Shadowheart

With quite possibly the most heavily influenced folk metal I've ever heard, Shadowheart is an odd listen. Deciding if it merits a good score or not is a quite difficult with this one because it is so unique, but in the end I've opted not to give it an huge score, and here's why:

Firstly, there's the drumming. I've mentioned many, many times before now that I dislike drumming that is purely about pace, and several parts of this album seems to consist of exactly that. Don't get me wrong, I like a band with fast drumming. Look at Krimh, look at Karkaos, look at Children of Bodom. All of those bands play extremely quickly, but they have a sense of rhythm that goes with it. Kivimetsän Druidi seem to have fast drums for no real reason, and it doesn't really go with the music which is mostly slow. That being said, I can appreciate that the drumming is good when it slows down and attempts to find a place in the band, which makes the fast sections all the more irritating as it shows that they didn't have to be there.

The second issue comes with the guitars. In an almost Serpent & Seraph-esque fashion they seem to be drowned out by everything else, only audible in the solos sections (admittedly solos of a high calibre though). That leaves the drumming at the forefront of the mix to further my annoyance when it turns into a smash-fest. The keyboards that are also left exposed just don't seem to have any kind of impact on me, and actually at times it seems that the only instrument in the band other than the two vocalists is the drummer. Sometimes the folk influences suddenly appear out of nowhere and the keyboard doesn't seem like a waste of space, but a lot of the time this seems very subtle to almost non-existent.

Third in my list of bad things is the lack of consistency. The band doesn't seem to have a set plan, and while this means that nothing ever gets incredibly boring and repetitive it also means that I'm not sure how long the good bits will last for or if they'll even make a return once they've gone. Each song twists and turns so many times that it loses sight of where it began and ultimately means that I can't even tell where one song becomes another. Each song is epic, but not so much in the sense that what you're listening to has a story, more that it just doesn't seem to come to an end.

It seems that this list of things I dislike is never ending, but here's number four: the vocals. I know that Kivimetsän Druidi have been praised for being original and using an operatic female singer in their band, but in all honesty she doesn't do anything that blows me away. She's actually the same girl from The Body Snatcher, and as I said in a review of one of their works she's fairly average. So nothing there, and added with the bland male growls that sound like so many other people the vocals arsenal isn't that great. They're a bit stop-start, never really working together, or when they do the operatics always seem to make the growls redundant (which is odd because I'd expect it to be the other way around).

So what are the likable things? Well, like I said it is an interesting idea with all the different genres mixed into one (gothic, folk, black, a bit of symphonic, etc.). They don't pull it off as well as other musicians might, but at the same time it could be done far worse. There are good moments where things start to come together, but with so much swapping around I kind of forget where they're located in the songs, or indeed on the album as a whole. Mostly the points they get are for providing me with something listenable, but it comes to nothing more than average despite (or maybe because of) all the different things that they've tried to incorporate into the music. I guess there is such a thing as being too adventurous...

Kivimetsän Druidi play an intricate style of metal. There are many elements from various metal genres found in their music, namely folk metal, as their main style, some would say viking metal, but I don't think this is a genre per se, it is more a lyrical content and an attitude than a genre, as viking metal bands play various genres; and we find also black metal and symphonic metal blended into their music. This may seem as something not very original, but it is, as they incorporate all these elements to create a genre of their own.

I have heard many folk metal bands, but none of them did incorporate what Kivimetsän Druidi did, which are - female operatic vocals, and I think this is what separates them from similar bands.

Be prepared for a serious musical threat, as this band is young, but experienced, and the members show it proudly. The songs are all very complex, with many elements, mainly fast (with an exception), full of energy and power. The overall feel while listening to this album is that the music bears an undeniable epic vibe. From start to finish, this feeling remains. The elements that create this epicness are lush keyboard arrangements that often carry a folk melody, or a symphonic one. The other element are the guitars. Surprisingly, the keys do not smother the guitars, which are overpresent. The guitars play powerful, driving riffs, which almost always set the folky-''viking'' background, as in Jäässä Varttunut (Grown Up Within Ice), while the drums follow the guitars with the same speed and intensity, sometimes venturing into blastbeats, similar to black metal. Every instrumental element works for the best, and no element is prevalent over the ther, thus the music is balanced. The instruments convey a symphonic, folky background onto which is added a wide vocal variety. Overall, this albums is complex, epic, lush, rich, bombastic and majestic.

First, we have the male vocals provided by Joni Koskinen. He has a powerful black metal rasp, which marries perfectly with the aggressivity of the music; but this is not all, as he provides also clean vocals (supported by the other band members), which are folky in their execution and are well done. The song which has clean male vocals used as a main idea is Verivala (Bloodoath). This song is easily the most varied, as it has all the various elements of the music put together to form the album's highlight. It has powerful riffage, blazing drumming, clean male vocals and choirs, operatic chants and lush keys.

The other vocalist is a Leeni-Maria Hovilla. Her voice is very similar to Tarja Turunen. She has great range, a recognizable operatic timbre, and an incredible power and expressiveness in her voice. I think that her powerful voice is well suited to the music, as it would not be so good with a weak singer. Powerful music requires a powerful voice that could swim easily with the musical flow, not drown into it or be carried by it. In Verivala and Mustan Valtikan Aika (The Era Of The Black Scepter) she uses a more soft, folky style, but she is best when she uses her operatic style. Some songs that showcase this perfectly are Halls of Shadowheart and Tyrant. In Shadowheart, she sings the line ''We are the ones you will obey...'' and her voice just transfers the right meaning of those words, as she sounds so compelling, that I would do whatever she says (hahaha). In Tyrant, her voice shifts very easily from mood to mood, from a narrative (''His heart's cold and freezing as the frozen fields of north...''), to a melancholic (''This man inhuman...'') and compassional (''Many souls will get their peace, as this tyrant finally falls...'') later. She sounds more like a warrior princess, than an innocent beauty awaiting her knight. The song is about a Tyrant that eventually falls and the song tels that story perfectly.

Another interesting aspect is the use of the finish language. This gives the music another folky edge. The finish tongue is melodious and poetic, and suits the music perfectly. There are less songs written in english, but it doesn't really matter, as they are really good. This album is a very good piece of folk metal, and we can expect that the band will continue to produce good albums as this one. I think they could use more clean male vocals in the future, as they enrich greatly the music.But, even as it is, this album is a refreshing listening and is recommended to almost any metal fan. I think that the band had a such wide audience in mind while writing music and i think they have succeeded.

The project of the guitar and keyboard playing brothers Joni and Antti Koskinen, Kivimetsän Druidi are another addition to the ranks of both Finland's folk and symphonic metal crowds, and after some line-up fluctuation have landed a deal with Century Media for the release of their debut, 'Shadowheart'. Using the "beauty and the beast" vocal trade-off style not heard as often as one might imagine in folk metal, they have crafted a familiar yet somewhat distinctive CD that impresses and frustrates in almost equal measure.

While they certainly are guilty of cherry picking bits and pieces from the sound of other Finnish bands, the one thing Kivimetsän Druidi could not be accused of is being predictable. Jumping from one predominant style to another not only between songs but also during them, it makes for a wildly diverse CD for the genre, but also one that suffers from a lack of genuine direction.

Being predominantly a mix of symphonic and folk metal, there is some surprisingly heavy music to be found on 'Shadowheart'. The drumming, particularly the bass pedals, is unusually loud in the mix for this style of music. At times this works very well, adding some real beef to the sound, and during the black metal-influenced riffs that crop up here and there it even calls to mind 'Frost'-era Enslaved. There are other times though when the percussion is just too loud and robotic sounding to mesh well with the operatic vocals and keyboard arrangements. At times like this the vocals of Leeni-Maria Hovila seem just too sweet to have anything to do with what is going on around them, and letting Joni get on with shrieking his vocal chords out would seem like the more logical thing to have done.

There are plenty of positive points about 'Shadowheart' that must be noted though, as despite its flaws it is certainly an above average CD. Antti Koskinen is due great credit for his tasteful display, for while his keyboard parts are an almost ever-present and complex set of arrangements, they never threaten to engulf the rest of the instruments. The track "Pedon loitsu" is a real success in this regard, with a powerful melody that is lessened only by the fact that it closely resembles a section in an existing Turisas song (the name of which has completely escaped me). The guitarists also show their ability to contribute more than heavy riffs, with the uplifting melodies in "Jaassa varttunut" making it one of the band's best songs to date.

"Verivala" sees the symphonic arrangements switch from the more ethereal early-Nightwish style to a more Turisas-influenced orchestral assault. This is also one of the songs where Hovila's vocals gel better with the heavier aspect of the music and as result it is one of the most satisfying songs of the bunch.

Through all the positives to be found on 'Shadowheart' though, I just can't shake the nagging feeling that the whole thing would sound better if they did away with a full-time female vocalist and turned over most of the singing duties to Joni. With as many cluttered styles already taking up space on the CD (even some Finntroll humppa finds its way into the closing track), the jarring sections of soft vocals over coarse guitar playing and pounding drums are just too much. A less even divide, with the gentler female vocals only popping up from time to time and in appropriate places - like on the earlier CDs by Elvenking - would increase the fluidity of the songs no end.

There is a lot of good to be found on their debut, but Kivimetsän Druidi are guilty of being a little over ambitious and trying to do too much too soon. There are enough ideas on this debut for 2 CDs, and had more of them been fleshed out fully and given room to breathe on their own then it would be a much better experience all in. The band have certainly shown they have the talent to write powerful music, but need to spend a bit more time honing their ability to channel it into cohesive songs.

(Originally written for http://www.metalcdratings.com/)

They have taken long time before releasing this debut; the Koskinen brothers (of whom one, Joni, is author of the fantasy novel the lyrics are based upon) have lived a long experience before facing the market.

Indeed every detail in the work reveals a perfect mastery of their means, not only instrumentally speaking, but also regarding the arrangements. It's not easy to put together some complex scores of guitar, bass, drums, voices and keys without exaggerating; the druids of the stone forest succeeded, even if the mixing is not perfect, weakening the guitar parts (that remain on the background).

The album can be described as the summary of the best things the Finnish scene has been producing lately: most of the album is entrusted to folk sounds, in both the power version of Korpiklaani and in the black approach of Finntroll, while the general structure belongs to that mixture of extreme and neoclassical sounds Children Of Bodom were once famous for.

There's also a certain resemblance with the female gothic music which is so trendy now, but making up clear that Kivimetsan Druidi avoid the most polished catchy touches to focus on the most properly metal side of the genre (Leaves' Eyes can be a comparison). If then you add a necessary Bathory reference, then you'll understand there's a lot to speak of, also because the Finnish band moves through some more melodic moments ("Tiamach – Verinummi") and aggressive bites ("Korpin Laulu"), with even some epic pieces ("Verivala"), always avoiding boredom to pop up.

Sure, the work is not too original, and the writing is not always exceptional like the opener "Blacksmith", but we must admit they are starting where many can't even get to.

Originally written for Silent Scream http://www.silentscreamzine.com/Home.asp?Lang=ENG