To describe Kuolemanlaakso is to try to describe precision, atmosphere and ability in one sentence, not an easy task.  Musically this is a very thought out, organically constructed piece of art.  Songs flow easily from one to the next, compositions are intricate yet memorable.  They are able to combine My Dying Bride, Triptykon (Tulijoutsen was produced by Triptykon member V. Santura) and Type O Negative yet do so in a way that does not sound (or feel) like anything other than Kuolemanlaakso.  Impressive. 

Shades of death, doom even folk metal are intertwined into lush musical pieces that drip with melancholy moods.  Guitars riff and play well placed guitar solos, bass lines thunder, drums are steady and powerful and there’s just enough keyboards not to sound gothy or worse, annoying.  “Aarnivalkea” is a doomy, rhythmic (to the point of hypnotic) piece, very riffy and heavy; “Arpen”, with its tolling bells and Sabbathy tinged homage has a feel of cold desolation.  The middle section of the song has a keyboard, spoken word piece that is just dripping in Hammer Horror atmosphere. “Raadot Rauniolla”, bonus track, rounds out Tulijoutsen, ending the album how it began, heavy riffs punctuated by a beautiful guitar solo. Vocals are a mix of death metal harsh rasp, rhythmic chanting and clean vocals.  Personal favorite was “Glastonburyn Lehto”, a bouncy bass line and acoustic guitar flourish mix up the pace on Tulijoutsen (it has a folky almost jazzy sound to it), vocals can best be described as Finnish metal meets Tom Waits, extremely mellow but so cool, a very easy song to hit repeat.

It would be hard to imagine Tulijoutsen NOT being on any year end best of 2014 lists.  Yes, it’s still somewhat early in the year and no there hasn’t been too much heard as of late to top this.  Though still somewhat of a new band, all the members are alarmingly creative and talented.  Tulijoutsen is brimming with music that needs to be heard.