A relatively new band, Havukruunu throw themselves in the ring of Finnish black metal and manage to make a worthy offering to their name with their debut EP Rautaa ja tulta. It's a very active release that mixes epic pagan black metal with that stereotypical Finnish rawness for that extra bite.

The songwriting has been split between two people, but all the instruments were performed by Mr. Stefan Sorghammer and he plays them all very well. The guitars, drums, and even the vocals are powerful. There's a very heroic feel to all the riffs which are bolstered further when each song's high soaring guitar solo kicks in. And when I say high soaring, I mean it completely becomes the height of the track because it's usually around that point that each song reaches its crescendo. For instance, the solo "Pakkanen" is put right in the middle of the refrain and after it concludes there's a very powerful clean vocal passage.

Some solemnity eventually mixes into the epic atmosphere once "Valhallan portit" comes around. The pace slows down with this song as the release's concluding track. It ends with some grim sounding acoustic guitar which returns in the EP's outro piece "Verta ja tuhkaa". A very effective way to wrap up this excellent EP. Rautaa ja tulta is a great release. It's very easy to listen to them and think of their fellow countrymen Moonsorrow if they had shorter songs, no keyboards, and much rawer production.

Some tracks can perfectly capture the sound a band is working to achieve. Verta, tulta ja kuolemaa by Havukruunu is just that, an anthem to chariot charges and offerings to gods long forgotten. I loved every second of it.

Verta, tulta ja kuolemaa is drenched in pagan magic that make it hard to forget. The song has a simple, atmospheric opening before exploding into one of the most memorable riffs I've heard in a while. Tribal chants are also thrown in to make the song even more massive. One of the things I really enjoy about this single (and the band in general) is the production. The drums sound so strong here, especially the snare and kick. The vocals really steal the show though, they're unrelenting, ice cold and often used as a contrast to the chants. Both work amazingly well together and it's interesting to see how different the vocals are from the melody. It's all crushing and uplifting at the same time, very similar to Bathory's Hammerheart, where the music is pretty simple in some regards but has so much energy and passion, you can't help but think fondly of it.

In short, this single is all the best elements of the band distilled into one jaw-dropping track. I highly recommend it, as well as the rest of the band's output, to any fan of Finnish black metal.

I'm a huge sucker for Finnish black metal. I really can't get enough of the stuff. The marriage of second wave Norwegian influence with simple stomping punk elements and those delicious, sorrowful yet empowering and oh-so-Finnish tremolo melodies is just an endlessly winning combination for me, and it's always a pleasure to find new bands either playing directly in that paradigm or at least using it as the foundation on which they build their sound. So, suffice to say that it sometimes comes as a disappointment to me when I come across a promising new Finnish band that deviates strongly from the country's established approach to black metal.

While Havukruunu began life as a band that played homage to Bathory by way of heavy-metal infused Hellenic black metal bands, by this, their debut full-length album, they've largely moved away from that sort of thing to a decidedly different approach to playing music which owes its existence to Quorthon's genius. The name of the game on Havulinnaan is, naturally, none other than Moonsorrow, a band which does not at all fit the paradigm of Finnish black metal yet has come to be a band I love very deeply. There's still bits of the heavy metal bombast from earlier Havukruunu recordings present, such as in the 80's-sounding opening track "Talven Mustat Tuulet" with its galloping riffs and in the chains-and-leather cockiness of the flashy guitar solos played throughout the album. Strip those elements away, though, and you're left with majestic, mournful Moonsorrow-styled blackened folk metal played very capably.

Unlike Moonsorrow, Havukruunu opt for relatively compact songs. Instead of sprawling fifteen or twenty minute epics, these guys prefer things to stay in the five-minute range. Despite the much truncated song lengths, I think it's fair to say they've got roughly the same number of ideas per song as their more famous countrymen, which has the net result of giving the feeling that things are sort of rushed. The band is at its best when the music moves at a more deliberate pace, such as the clean vocal driven beauty of "Rautalintu." The band is equally as adept at those sorts of folky, bleary-eyed mountain laments as they are at the more savage, blackened stretches of pagan war music, but too often the brief songs move from one section to the next faster than I feel they should. Robbed of the extended buildups and multi-minute interludes and cooldown periods that give breathing room to Moonsorrow's best works, I get the impression that these guys simply didn't have the confidence to stretch their legs and let their good ideas ride. I'm reminded quite a bit of Myrkgrav, another band I felt was hamstrung by its fear or inability or hang-ups with letting atmosphere build via repetition.

Transitions from one part to the next can feel rushed or forced. Take the four-and-a-half-minute "Aavevalo" which has a relatively standard structure at first but then jumps through a bunch of seemingly unrelated bridge sections in the second half of the song. Lively drumming, wailing heavy metal guitar solos and choruses of soul-stirring Nordic chants distract from the fact that this often sounds more like collections of ideas strung together rather than the large scale cinematic masterpieces I feel like the band ought to be writing (and, hopefully, that they want to write). They sound best when they push the folk elements hard and when they let the atmosphere carry itself through the more plaintive tracks.

For all my griping this is definitely really professional sounding stuff. The recording is flawless, the performances equally so. The guitars are rich and warm and the rhythm section properly thunderous while Humö's vocals, clean and harsh, sound like the commanding presence of a scene veteran of many years rather than a young guy in his first band. The most captivating thing about the band's sound is the fluency Stefan has with writing really satisfying guitar melodies that are mostly in the Moonsorrow school but which also remind me quite a bit of recent medieval metal heroes Obsequiae. But, while that band's equally brief tunes leave me utterly satisfied and grinning from ear to ear, I can't shake the feeling that the compositions here were written off as "finished" before they could really get the cinematic scope experience I feel like this band could do very well with. There's a reason the most satisfying tracks are the two that crack the seven minute mark, both easily the most memorable and potent songs on the album.

They're young, though, and they've got the chops to give passionate performances and write compelling bits of songs. I just hope they can flesh their ideas out further.

So, when was the last time you were excited about a band so much that you wanted to tell random people about them, only to find yourself wishing to smash their skulls with a Thor's hammer when you realize that they don't understand this "metal" thing that you're talking about? Not lately? Well, then, come here and read this.

A relatively young Finnish band, Havukruunu (something like "coniferous crown") were formed around 2013. One blazing album, several outstanding demos, a lot of Pagan raging noise, and now, in 2017, here we have the second official one, Kelle Surut Soi (Edit: it seems to be something like a wordplay on "for whom the woes tolls"). It's their best so far. And probably my, or anyone's, best this year. Or two years. To get this out of the way first: Havukruunu sound approximately like something that would happen if Quorthon (around Blood Fire Death) and Moonsorrow (around Verisakeet) joined forces and along the way decided to put endless blastbeats and two bass drums wherever possible. So, there are insane but perfectly understandable screams (that is, if you're Finnish, I suppose), Viking war cries, ancestor chants, choirs, spirits, and even some clean singing, presumably when the guy gets really mad. That's just the vocals. And then, the drums. Stellar, thunderous and varied, restless and bloody minded. You haven't heard a drummer who loves hitting his kit so much since... Well, since the previous Havukruunu album. If you pay attention, you can even notice him accentuating guitar riffs by hitting different parts of the ride cymbal. During a blastbeat. Because, Havukruunu.

Riffs? Yeah, there are those too. The first reason that got you into this aforementioned "metal" thing, remember? Havukruunu have those. Distant, poetic, triumphant, organic, honest. And also galloping, blazing and murdering. Just real riffs, the way riffs should be written. Some will re-appear in your head the next day, some will smash you right away. Some will be a mystery for a while, like the blasting riff at the beginning of "Vainajain Valot" that only becomes clear at the end of the song, because at the beginning it was almost silenced by the blastbeat. Some will make you want to raise your hands and cheer, like the headbanger part after the clean guitar break in Myrkskynkutsuja. Some melodies are triumphant, some poignant, some only obvious if you pay attention, and solos are sometimes thrown in even where a normal band would go lazy. But Havukruunu don't do "normal" - or "lazy" for that matter. There's always something going on, be it an inspired bass line when you don't expect it, or a sound thrown in just to make things more serious. 

And it's all good. At first, it's even scary, as you start liking Havukruunu too much and hoping they don't mess up and make a common mistake, such as a boring part after a good part. But, track after track, minute after minute, the suspicions disappear, and when the album ends, all doubts are over too. Because Havukruunu don't do "boring" either. And you can listen to it again without worrying about it. A few months after the release, I'm still listening to Kelle Surut Soi whenever I have an hour to spare.

The sound? Punchy and immersive, but a bit distant. You can hear everything, and that's already an accomplishment in itself. So, it's perfect for what it needs to be. If you hear someone playing Kelle Surut Soi in another room, you will probably get jealous. If you decide to reward yourself by turning off the lights and listening to it through your headphones, there will be nothing else, and you won't be able to think about anything but the music. Yes, it's that good. Get it.

The duo from Hausjärvi created an impressive soundscape with the 2017 sophomore release Kelle surut soi. The album is energetic, melodic, contemplatively slow at times, bombastically fast at others, a great mix of vocal rasp and choral singing; the entirety of the album impresses on me that this is how good pagan black metal should sound.

However, while listening I could not escape thinking of Moonsorrow’s Kivenkantaja or Verisäkeet. Havukruunu continues some of Moonsorrow’s motifs. They allow their songs to take the time to develop into substance though they don’t clock in at the times of either “Pimeä”, “Jotenheim” or "Tulimyrsky." Songs “Myrskynkutsuja” and “Kelle surut soi” include the sounds of the nature along with the Kantele (Finnish harp) and the Stefan’s gritty vocals along with the clean choir singing adds complexity to the album. Havukruunu strives for an epic sound and captures the gossamer sound of Finnish pagan black metal. 

In the end Havukruunu isn’t trying to be Moonsorrow. Kelle surut soi presents each song as its own entity towards the goal of the album’s ultimate character. This album’s energy is unique and invigorating. The guitars chug and swarm, solos sing and scream and the drums race. Havukruunu seeks to explore the depth and breath of their own sound and while Kelle surut soi might remind me of Kivenkantaja or Verisäkeet, it isn’t them. 

As a non-native Finnish speaker, I have no lyrical cues as to what is happening in each song; however in a way, this album is best served with a healthy dose of imagination filling in the gaps. I can imagine the spirits of Finnish paganism swirling in the dark forests or the force of nature raging and swooning. My imagination continues what Havukruunu began. The spirit of Finland bursts with life in Kelle surut soi and perhaps this is the essence of Finnish pagan black metal, life. So if one wants to evoke this spirit and sound of Finland then this album is a must.

Havukruunu are clearly big fans of Bathory and Immortal. Their music features heavy use of Viking choirs and driving riffs, generating an icy yet dramatic atmosphere. When listening to Kelle Surut Soi however, the similarities were not so blatant that I felt like I was listening to a Bathory record. Instead, I gradually started feeling a sense of familiarity, that, when raised with a friend, was agreed upon. In my opinion, this is the mark of a band who appreciate the heritage of the path that they walk, yet fully intend to carve their own path through the mists of black metal. 

I think this album is best listened to as a whole - as a non-Finnish speaker, I am unable to understand the lyrics, and so instead appreciate the album for the atmosphere it creates for 51 triumphant minutes. It is not an atmosphere of despair or hatred, but, at least in my opinion, of triumph and aggressive splendor. 

One should not expect an atmospheric Summoning album. The vocals are prominent and the riffs plenty; nevertheless, there are clear folk elements, and a clear desire for pagan melody. Whilst some might declare this band a copycat act, I truly believe they have found their own place in black metal lore, and are set to expand the lore of their world for years to come.