Seremonia: Ihminen

Svart Records (SVR237)

 

Ihminen (meaning a human being in English) is the second album by Finnish proto metal/doom/hard rock/acid rock/occult rock act Seremonia following last year’s eponymous debut album and a couple of 7” singles. The debut album was pretty well received especially in Finland, and the band is sort of following the same formula here although they have added something new to their withes cauldron. The female vocals are still in Finnish and deal with the same macabre things like worshipping the devil, death, suicide, drug abuse, nightmares, doomsday etc. but this time one of the leading themes is how we humans abuse our planet destroying the nature and that we will be punished for that. The harsh, rather primitive but highly effective music changes from short, fast, Motörhead like bursts (“Noitamestari”, “Ovi”, “Luonto kostaa”) through mid-tempo proto metal to slow, doomy and gloomy atmospheres and the band can master all these different modes. Their sound is not overtly heavy, but they have definitely listened to their share of Black Sabbath. Keyboards and flutes give more, refreshing and psychedelic angles to some of the songs. “Itsemurhaaja II” even has a nice, acoustic intro before the heavy boogie begins. The dark, repetative and mesmerizing “Tähtien takaa” reminds me of Finnish dark psychedelic post-punk legends Mana Mana. My other favourites include the most Black Sabbath styled piece “Itsemurhaaja”, the darkest and longest, very doomy song “Painajaisten maa” that brings to mind early Saint Vitus (just like the last, epic and slow track called “Hallava hevonen”) and the hard rocking title track “Ihminen”. Seremonia is one of the best and most interesting bands in Finland right now and they are also great live so check them out and get the new album!

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