, Mustan Valtikan Aika is a great EP that mainly suffers because of its length (around 20 mins, I wanted more!) and some, maybe not intended, mistakes in the drumming and perhaps an excessive usage of keyboards. Nothing terrible really, I liked this a lot. The folk touch improves the mood and makes it, somehow, relaxing… which is unbelievable considering we have a guy growling and throwing screeching vocals now and then. They earned points just for that.

As I said previously, I am eagerly waiting for a possible full-length studio album from these guys! Get this and perhaps it will give you a refreshing approach to the clichéd female/growl formula.

PorcupineOfDoom, February 11th, 2015

With quite possibly the most heavily influenced folk metal I've ever heard, Shadowheart is an odd listen. Deciding if it merits a good score or not is a quite difficult with this one because it is so unique, but in the end I've opted not to give it an huge score, and here's why:

Firstly, there's the drumming. I've mentioned many, many times before now that I dislike drumming that is purely about pace, and several parts of this album seems to consist of exactly that. Don't get me wrong, I like a band with fast drumming. Look at Krimh, look at Karkaos, look at Children of Bodom. All of those bands play extremely quickly, but they have a sense of rhythm that goes with it. Kivimetsän Druidi seem to have fast drums for no real reason, and it doesn't really go with the music which is mostly slow. That being said, I can appreciate that the drumming is good when it slows down and attempts to find a place in the band, which makes the fast sections all the more irritating as it shows that they didn't have to be there.

The second issue comes with the guitars. In an almost Serpent & Seraph-esque fashion they seem to be drowned out by everything else, only audible in the solos sections (admittedly solos of a high calibre though). That leaves the drumming at the forefront of the mix to further my annoyance when it turns into a smash-fest. The keyboards that are also left exposed just don't seem to have any kind of impact on me, and actually at times it seems that the only instrument in the band other than the two vocalists is the drummer. Sometimes the folk influences suddenly appear out of nowhere and the keyboard doesn't seem like a waste of space, but a lot of the time this seems very subtle to almost non-existent.

Third in my list of bad things is the lack of consistency. The band doesn't seem to have a set plan, and while this means that nothing ever gets incredibly boring and repetitive it also means that I'm not sure how long the good bits will last for or if they'll even make a return once they've gone. Each song twists and turns so many times that it loses sight of where it began and ultimately means that I can't even tell where one song becomes another. Each song is epic, but not so much in the sense that what you're listening to has a story, more that it just doesn't seem to come to an end.

It seems that this list of things I dislike is never ending, but here's number four: the vocals. I know that Kivimetsän Druidi have been praised for being original and using an operatic female singer in their band, but in all honesty she doesn't do anything that blows me away. She's actually the same girl from The Body Snatcher, and as I said in a review of one of their works she's fairly average. So nothing there, and added with the bland male growls that sound like so many other people the vocals arsenal isn't that great. They're a bit stop-start, never really working together, or when they do the operatics always seem to make the growls redundant (which is odd because I'd expect it to be the other way around).

So what are the likable things? Well, like I said it is an interesting idea with all the different genres mixed into one (gothic, folk, black, a bit of symphonic, etc.). They don't pull it off as well as other musicians might, but at the same time it could be done far worse. There are good moments where things start to come together, but with so much swapping around I kind of forget where they're located in the songs, or indeed on the album as a whole. Mostly the points they get are for providing me with something listenable, but it comes to nothing more than average despite (or maybe because of) all the different things that they've tried to incorporate into the music. I guess there is such a thing as being too adventurous...

Kivimetsän Druidi play an intricate style of metal. There are many elements from various metal genres found in their music, namely folk metal, as their main style, some would say viking metal, but I don't think this is a genre per se, it is more a lyrical content and an attitude than a genre, as viking metal bands play various genres; and we find also black metal and symphonic metal blended into their music. This may seem as something not very original, but it is, as they incorporate all these elements to create a genre of their own.

I have heard many folk metal bands, but none of them did incorporate what Kivimetsän Druidi did, which are - female operatic vocals, and I think this is what separates them from similar bands.

Be prepared for a serious musical threat, as this band is young, but experienced, and the members show it proudly. The songs are all very complex, with many elements, mainly fast (with an exception), full of energy and power. The overall feel while listening to this album is that the music bears an undeniable epic vibe. From start to finish, this feeling remains. The elements that create this epicness are lush keyboard arrangements that often carry a folk melody, or a symphonic one. The other element are the guitars. Surprisingly, the keys do not smother the guitars, which are overpresent. The guitars play powerful, driving riffs, which almost always set the folky-''viking'' background, as in Jäässä Varttunut (Grown Up Within Ice), while the drums follow the guitars with the same speed and intensity, sometimes venturing into blastbeats, similar to black metal. Every instrumental element works for the best, and no element is prevalent over the ther, thus the music is balanced. The instruments convey a symphonic, folky background onto which is added a wide vocal variety. Overall, this albums is complex, epic, lush, rich, bombastic and majestic.

First, we have the male vocals provided by Joni Koskinen. He has a powerful black metal rasp, which marries perfectly with the aggressivity of the music; but this is not all, as he provides also clean vocals (supported by the other band members), which are folky in their execution and are well done. The song which has clean male vocals used as a main idea is Verivala (Bloodoath). This song is easily the most varied, as it has all the various elements of the music put together to form the album's highlight. It has powerful riffage, blazing drumming, clean male vocals and choirs, operatic chants and lush keys.

The other vocalist is a Leeni-Maria Hovilla. Her voice is very similar to Tarja Turunen. She has great range, a recognizable operatic timbre, and an incredible power and expressiveness in her voice. I think that her powerful voice is well suited to the music, as it would not be so good with a weak singer. Powerful music requires a powerful voice that could swim easily with the musical flow, not drown into it or be carried by it. In Verivala and Mustan Valtikan Aika (The Era Of The Black Scepter) she uses a more soft, folky style, but she is best when she uses her operatic style. Some songs that showcase this perfectly are Halls of Shadowheart and Tyrant. In Shadowheart, she sings the line ''We are the ones you will obey...'' and her voice just transfers the right meaning of those words, as she sounds so compelling, that I would do whatever she says (hahaha). In Tyrant, her voice shifts very easily from mood to mood, from a narrative (''His heart's cold and freezing as the frozen fields of north...''), to a melancholic (''This man inhuman...'') and compassional (''Many souls will get their peace, as this tyrant finally falls...'') later. She sounds more like a warrior princess, than an innocent beauty awaiting her knight. The song is about a Tyrant that eventually falls and the song tels that story perfectly.

Another interesting aspect is the use of the finish language. This gives the music another folky edge. The finish tongue is melodious and poetic, and suits the music perfectly. There are less songs written in english, but it doesn't really matter, as they are really good. This album is a very good piece of folk metal, and we can expect that the band will continue to produce good albums as this one. I think they could use more clean male vocals in the future, as they enrich greatly the music.But, even as it is, this album is a refreshing listening and is recommended to almost any metal fan. I think that the band had a such wide audience in mind while writing music and i think they have succeeded.

The project of the guitar and keyboard playing brothers Joni and Antti Koskinen, Kivimetsän Druidi are another addition to the ranks of both Finland's folk and symphonic metal crowds, and after some line-up fluctuation have landed a deal with Century Media for the release of their debut, 'Shadowheart'. Using the "beauty and the beast" vocal trade-off style not heard as often as one might imagine in folk metal, they have crafted a familiar yet somewhat distinctive CD that impresses and frustrates in almost equal measure.

While they certainly are guilty of cherry picking bits and pieces from the sound of other Finnish bands, the one thing Kivimetsän Druidi could not be accused of is being predictable. Jumping from one predominant style to another not only between songs but also during them, it makes for a wildly diverse CD for the genre, but also one that suffers from a lack of genuine direction.

Being predominantly a mix of symphonic and folk metal, there is some surprisingly heavy music to be found on 'Shadowheart'. The drumming, particularly the bass pedals, is unusually loud in the mix for this style of music. At times this works very well, adding some real beef to the sound, and during the black metal-influenced riffs that crop up here and there it even calls to mind 'Frost'-era Enslaved. There are other times though when the percussion is just too loud and robotic sounding to mesh well with the operatic vocals and keyboard arrangements. At times like this the vocals of Leeni-Maria Hovila seem just too sweet to have anything to do with what is going on around them, and letting Joni get on with shrieking his vocal chords out would seem like the more logical thing to have done.

There are plenty of positive points about 'Shadowheart' that must be noted though, as despite its flaws it is certainly an above average CD. Antti Koskinen is due great credit for his tasteful display, for while his keyboard parts are an almost ever-present and complex set of arrangements, they never threaten to engulf the rest of the instruments. The track "Pedon loitsu" is a real success in this regard, with a powerful melody that is lessened only by the fact that it closely resembles a section in an existing Turisas song (the name of which has completely escaped me). The guitarists also show their ability to contribute more than heavy riffs, with the uplifting melodies in "Jaassa varttunut" making it one of the band's best songs to date.

"Verivala" sees the symphonic arrangements switch from the more ethereal early-Nightwish style to a more Turisas-influenced orchestral assault. This is also one of the songs where Hovila's vocals gel better with the heavier aspect of the music and as result it is one of the most satisfying songs of the bunch.

Through all the positives to be found on 'Shadowheart' though, I just can't shake the nagging feeling that the whole thing would sound better if they did away with a full-time female vocalist and turned over most of the singing duties to Joni. With as many cluttered styles already taking up space on the CD (even some Finntroll humppa finds its way into the closing track), the jarring sections of soft vocals over coarse guitar playing and pounding drums are just too much. A less even divide, with the gentler female vocals only popping up from time to time and in appropriate places - like on the earlier CDs by Elvenking - would increase the fluidity of the songs no end.

There is a lot of good to be found on their debut, but Kivimetsän Druidi are guilty of being a little over ambitious and trying to do too much too soon. There are enough ideas on this debut for 2 CDs, and had more of them been fleshed out fully and given room to breathe on their own then it would be a much better experience all in. The band have certainly shown they have the talent to write powerful music, but need to spend a bit more time honing their ability to channel it into cohesive songs.

(Originally written for http://www.metalcdratings.com/)

They have taken long time before releasing this debut; the Koskinen brothers (of whom one, Joni, is author of the fantasy novel the lyrics are based upon) have lived a long experience before facing the market.

Indeed every detail in the work reveals a perfect mastery of their means, not only instrumentally speaking, but also regarding the arrangements. It's not easy to put together some complex scores of guitar, bass, drums, voices and keys without exaggerating; the druids of the stone forest succeeded, even if the mixing is not perfect, weakening the guitar parts (that remain on the background).

The album can be described as the summary of the best things the Finnish scene has been producing lately: most of the album is entrusted to folk sounds, in both the power version of Korpiklaani and in the black approach of Finntroll, while the general structure belongs to that mixture of extreme and neoclassical sounds Children Of Bodom were once famous for.

There's also a certain resemblance with the female gothic music which is so trendy now, but making up clear that Kivimetsan Druidi avoid the most polished catchy touches to focus on the most properly metal side of the genre (Leaves' Eyes can be a comparison). If then you add a necessary Bathory reference, then you'll understand there's a lot to speak of, also because the Finnish band moves through some more melodic moments ("Tiamach – Verinummi") and aggressive bites ("Korpin Laulu"), with even some epic pieces ("Verivala"), always avoiding boredom to pop up.

Sure, the work is not too original, and the writing is not always exceptional like the opener "Blacksmith", but we must admit they are starting where many can't even get to.

Originally written for Silent Scream http://www.silentscreamzine.com/Home.asp?Lang=ENG

Radagast, October 2nd, 2010

Kivimetsän Druidi's debut, 'Shadowheart', was one that showed plenty of promise and interesting ideas, but ultimately failed to fully deliver. Their mix of symphonic and folk metal was a cluttered one, with styles clashing not only between songs but also during them, as they struggled to find a balance between blackened folk heaviness and their lighter, operatic side.

'Betrayal, justice, revenge' is a more unified effort, and hints that the Finns have found the aspect of their sound they are most interested in pursuing. Unexpectedly, it is the folk metal side of things has fallen by the wayside somewhat, and the CD is mostly made up of epic symphonic battle hymns and laments. Ultimately though, it ends up just as unsatisfying as its predecessor, albeit for slightly different reasons.

Rather than being affected by jarring leaps from one style to another, here they have instead served up a more unified batch of songs that sway from exciting and powerful to meandering and unmemorable - sometimes even during the course of the one track. Guilty of this is the opener 'Aesis lilim' - an unusual starting point, not only because it is something of a sorrowful atmospheric piece, but also for the rather out-of-nowhere break in the middle that almost feels like a different song altogether until it kicks back in to the main event. It is an otherwise a terrific song with a wonderful, despairing melody - one so good they even built it into a beautiful piano piece that serves as the intro track - and this only serves to frustrate as in a leaner, more streamlined form it no doubt would work a lot better.

And sadly, the niggling feeling that the band would be better off without Leeni-Maria Hovila at the forefront just won't go away. While thankfully they have sorted out the drum sound on this CD - the overly loud bass pedals on the debut often crushed the frontwoman's vocals completely - there are still moments where it feels like her vocals are only there because it wouldn't be right to excise her from the song completely. "Seawitch and the sorcerer" is a prime example, as just as the song reaches its heaviest, with Atte Marttinen blasting away mercilessly behind the kit, she is called upon to perform some ridiculous, wordless wailing over the top of everything that serve only as an annoying, out of place distraction.

The review so far has been negative, and is probably going to create a false impression - 'Betrayal, justice, revenge' is certainly not without its charms, but the feeling that it could have been a lot better than it ended up is the one that stays with me after each spin. To pay some lip service to the positives though, it has to be said that when the band get heavy, they really don't take any prisoners - despite my bitching about the female vocals getting in the way, "Seawitch and the sorecerer" is otherwise brilliant if you can ignore the obvious drawback. "Of betrayal" is similarly heavy and thankfully on this one they finally relent and turn all vocals over to guitarist Joni Koskinen, whose vicious blackened shrieks contend with the refined keyboard playing as band's best asset. Shifting from slow-pounding midtempo to rasping high-speed dissonance, it would maybe be the finest song on the CD were it not for the brilliance of 'Tuoppein'nostelulaulu'. A full-blown folk metal song, it stands out from its companions with ease and burns with a manic energy not found elsewhere as violins, handclaps and jangling acoustics are joined by a surprising clean vocal turn from Koskinen that fits the celebratory mood perfectly.

When listening to this song, along with the re-recorded demo track "Veljet" that serves as one of 2 bonus tracks, it becomes startlingly apparent how far Kivimetsän Druidi have advanced their sound, and while it may have been a good idea on paper for them to take a step back from a niche that has become unbelievably cluttered, the liveliness of these efforts compared to the plodding nature of some of the more 'serious' ones raises questions as to which of their main styles they are actually best at.

Both bonus tracks in fact are well worth hearing - the other is a successful cover of Summoning's mournful epic "Where hope and daylight die" and forking over the extra few notes for the limited edition is worth thinking about, though they do draw the CD's length out way beyond what it should be. In a perfect world these songs would have been incorporated into the main body of the CD at the expense of some of the more forgettable moments, but ah well, if wishes were horses...

While swinging wildly from hit to miss, the optimist could argue that at least here the band have managed to find their own defined voice, and with less jumping to and fro from one style to the next have a more solid platform to build on for the future. 'Betrayal, justice, revenge' still can't come with more than a lukewarm recommendation though.

(Originally written for http://www.metalcdratings.com/)

First things first; the cover art. There’s just something about it that irks me. I don’t know, it just looks like it belongs in a fantasy game in the part where your character is posing for you to choose its armour, weapons and eye colour before you begin to play. But never mind. This is the second full length from these Finnish folkies, and basically it picks up where the last one finished off. There are no surprises to be found as such, and if you enjoyed the last album then there is no reason not to like this one too.

‘Lament for the Fallen’ is basically what you would expect; a piano led introduction that sets an instant tone of melancholy. It does slowly pick up pace and guitars are added to the mix until all really kicks off on ‘Aesis Lilim.’ Here you start to get the feeling that we’re about to embark on some epic journey, as the storming drums and relentless guitars merge with symphonic keyboards create a powerful, crunchy sound that really gives the vibe of sailing across the sea towards enemy lines. ‘Seawitch and the Sorcerer’ comes thrashing in with some solid, razor-sharp guitars at a frantic pace before settling down into a swishy melody that together with Leeni-Maria’s sing-song vocal style has me thinking of Nightwish. She has a rather pretty voice which verges on the operatic, although it does tend to stay on one level as though she is narrating the epic tale of battle and wanting us to understand every word. I really like her sirenic “ooah, ooah” which chirps out above the ferocious rasped vocals of Joni Koskinen, as we lead into blackened Ensiferum-esque territory for a brief while.

This is an album all about contrasts; between beautiful female vocals and harsh black/death style rasps and growls, between the vehement thrashy rhythms and the floaty melodies, and between the epic bombast of the music which is balanced with the constant calm of Leeni-Maria’s raconteuring vocal style. ‘Manalan vartija’ has a certain aura of mystery about it which I like, as it breaks into a sudden urgency with its pompous keyboards and violins. ‘Tuoppein nostelulaulu’ is one of the more memorable tracks; with a succession of claps and jovial violins we arrive at a sing-along of ‘hail to the king, hail to the queen…’ which conjures up images of warriors and lusty wenches dancing about in the tavern drinking and letting go of their worries.

‘Of Betrayal’ is much more slow-paced and atmospheric. The keyboards are particularly a nice touch on this one and I like the doomish tone it has. On the whole this is a pleasant album; it has a couple of really strong tracks although equally as many forgettable numbers too. It’s hardly groundbreaking but it’s a solid album and a recommended purchase to any fan of symphonic folk metal.

Written by Luci Herbert for http://www.metalteamuk.net

If there is one thing about the music industry any young band ought to know is that success is rarely dealt to those who are the best; a million other factors are involved with the not least of them being in the right place at the right time and exploiting the prevailing market trends. This may sound an inauspicious intro for Finnish fantasy/symphonic/folk/?!? metallers Kivimetsän Druidi and their second album, "Betrayal, Justic, Revenge", but to read that it is being released on Century Media and the band have already totted up a number of big support & package tours, I can only imagine it has come about from appealing to a young and naive metal audience rather than through any over-whelming quality contained within their music.

Straight away, my major unsurpassable gripe: 'operatic' female vocals. Get them out of metal immediately. I'm all for experimentation, deviation within the genres but I've seen vocalists of this kind live and I've heard them on record before and I have never felt any energy whatsoever from such a kind of vocal style, and metal without energy is metal not worth bothering about. You might then ask why I'm reviewing this (after all, to say I hate Nightwish wouldn't be far from the truth) but I'm an open-minded and well-versed metal fan; anyone kidding themselves such powerless vocals work with electrified and pummeling riffing, and alongside the far superior 'dirty' male vocals, is kidding themselves.

To leave poor Leena-Maria's voice alone (for I'm sure she's a lovely girl), sugary synth usage is a dangerous proposition in heavy metal and should only be handled by qualified experts. The strong synth element in "The Visitor" and "Chant of the Winged One" recalls Turisas in no half-measures, but unlike their Finnish counterparts, Kivimetsän Druidi haven't yet got the knack of backing this up with interesting and varied enough song structures to make it work in practice, even if some of the synth work is perfectly acceptable on it's own. The band do at least have the decency to balance out the female/male vocal ratio throughout the album, best evidenced in "Chant..." where a nice comparison between the two can be made. Though based within some sort of symphonic metal camp, Kivimetsän Druidi spill over into classic festival-folk metal mood in "Tuoppein'nostelulaulu", which would be fine in itself if it did not sit so awkwardly with the other songs and feel mere like an obligatory number to hook in the Ensiferum and Korpiklaani fans of this world. With a thrashing song in "Seawitch and the Sorcerer", Kivimetsän Druidi can clearly play acceptable enough metal to appeal to a demographic I don't fit, but this genre-hopping suggests a band not sure of their exact style yet, which is fair enough for one only on their second album.

They may have made it to a top label and thus got on a few excellent tours, but don't read this as Kivimetsän Druidi being the finished article; for them to succeed in my eyes they need to inject a much stronger and physical dynamic and feeling into their tunes to back-up some of the songwriting potential that is however lurking within the ranks.

Originally written for www.Rockfreaks.net