The Tempest of Thoughts

By the early 2000s the initial Gothenburg melodeath wave had already crested, crashed and washed back into the sea, leaving behind a number of competing scenes across the globe that were experimenting with various twists on this once novel concept. But despite every place from mainland western Europe to Japan (to speak nothing for the metalcore-infused variant making waves in the states) getting in on the craze, the most direct beneficiary to the initial strides made by At The Gates, Dark Tranquillity and In Flames was Sweden's eastern neighbor Finland, and their take was arguably the most conservative. Suffice it to say, in 2002 names such as Kalmah, Norther and Insomnium were among the most prominent of a massive explosion of bands touting a more power metal-tinged take on the melodeath niche, making it very easy for a smaller time act with a less stable situation to slip through the cracks.

Thus is the story of Kaliban, a rather peculiar player in the Finnish scene that unleashed a lone LP during the height of Finland's ascendant melodeath wave, but the story behind The Tempest Of Thoughts is actually a fairly unique one. Despite its 2002 release date, this album was recorded and finalized as far back as 1998, a time where most of the Finnish scene had yet to fully germinate and the only frame of reference that one had was Children Of Bodom's and Eternal Tears Of Sorrow's most primordial offerings. In most respects, this band's rather stylistically advanced debut mirrors the tasteful atmospheric aesthetic of the latter outfit, though there are plenty of lead guitar flourishes that dovetail with the tech-happy character of the former. But the most auspicious aspect of this band's unique blend of styles is the folksy detailing that sounds almost like a more primitive version of Ensiferum's debut album, no small accomplishment considering that said band had only fielded their first demo by this point and other parallel acts such as Suidakra were just beginning to move beyond a more rudimentary black metal approach.

The modus operandi of this album may come off as largely by the numbers and titled towards infectious banger anthems, but for its late 90s context it proves surprisingly forward-looking. Coming off a dreary, sorrowful and fleeting acoustic introduction, "Orchard" lands hard with a driving fury that's somewhat reminiscent of some of the swifter work off The Jester Race, but fancier and with a deeper Gothenburg-inspired growl out of Henri Peltola that's closer to Elenium and later Omnium Gatherum front man Jukka Pelkonen than Anders Friden or Tomas Lindberg. With each subsequent song, the formula gets a tad bit more involved, with somewhat longer crushers like "Carnal Cage" and "Call Of Siren" making greater occasions for soft atmospheric keyboard and folksy breaks, but overall the same high octane dual shock of thrashing riffs and sorrowful guitar melodies rules the roost. Overall the songs play things fairly safe and draw from the same basic formula, with the greatest outlier being "The Crimson Ark", which employs a Didgeridoo, about twice the usual amount of serene quiet passages with a highly prominent female clean vocal foil, yet also proves the most infectiously memorable of the entire lot.

In essence, this is a solid example of 2002 Finnish melodic death metal meets folksy power metal that was conceived a few years too early, and apart from a somewhat tinny and jumbled mix, the only real flaw that this album carries is that it wasn't released the year that it was completed. Often times the difference between an average offering that tends to be upstaged by more visible offerings and an early trailblazer that's unrefined and rough traits give it an added charm is a matter of dates rather than the actual quality of the final product. To this end, The Tempest Of Thoughts is a solid slab of early era Finnish melodeath goodness that will sadly be relegated to a footnote in history, but it's one that should be heard by anyone with even the slightest affinity for the high period of the style when Children Of Bodom was at their most excessive and the legions of imitators weren't far behind. It's a fun listen, it comes with a few interesting twists, the dueling guitar work provides the needed flash to differentiate it from the older sound, and apart from a dated production quality, checks all the boxes for fans of the style both young and old.