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If ever there
was a band that refused to be pigeon holed into one genre or another then
Finnish crazed metal nuts Waltari are such a band. The band are now
in their 21st year of being a the band and have remained true
to their own beliefs of what the whole Waltari sound should consist of,
with each album being superior and more experimental than the last.
'Release Date'
is no different from the rest, with the band showing you they can mix
styles and genres, sounds and variants of themes all on one album, if you
do it the right way.
The band are led
by vocalist Kärtsy Hatakka whose vocal range expands from the harmonic
progressive tones to a Black Metal growl, to an enraged Punk and beyond.
The band
are intent on taking no prisoners with this new album, as the opener ‘Get
Stamped’ is unleashed with its mix of the prog elements with a streaming
guitar assault courtesy of Sami Yli-Sirniö
and with Hatakka showing his true voice on this
one, watch out for the twist in the tail at the end, it's brutal.
The band really
know how to mix things up as ‘Big Sleep’ is a real melting pot of sounds,
from the more techno pop punk sound mixed with a thumping double kick
drums, to the eighties new romantic style vocals, which actually works
surprisingly well. If you're going to mix genres then you’ve gotta
get it right and Waltari certainly know their stuff.
The album gets a
definite heavier edge with the thrash punk anthemic tones of the
beautifully titled ‘Lets Puke Together, before the band really show their
worth with the thirty seven minute opus (yes I did say 37 minutes) ‘Cityshamaani'.
The track itself is broken up into five sub sections (a) Fright Night (b)
Morning (c) Colgate Country Showdown (d) The Incarnation Party and (e)
Sympathy. The track itself is a small Metal Opera and takes the
listener back to the bands Death Metal Opera ‘Yeah, Yeah, Die, Die’.
Starting with ‘Fright Night’ the opening salvo, this is pure breed metal
from the off, then its full force brutality with ‘Morning’. Things
calm down a touch with ‘Colgate County Showdown’, a definite Chilli
Peppers\Beastie Boys inspired piece. ‘The Incarnation Party’ brings
in some electro dance into the mix, before finishing off with the Pink
Floyd/Smashing Pumpkins like ‘Sympathy’, a quite remarkable track that has
to listened too in its entirety to appreciate it.
Then it's back
to the full on no holds barred stuff with the punky tones of ‘Hype’ and
‘THD (Lehtinen), before returning to the metal with the enchantingly
titled ‘Sex In The Beergarden’ and the pounding metal electro fusion of
‘Wish I Could Heal’.
The album closes
with a bonus track as Waltari team up with fellow Finnish ethno group
Värttinä for ‘Spokebone’, a real heady mix of Electronica, Violins,
traditional voice and pulsating rhythms, which highlights Waltari’s
attempts to remain un-categorisable. |
