Synkka Tuuli

This was the debut for this Philadelphia band who for some reason are deeply immersed in Finnish language and symbolism. Their second album was a decent slice of melodic Black Metal that did not really stand out from the crowd, time to see what their first album was like.

Well, rather than the adequate work of their follow-up, it seems their debut is content to just be dull. This is murky, rather monotonous Black Metal that flashes some interest here and there, but does not, overall, stand out very much. There is far less keyboard use going on here, so it sounds less like the band is trying to imitate Emperor, and so there are some rather nice guitar harmonies scattered throughout. Overall I would say I like this a bit better than their second album, because while this is not that interesting, it sounds more sincere.