Havukruunu – Tavastland | Album Review

Finnish metal that isn’t overloaded with silly folk stuff trying to be “fun” or spouting lyrics which could have come directly from the mouth of a certain 20th century dictator? Yes please!

Havukruunu are back, which means one thing, all those fans who want a hit of pagan mysticism in their lives, without it being so in over the top, or taken so seriously it just comes across as farcical, can rejoice once more. The first thing listeners will likely notice about this album is the blend of good old-fashioned black metal evil, repetitive tremolo riffing grinding into your skull and blast beats for days, with an undeniable rock’n’roll groove. They’re playing with rhythms which are straight out of the trad metal playbook; imagine Dio deciding to release a black metal album, and you’re somewhere close to what we have here.

That rock vibe is rallied along by some of the truly thunderous bass lines. Apparently someone didn’t get the memo that it you’re writing cold, atmospheric black metal that stuff should be left behind, and thank goodness for that. The bass is played with such a ferocity on this record, it adds depth and weight to the sound without adding warmth, thunking, clanging along like a crazed clock counting down to Armageddon, it is the backbone of this record in the absolute truest sense of the word.

As if that wasn’t enough, solos, solos and more solos. Oft maligned as showy and self-indulgent a true guitar solo, real shredding is a rare phenomenon in black metal, perhaps rightly so. After all, there’s no point to a solo if it’s only there because that’s where the solo goes in a song. Havukruunu have once again thrown out the black metal rule book and fully embrace the decadence of a face melting guitar solo. The best thing is that it pays off every time. Playing off against the crunching stomp in so much of the riffing, and lathered in layers of reverb the solos rip through your ears, echoing around your head, like sprites guiding you through a dark forest, although almost certainly not to safety.

As already alluded to, there’s a hefty, thrashy, riffing style all over this record. Crunchy palm muted rhythms would get even the most staunchly grim and frostbitten black metal fan bobbing their head along. They only serve to make the open and eerie tremolo riffs hit harder and feel much more oppressive. Take the middle section of ‘De Miseriis Fennorum’ and it’s the big rolling riff, the steady pound of the single beat on a kick drum. It’s a moment for fists pumping and shouting “hey, hey, hey” if ever there was one, and it doesn’t feel out of place with the overall mood and style of this album one bit.

Vocally this has some real standout moments, the screams are loud, raucous but have a clarity to them, not nice, by any means, but clear. A deep full-bodied roar, is a welcome variety to black metals more ethereal shrieks, the heft of the vocals matching perfectly to the heft of the music. The folky pagan influences are there but by no means overwhelming, less a  feeling of a mead fuelled quest to defeat a troll, more of a sinister force luring children into an abandoned cottage never to be seen again. The acoustic interludes, the choral breaks adding an almost unearthly beauty to the fury. Overall this album is an absolute must-listen, for any fans of black metal, and black metal adjacent sounds.