Kivimetsän Druidi - Betrayal, Justice, Revenge

Finland’s forests must have incredibly littered grounds with all of the symphonic folk metal bands literally falling from the branches if you so much as brush past one. Such a tired, overrun experimentation is still producing bands and music, most unmitigated crap, some decent, but the hey-day is certainly over, so please someone tell them this in Finland. The love affair with such gloriously pompous music is long over for the underground contingency that once found it entertaining, but the malls seem to have caught on to the fad (they can have it, along with screamo and whatever Killswtich Engage fans might be left mulling around).

Anyway, Kivimetsän Druidi is on its second album to try and bring some value back to the scene. Vocalist Leeni-Maria Hovila is one of a thousand Tarja clones out there vying to showcase her vocals and elevate them to that operatic plateau that is both ‘one-and-done’ and saturated to the point of criminality. Tarja did it, shocked the metal world into momentary submission, she’s moved on as we have, and these bands should follow suit. Granted, Hovila has some pipes to be reckoned with, but I’ve heard this style more times than I care to count and it’s simply boring and indecipherable from one band to the next. The black-metal-meets-female vocals are so insanely obligatory these days it should be outlawed. Enough already! I heard the first CD Shadowheart and was immensely underwhelmed, but I gave the band the benefit of another listen. I want that hour back, please.

As for the music, yes, it’s quite talented, very structured and well-produced. Can you pop in any Finnish band of the last decade and hear exactly the same style? Absolutely. Some might even have higher aesthetic value, though it’s few and far between. I don’t know whether to hate Nightwish for doing this to us or the newer bands with little capacity to think outside the chasm and find a newer, more interesting medium to rape and pillage from. While musically sound throughout, there is nothing here to motivate me to seek out more of this homogenous power-folk mess of a sub-genre. It reeks of triviality and uninspired rhetoric put to music. The band has talented members, but in this context I can’t even claim ambivalence. It’s just boring and derivative of everything else and it needs to stop. 

As with any fad in music something gets noticed, you strike while the iron is hot; you make your money and fade into the obscurity of Encyclopedia Metallum. No one gets hurt and you make some money for art school, tattoo college, fashion design or whatever your day job is that week. This is a prime example of looting the store when the proprietors have left the building. Corporate music manages to slip its slimy hands into our genre as well, grabbing onto the next big thing and making some fat cat rich who has no idea of the intrinsic value of our scene. I used to salvage some respect and slight sorrow for these bands who were victims of such bureaucratic fleecing, but no more - you all should know better and get what you deserve.

Release Date: April 26th, 2010
Label: Century Media

TRACK LISTING

1.  Lament for the Fallen
2.  Aesis Lilim
3.  Seawitch and the Sorcerer
4.  The Visitor
5.  Manalan vartija
6.  Tuoppein'nostelulaulu
7.  Chant of the Winged One
8.  Of Betrayal
9.  Desolation: White Wolf

Total playing time:  54:18

*By clicking "Submit" you agree to the following Terms of Use. You agree not to post any material that is obscene, slanderous, or threatening, or that may violate any law of your country of origin or the United States or of international law. Should you wish to restrict viewing of your email address by third parties, you must select "Hide My Email." You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Metal Psalter from any claims, actions, suits, damages, or other costs arising out of any breach of these Terms of Use.

*Comments:

Reviewer: Chris

July 2, 2010