Sometimes I wonder why a record selected for review suddenly doesn’t sound right anymore. Okay, the selection process is swift and brutal – but more often than not right on point. One should get the gist of any piece in a few minutes after all.
And yet. Some of them suddenly won’t fit anymore. It’s a bit like some rough wine, still too young to easily slide down yer gullet. And that happened to Verikalpa‘s Tuomio. Once we fired it up back in April, it just got stuck somewhere in the meandering canals of the review pipe. Not at the right time, and not at the right place, that kind of thing.
But boy, things changed once someone slammed it yet again on our turntable over here. A mix of traditional Finnish Folk Metal and Melodic Death Metal, Tuomio turned into a refreshing piece with some dramatic flow. Interestingly, their claim to Folk Metal fame limits itself to an abundance of keys delivered with some pseudo-accordion sound that often veers away from its original vocation. Bands like Finsterforst did something similar to add some earthy coloring to their tune.1 In a way, their record sounds like a downturned speed-savvy version of Moonshade and Finntroll all in one. An attempt to garner Power Metal brownie points by going for Alestorm‘s lightness without copying the latter’s dumb-fuck idiocy.
And once Tuomio gets going, it’s full steam ahead with one monolithic wall of sound rolling on and over you. Galloping forth like the best of them, you often get most instruments move in lockstep with the melodies. Until it breaks out into chugs and some harmonious dissent, that is. The record also likes to race about the soundscape with never-ending riffs and the vocalist’s relentless croak. Tuomio also often sports some refreshing excursions into other metal genres. Sometimes a bit more blackened and sometimes garnished with some refreshing thrash vibes. By and large, however, you’ll find highly melodic Death Metal that often boasts more maidenesque gallops than is good for it.
In the end, Tuomio delivers a powerful slab of subdued metal fury that will remain on RMR’s mighty music machine for a few more spins. The record impresses with boundless energy and a bunch of tightly written songs. A jumble of tracks that will hold your attention with its catchy melodies, succulent harmonies, and limitless juice. But on the downside, the record kinda feels like those meandering rivers in the Finnish countryside. In other words, the record is plagued with the endless loop syndrome. To get to a crisper production, Verikalpa would have needed to burn some a lot of fat off their massive 56-minute airtime. Or – failing that – they would have to get rid of a few songs for later use. Because the Mach 3 intensity, dense delivery, and inherent repetitive structure may well lead to sensory overload after a while.
By and large, however, Tuomio turned into a well-rounded and entertaining record. Expertly delivered metal from the rear end of the Gulf of Bothnia. The record stands tall as a memorable and quite traditional piece of Scandinavian Metal. And – if ever the band’s able to remedy the aforementioned flaws, great things may happen. In this here incarnation, however, this piece is in constant danger of turning into some dreaded background music while you’re working on other things. And this ain’t a good outcome.
At all.
Record Rating: 6/10 | Label: Scarlet Records | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 19 April 2024
- Yeah, I know, different style.-↩