Havukruunu – Kuu Erkyl​ä​n Yllä (2021)

Stick a bunch of Finns together in a winter war bunker with copies of Blood Fire Death and Under the Sign of the Black Mark, and you might get this imaginative band that stands astride black metal, speed metal, and epic heavy metal with an emphasis on changing atmosphere.

Much of this album will sound “wrong” to modern black metal edgy fans who understand the canon as fixed riff forms and not a language of ideas that generate those riff forms, but Havukruunu likes to set up a forward inertia and then contort it into a sublimination of norms that leads to moments of cinematic grandeur and melody rising into an expectation of emptiness.

Occasional direct allusions to Bathory occur throughout the album but always get repurposed into a homebrew sense of melody and rhythm that appears idiosyncratic to this band, who use enough of the heavy metal origins of black metal to give their music levity which is then promptly destroyed by darker atavism emerging from within.

Tags: ,

12 thoughts on “Havukruunu – Kuu Erkyl​ä​n Yllä (2021)”

  1. Jesus is King says:

    The remix/remaster of Sacramentum’s Coming of Chaos released today.
    Time to review that shit, son.

    1. FearlessIraniansFromHell says:

      The remix/remaster of CavaleraConspiracy(Sepultura) / SorcierDesGlaces released recently.
      Time to review that shit, luv.

      1. Jesus is King says:

        Shut up, faggot.

        1. FearlessIraniansFromHell says:

          O’lord, recently, Scandinavian underground idol Abbath Doom Occulta sells his lovely portrait promo image, can u buy it for me?

  2. Tröjan says:

    The metaphors in these last two reviews are quite evocative. Nice.

  3. YouAreGay says:

    Brett, did you watch the movie QUEER yet?

  4. Panzyfaust says:

    Nothing says “evil” like a guy draped in a sheet

    1. Unless it’s an all-white sheet.

      1. Panzyfaust says:

        Sadly, it’s much more about Comrade Linen for most of the BM lasses these days.

  5. Linda says:

    This is actually fucking incredible. Why does it remind of the Swordmaster EP? Very heavy leaning on melody, and very adventurous song structure.

  6. The Nips are getting Bigger says:

    Thanks Brett! This album seems great at first listen, like a heterosexual version of Nokturnal Mortum. Will see if it holds up over repeated listens.

  7. Allen Iverson vs Ja Morant says:

    Great band, havent listened to Kellet Surui Soi in awhile.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Classic reviews:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z