When I first got in contact with this band, I saw them live at the Finnish Metal Meeting in 2006. Their appearance was something to pay attention to but also their musical abilities were pretty nice. A little research told me that their appearances are creatures they’ve come up with by analyzing the history of Savo. Their lyrics should also contain stories about this region, so I can have a pretty good impression about the intention of this band. With this thought in mind, the cd begins.

And just like their live performance, the album is great as well and the songs can be divided into several genres although the total sound of the band is very clear. The songwriting can be best described as heavy metal, where the powerful guitar chords and fast riffs are guided by a, maybe at first sight simplistic but perfectly fitting into their appearence, synths player. There are two different vocals, the dark grunting and the clean vocals of the lead singer. This last guy is a really unique singer in the scene, he almost sounds like a tenor, leaving the typical squeezy heavy metal vocals to other bands. 

Then the songs. If you like some variation between different styles of metal and if you’re open to some dual vocal lines between clear singing and grunting, this is your band. Listen to the opener ‘Kurjuuvven valssi’ for instance; the changes in the music from fast to slow, grunting to clean singing are presented very well in this song. But as the album continues, the other songs are strong and convincing as well. Try to listen to the experimental ‘Jäläkeläenen’ or my absolute favorite ‘Laalavat jouset’ where the sense of melody is enormously. I’m sure you will be surprised by the sound and the fact that this is actually really good.

In my opinion Verjnuarmu has done a unique job, mixing different styles of heavy music in an accessible way I’ve never witnessed before. The dark influences are combined with traditional ways of metal without copying other bands or loosing the sense of writing good songs. Let’s hope they’ll come up with some English explanations about their songs to inform us more about their epical songs, or present us a European tour.