Haunt Your Flesh

Eric Aittala contacted me with a review copy of his one-man-band's sophomore album, Haunt Your Flesh. He does everything in this band, although it seems the drummer is uncredited (to my knowledge).

As Metallattorney observed, this album is unique. If you're tired of hearing the same thing over and over, it's a welcome respite. Even with its unique identity, the influences are clear: Aittala has probably given intense study to the playing techniques of Jon Schaffer, Jeff Loomis, and Jerry Cantrell. He even uses the word "sanctuary" in "New Day", possibly as an intentional reference to Loomis.

Opener "Blackmail" could deceive you into believing this is an entirely alt-metal album, channeling Cantrell's solo work, and "Human Waste" is also in this vein. But there are much heavier songs which sound like Nevermore, such as "Holocaust", "Eternal Punishment", and the title track. Aittala's vocal style is informed by Matt Barlow, a fact which is especially evident on the layered vocal harmonies in the Iced Earth-style ballads (e.g. "Eden" or "Damned"). One final curveball is thrown into the mix with the early Stabbing Westward industrial rock of "Juliet".

While I like all of the influences on display, and there are some good ideas and good songs, the album fails to really grab me. It bears all the potential pitfalls of a guitarist's solo project. In other words, it lacks focus, and other than the guitars the music is not all that interesting. The only time I noticed the drums doing anything spiffy was in the title track, and I never noticed the bass. The vocals, while being comparable in style to some fantastic power metal vocalists, are not nearly as skillful or--well, powerful. Plus, the album is a bit ballad-heavy, with about half the album being pure ballad.

The Verdict: The ideal target audience for the album is American guitarists who were born between 1975 and 1982. My old college roommate would love it. It is at the least unique, and the guitars are skillful.

originally written for http://fullmetalattorney.blogspot.com/

I was recently contacted by Eric Aittala via email who requested me to review his band's newest release Haunt Your Flesh. I chose not to do much research on the band prior to hearing it for the first time so that everything would be new.

To begin with, the music does not really match the dark and disturbing album cover, but that is not a problem. The music is much more on the traditional and progressive side of heavy metal and hard rock. So I was a little bit surprised by that at first. Again, certainly not a problem.

This is a very dynamic and versatile album musically. Eric Aittala appears to be the only member of the band, tackling all of the vocals and music, except perhaps the drums. He does not seem to like to sit still in one style for very long either. Pigeonholing the Aittala sound is extraordinarily difficult because each song is unique. At times it sounds like later-era Iced Earth with Barlow on vocals, at times it sounds like a less angry Pantera, and a whole lot in between.

Aittala is a very impressive musician with a strong melodic sensibility. He writes some pretty good riffs and solos and some damn catchy songs. Keyboards are used to good effect in backing up the music and the occasional solo. The keyboards are not overdone, which is good. His lyrical style is mostly designed to tell a story in each song.

As mentioned, this album runs the gamut, from hauntingly beautiful piece "Eden" to the aggressive riff-laden "Holocaust". "Juliet" is particularly noteworthy and is a spine-chilling power ballad. Each song is unique making this a complete album, rather than just a collection of songs.

Eric Aittala is a very impressive multi-instrumentalist forging his own path. This is his second full-length album and the guy definitely deserves a look.