Kaunis Kuolematon are a Finnish band with current or former members of Black Sun Aeon, Sinamore, and End of Aeon, who have released three songs so far in their brief career. Two of them appeared on a self-titled EP in November 2012 and the third is a single released in June of this year. Both the EP and the single are available on Bandcamp for a pay-what-you-want price.
The new single — “En Ole Mitään” (I Am Nothing) — is the best of the three songs, and it’s really good. In fact, it’s so good that I’ve added it to the list of candidates for our year-end selection of 2013′s most infectious extreme metal songs.
The musical style is the kind of melancholy, doom-influenced melodic death metal that should appeal to fans of bands such as Swallow the Sun, Before the Dawn, and In Mourning. It slides back and forth between soft, sorrowful passages carried by the strong, clear tenor voice of Mikko Heikkilä (ex-Black Sun Aeon) and heavy sections in which concrete-slabbed riffs rain down and Olli Suvanto (End of Aeon) howls in anguish or roars like some void-faring behemoth.
The guitar-driven melody, which feeds both the soft and the heavy measures and is enhanced ever so slightly by what sounds like an occasional synthesizer backdrop, is sublime — and highly memorable.
The two songs on the EP reflect a somewhat different blend of styles. “Varjo” is more of a chugging, jabbing affair with elements reminiscent of metalcore in the mix, and a tandem of howls and shrieks taking the place of the clean vocals. It also has another memorable melody, carried more by shimmering keyboards than guitars.
“Menneisyyteen Kahlittu” brings the return of Mikko Heikkilä’s clean vocals and comes closer to the feeling of “En Ole Mitään”, with a grinding low end in the heavy sections, which alternate with the softer sections (almost more slow rock than metal). The sombre melody is again transported mainly by the keyboards, and indeed a solo piano plays a significant role in the song’s second half. Sadness falls like drifting rain in the darkness of fall.
I’ve been enjoying both of the songs on the EP, but I do hope, as Kaunis Kuolematon moves forward, that they’ll further explore the territory mapped by the new single. And moving forward is definitely what I hope they will do — this is a band it will be exciting to hear more from in the future.
http://kauniskuolematon.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/KaunisKuolematon
http://kauniskuolematon.com/musiikki