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Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus > Hyvä ihminen > Reviews > Napero
Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus - Hyvä ihminen

The scandinavian heavy metal salesman - 83%

Napero, May 19th, 2009

Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus are mostly known as the band that brought metal with Finnish lyrics into mainstream in Finland. This single, for a couple of reasons, is first a commercial success, and second, an evil cross-border marketing ploy.

The title track, "Hyvä ihminen", is one of the sorry victims of excessive radio play. The track has been on the air for half a decade, and while it's melodic and very accessible, it has worn very, very thin in the process, and the straightforward tune, simple execution and slightly naivistic lyrics are not something that can can take too much repetition. The track is, no question about it, heavy metal, but in its almost poppish sing-along quality, it's been played already enough to be transparent, odorless and part of the ambient noise to most people in Finland. It might work as a gateway tune for a lot of future semi-metalheads, and certainly does a better job in its honesty and traditionalism than any metalcore or purely commercial bands could ever manage.

The second track, on the other hand, is the great treat on the single. "Samarialainen" is a translation of Candlemass' "Samarithan", although with an inverted story in the lyrics and a gloomier ending than what the original swedish masters wrote. The narrator does not invite the beggar to his home, does not feed him, and while he claims to be a good person, he finds himself wandering the wastes in Hell after the three angels come to take him to the afterlife. Jarkko Martikainen of the finnish goofball band, YUP, has written an excellent interpretation of the fundamentally christian lyrics by the ancient doom masters, and Rautiainen's untrained but pretty powerful clean tenor voice fits the new story excellently. It's worth noting that Marco Hietala of Tarot performs some fitting background vocals, and that Tuomas Holopainen of Nightwish also appears on the track.

So, what's the verdict? There is a commercially successful title track, well-known enough to be a part of the cultural scenery among drunken males, burning saunas and kantele-playing fair maidens in the birch bushes; to a less-casual metalhead, the track can even be an irritation, but the great local public knows the tune better than they might admit if asked. On the other side, there's an excellent translation and equally notable performance of a truly classical band's early career single track, with plenty of appeal to a fan of traditional doom metal. Deviously, the evil plan of the Secret Underground Heavy Metal Masters goes deeper than just mainstreaming metal in Finland: the damn bastards try to lure people into buying old swedish doom metal records as well! And, oh man, are they successful...

It's easier to like the second track more than the title track, and the net result is a perversely screwed balance on a release with two tracks. The title track actually manages to drop the rating considerably, but the excellence on the B-side saves the day. There must be plenty of local metalheads who would not lament if they never heard "Hyvä ihminen" again, but yours truly, being a victim of the devilish sales pitch, needs to find some old Candlemass. Like now.