Finnish Steel Storm

It's often mentioned how black metal has gone downhill in its spirit after the end of the 90s' Norwegian scene, and that, while there are still many musicians playing black metal, none has the right attitude to be one of its worthy spiritual successors. Enter Finland, and Goatmoon in particular, and all of the above statements are instantly refuted.

Today, we will be talking about "Finnish Steel Storm", the second full-length of Blackgoat's creature, and his best work to date. Completely packed with memorable riffing, masterful songwriting, vitriolic vocals and an unmatchable atmosphere, this masterpiece is born from an harmony of opposites, representing a transition from the band's devastating, purely raw black metal debut and the more folksy, melodic albums that followed, starting with "Varjot".

From album opener "Eclipsed by Raven Wings", to the closing "Forest of My Native Soil", the message is clear: take no prisoners. There is not a single dull or uninspired track to be found: the passion Blackgoat puts in his music is evident, and the result is nothing short of brilliant.

The guitar work is spectacularly memorable, matching melodic tremolo picking with punk riffing tò create something quite unique even for Finnish black metal standards. The folk instruments are used with great taste, adding a further layer of atmosphere which exalts the triumphalistic, epic and warlike attitude of the record.

The production is perfectly fitting, and the vocals sound absolutely spiteful and violent, some of the best to be found in the genre. Damn, even the old school album cover screams "trve kvlt"! While it's true that the general feel the album conveys is absolutely belligerent, this feel is explored in several different shades.

"Alone" is a perfect blend of folk punk and black metal, retaining a heroic and slightly melancholic vibe; folk/black masterpieces "Eclipsed by Raven Wings" and "Finnish Steel Storm" sound like real declarations of war in their epic and aggressive fashion, while "Nyt ei Kristus auta" and "Murder, Murder Glorious" radiate a menacing, anti-Christian aura, matched by both music and lyrics alike. Finally, well-executed Draco cover "Mythical Story" and the closing "Forest of My Native Soil" show us a more atmospheric and emotional side of Blackgoat's music.

There is but one verdict: "Finnish Steel Storm" is one of the absolute best black metal albums Finland has to offer, and a must-listen for any fan of black metal in its most primigenial, authentic incarnation. Get it, you won't regret it!

In the past I had a kind of love-hate relationship with Goatmoon and I assure you that getting into its music wasn't very easy to me, mainly because I was spoiled by Nokturnal Mortum and Moonsorrow, but nowadays, after various attempts, I came to appreciate this band for what it has to offer (at least in terms of music of course) to the point it became borderline impossible to pick a favorite album since they are all good, and I'm glad it doesn't sound like a cheap knockoff of these two. Hailing from Finland, this Helsinki-based one man band started off as a raw black metal project with Death Before Dishonour, but later Blackgoat Gravedesecrator (yeah, this name is pretty stupid) made it evolve by experimenting a bit with folk influences until changing this band into a full blown Folk-Black metal project where flutes, keyboards and clean vocals are a constant; with their second album Finnish Steel Storm, which is still regarded as a classic by many blacksters, Goatmoon just planted the seeds of what will become their style in the next 16 years.

As far as Finnish Steel Storm is concerned, I think it's a massive improvement over Death Before Dishonour, which is by no means a bad album despite being a bit repetitive at times, but I write this statement because this feels way more unique on a lot of levels and essentially corrects some flaws of its predecessor. The cover art, just like the previous album, is very minimal considering it just depicts Blackgoat spitting fire in a snowy forest, essentially being a stark contrast from the more artsy stuff we will see from Varjot onwards, but cover art aside, now let's focus on what makes this album actually good.

For instance, what distinguishes Finnish Steel Storm from the debut is the presence of keyboards, acoustic guitars and flutes, all elements that not only are the crown jewel of this album, but will also create the band's identity and foreshadow the direction taken with future work; in fact this can be considered a transitional work between D.B.D and Varjot, needless to say that from that point on, the production would become more and more polished. Another thing that also makes this CD different is its purpose. With Death Before Dishonour we had a badly produced, pure raw black metal album without compromises, aside from some slightly melodic tracks like "Light Will Not Be" or the iconic "Kunnia Armageddon!", while this album instead seeks a more balanced approach by delivering something epic and triumphant but still harsh and aggressive, and in order to fulfill this object, the guitars give more room to melody. This change of approach slightly altered the songwriting, but at least it wasn't detrimental to the quality at all.

Speaking about the songwriting, every instrument is very well performed; the guitar riffs are hardly forgettable (and while being melodic, they still pack a punch), the drumming, while not overly technical, delivers tight blast beats and fills and overall it feels less sloppy and tinny, Blackgoat's screams sound rabid and in the end we have a rich tracklist where every single song stands out on its own. Going for a track by track would make this review tedious as all hell, so let me pick a few examples, and one that easily comes to my mind is the punk-rock driven "Alone". I want to be honest, this song ain't the easiest one to like, and at first glance it may come off as goofy but it proves that the band didn't give up the rawness that characterized the previous effort, in fact it's a bit of a mix between old and new judging by the acoustic guitars and the bouncy piano in the background. Other two songs that stood out are the titletrack with its epic choirs and a beautiful acoustic lead at the end, and the opener "Eclipsed by Raven Wings", another one that blends old and new by starting off as your textbook raw black metal song but surprises the listener thanks to Skratt's tin whistle.

Finally, at the end of this 38 minutes long journey, there's the last track "Forest of My Native Soil" and personally I couldn't have chosen a better song to end this album, because this one gives it a pretty suitable conclusion; musically wise, the sound of keyboards united with melodic guitar riffs create an epic and triumphant atmosphere, further showing what Goatmoon actually wanted to create with Finnish Steel Storm.

All-in-all, after having analyzed the album with this first review, I highly recommend it to both seasoned metal listeners in search of something new and people who are moving their first steps into this subgenre. If you can get past the political ideology behind this band, and good luck doing that considering how radicalized it is, Goatmoon is without a doubt a band worth of attention within finnish black metal scene, especially if we consider what it's been able to give with this and other CDs made in 21 years of activity.

Finland is essentially Europe's Florida. It's got swampland, swamp monsters, and racist rednecks. Not saying everyone in either locale is a racist redneck, just enough to turn it into a stereotype. From that stereotype, the one man project Goatmoon somehow became popular enough for edgelords to start toting his shirts and patches. However, after hearing Finnish Steel Storm, I'm convinced that these people wear that shit for the sake of being edgy and for no other reason because this is some lame-ass black metal.

Y'all know Satanic Warmaster right? The centerfold model for the Finnblack scene? All Finnish Steel Storm is are that band with some midi keys thrown in and twice as much problematic lyrics. Somehow the latter point is what's made this band popular when all it is is just a run of the mill take on this melodic raw black metal. Technically it's competent, but it's neither groundbreaking nor even close to being the best. The songs are boring and the lyrics are laughably cringy like Blackgoat maturbates over his grandfathers from the Winter War. And the closer the riffs get to punky, the worse they get. I'm not sure why you'd go for this instead of waiting a few years for the Quebec black metal scene to take off so you can listen to Monarque's second album instead.

And I know basement dwelling neo-Nazi larpers continue to uphold this album and band as a make or break indicator whether one is "strong" or "weak", and to that I have to say: really? This is the hill you want to die on? Like come on, take the worst track on this album: "Alone". It's got a bouncy oi-punk beat and some equally bouncy piano part. It's not grim and evil and strong; it's something you'd do a goofy dance to with a giant shit eating grin in your backyard at best.

Finnish Steel Storm is all hype, no heart. If it wasn't pushed by the online black metal scene's ANUS dwellers, nobody would care. Despite the advertisement, listening to this album will not make you stronger mentally, spiritually, or physically; it won't get you laid; and it won't give you immunity for when you go out to commit hate crimes. It might get you barred from entering a Maryland Deathfest pre-fest event though; and frankly, gods bless them for that.

If you like black metal and you like it good, then you owe yourself a listen of Goatmoon's "Finnish Steel Storm". Goatmoon are a Finnish black metal band run by sole member and mastermind "Blackgoat Gravedesecrator": they started their career playing punk-influenced raw black metal (as seen in the amazing "Death Before Dishonour") with fantastic results, to gradually shift towards folk/black metal later in their career. "Finnish Steel Storm" is the album coinciding with this turning point, but what really makes it unique is the fact that it takes the best elements from both Goatmoon eras, and it masterfully fuses them in a 38-minutes long monumental opus of darkness and misanthropy.

The music contained in "Finnish Steel Storm" is still punk-influenced black metal at the core, but with the addition of folk instruments and melodies that were absent from the previous record; also, while the production sounds pleasantly raw, it's much cleaner than in the band's debut, thus allowing all the instruments to be audible and abandoning their previous extremely barbaric style. The songs are generally quite short, with only the title track and the closing piece surpassing the 5-minutes mark; the riffs and the drumming retain a strong and characteristic punk influence, an heritage of the band's roots; the real innovation here, as I mentioned before, are the inclusions of folk instruments and melodies, fully displayed in tracks such as "Eclipsed By Raven Wings", "Alone" and "Finnish Steel Storm", that are also the strongest songs of the album. The structures of the songs are quite simple but extremely well-conceived, displaying Blackgoat's excellent songwriting skills when it comes to provide memorable riffs and evocative melodies.

On top of this, we have Blackgoat's rabid and torturous vocals, that sound extremely passionate and perfectly fit the compositions, complemented by the awesome production, which gives a pleasant underground feel to the record. The whole album permeates a dark and icy atmosphere, exalted by the intelligent use of the keyboards, which is exactly what you would expect from an excellent Finnish black metal record; another remarkable feature is the variety of the platter, with epic songs like the opener or the title track, melancholic pieces such as "Bitter Winter of Depression", "Alone" and the final song, or the take-no-prisoners approach of "Murder, Murder Glorious": while each track retains unique features that distinguish it from the rest, the whole platter sounds cohesive and well-studied from start to finish, which is something true only for the very best metal albums.

"Finnish Steel Storm" is Goatmoon's best output, combining elements of the debut with the folk influences the band would later include in its music. It's varied yet cohesive, memorable, atmospheric, dark, aggressive, one of those albums you could listen to again and again, without ever getting tired of it. Absolutely essential for any fan of black metal.