Album review: ∞ - Emme Näe Elämää

Wow.. I've been waiting for this album for quite a while already and finally it's here. The new ∞ (eight) album Emme Näe Elämää feels like a fresh breath of cold air after their earlier masterpiece Näyt Kauas from 2012. The new album seems to continue from where the last one left yet the sound seems to head more towards the screamo elements mixed with post-rock and away from post-metal when comparing the two. 

Eight sticks to the same elements sound-wise in this album as the last one. The vocals are as great as they were last time with melancholy-filled moaning and screaming that really give me the chills. Not only are the vocals improved, so are the instrumentals; drum and bass sounds are varied and dynamic ranging from quiet and distant to crushing and shrill. 

"Kuinka kauan kestää toukokuun lumi?"

Compositionally Eight keeps it's quality with utilising varied elements of alternative genres. The post-rock-esque crescendos and clean guitars mix once again perfectly with the contrast of crushing style of hardcore. I was personally intrigued by the little bit of noise in the outro of the song Tuntemisaisti. Even some always-welcome blast beat action was carried out in the climaxes of the songs Kuuron Laulu and Juostaan Ylös Vuorelle. Kuuron Laulu features more aggressive and fast-paced riffs in the first half of the song. It then takes a long time building up to a crushing ending with blast beat and tremolo riffing. 

The lyrics of the album are very poetic with themes of solitude, dreams and a lot of metaphorical storytelling. I especially love the lyrics of Lohdutusseremonia which seems to tell of life and death and dealing with loss. The whole song is a melancholic piece which starts with a sad melodic guitar and a groovy drum beat. The song alternates between soft and hard with a great crescendo in the middle of the song which then comes apart and goes back to where the whole song started. 

As a fan of post-rock, hardcore and post-metal this album doesn't let me down the slightest. Every song is a story and an adventure to experience. 




Favourite songs: Lohdutusseremonia, Kuuron Laulu, Antakaa Meidän Nukahtaa

8.5/10 

Clearly one of this year's strongest albums to me. 

A little about my soloproject

I started writing songs like almost 5 years ago when I was in junior highschool. At the time I didn't have my own guitar or anything... I had to resort to my dad's old acoustic guitar (which my brother had actually used for composing some post-rock a few years backwards) and Guitarpro 5. My first songs were not that good (well I guess you can't expect to write masterpieces right away). With time I got better and got used to writing with my equipment. I experimented with different genres and styles differing from electronic to rap to metal and even some classical-influenced but somehow post-rock and post-metal just stuck with me.

A photo of me with my acoustic Landola from early 2012

In early 2011 I had bought my first electric guitar and even upgraded to GuitarPro 6. I started composing and arranging my first album. Some pieces didn't fit to each other and some of the songs were not yet completed when I decided to record the album. During 2012 I had recorded Remedy (part.1) with my brother. I bought some recording equipment and started working on the recordings in November 2012 and decided to try to release it in time for Christmas as a present for my girlfriend. I composed Remedy (part.2) during the recordings and the whole Solitude, My Friend song was an experiment I did one day with recording different sounds on top of an ambient pad loop. 

The concept of the album kind of wrote itself. The songs tell of my loneliness in junior high when I didn't really have many friends and the title of the album Remedy For Solitude refers to my girlfriend who I got to know during my last year there (and we've been together since). 

Front and back cover of my album.

Only 10 physical copies of the album were made and I numbered them by hand

I've been working on new songs for a second release but I feel like I'm having a writers block as I have to write and do everything alone. Finding bandmates would help much with writing. 

You can download my album for free at bandcamp (http://untoldmemories.bandcamp.com/) and follow me in facebook (https://www.facebook.com/untoldproject). By donating money you can help me get new equipment to help me with the next release. 

I really don't feel like translating this all to Finnish :S 

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Peace and ΓΟΛΕ

 -Matti

Indie Shout Out vol.2

Toinen loistava löytö tänä syksynä oli suomalainen yhdenmiehen bändi/projekti Stars As Lights, jonka uusin julkaisu As If Time Had Stopped on huikea kymmenen kappaleen post-rock teos, jossa jokainen kappale kertoo oman tarinansa.

Stars As Lights on jyväskyläläisen Lauri Paavolaisen sooloprojekti. As If Time Had Stopped on kaikkine post-rock -kliseineenkin juuri täydellinen taidepläjäys minunlaiselleni musiikin ystävälle. Albumi erottuukin joukosta edukseen juuri sävellyksen ja tuotannon puolesta. Koko albumi on rauhoittavan kaunista kuunneltavaa alusta loppuun eikä yksikään kappale kuulosta samalta. Albumin kokonaisuus tuo mieleen Explosions In The Skyn alkutuotannon.

As If Time Had Stopped kuuluu ehdottomasti tämän vuoden parhaimpien post-rockjulkaisujen joukkoon Sigur Rósin ja God Is An Astronautin uusimpien albumien rinnalle.

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Another great discovery from this fall was the Finnish one-man-band/project Stars As Lights whose newest release As It Time Had Stopped is an immense ten track post-rock work in which every track tells its own story.

Stars As Lights is the solo project of Lauri Paavolainen from Jyväskylä, Finland. As If Time Had Stopped is just the perfect piece of art for a music lover like myself even with all its post-rock cliches. The album sticks out from the crowd with its amazing compositions and production quality. The whole album is restfully beautiful from the beginning all the way until the end and none of the songs sound too much alike. The album as a whole brings to my mind the earlier works of Explosions In The Sky. 

As If Time Had Stopped belongs easily to the top post-rock albums of the year alongside the new albums by Sigur Rós and God Is An Astronaut. 

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Also the artwork is absolutely amazing! :)

- Peace And ΓΟΛΕ - 
Matti

New guitar cover up on youtube

Uusi kitaracoveri on katsottavissa ja kuunneltavissa youtubekanavallani

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New guitar cover is up for views and lisnenings on my youtube channel

- Matti

Comforting Sounds

Eka postaus! Pari päivää oon hiljaa mielessäni miettinyt musablogin aloitusta ja päätin kokeilla. En aio pitää minkäänlaista postausrytmiä, vaan postailen millon huvittaa. Ideoita postauksiin riittää aina top-10 listoista musiikilliseen fiilistelyyn, oman musiikkihistoriani valaisemiseen ja paljon muuta. En oikeastaan itse edes lue muita blogeja, joten tämä on siinäkin mielessä uusi kokemus.

Oma musamakuni ylittää kaikki genrerajat ja pyrin olemaan avoin kaikentyyliselle musiikille aina klassisesta nykymetalliin. Mitään tarkkaa lempibändi-listaa en aio tehdä, mutta muutamia eniten mun elämään vaikuttaneita yhtyeitä on Explosions In The Sky, ISIS, Mogwai, Opeth, Katatonia ja vaikkapa Devin Townsend (aika synkänpuoleiselta vaikuttaa EITS:iä ja Deviniä lukuunottamatta - pitäiskö olla huolissaan).

Mut joo - voisin kertoa hieman itsestäni; olen Joensuulainen 18 v. poika, joka ei voisi elää ilman musiikkia. Soitan kitaraa, laulan, sävellän ja ennenkaikkea kulutan musiikkia sekä kerään levyjä. Kitaraa olen soittanut ehkä nelisen vuotta ja biisejä oon vääntäny yhtä kauan. Oman sooloprojektini demo on ladattavissa ilmaiseksi bandcampista (http://untoldmemories.bandcamp.com). Demon julkaisin joulukuussa 2012 eräänlaisena joululahjana tyttöystävälleni (mut joo, ehkä jauhan Untold Memoriesista jossain toisessa postauksessa).

 Yup, That's me.

 Last.fm:ssä voit seurata minua http://www.last.fm/user/Masavain täältä ja kaveriksikin saa pyytää.

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First post! I've been thinking of starting a music blog for a few days and now I decided to give it a try. I won't be posting regularly - only when I want to. I have a lot of ideas for future posts like top-10 lists, musical hyping, enlightening my personal history on music and many more. I hardly ever even read other blogs so this will be a new experience in that light also.

My musical taste extends over genre limits and I try to as open as possible for all genres of music ranging from classical to modern metal. I won't be doing a favouritebands -list but some of the bands that have had a significant effect on my life are Explosions In The Sky, ISIS, Mogwai, Opeth, Katatonia and Devin Townsend (quite melancholic except for EITS and Devin - Should I be concerned).

But oh well - I could tell you a little about myself: I am an 18 y.o boy from Joensuu, Finland and I couldn't live without music. I play guitar, sing, compose and above all consume music and collect albums. I've been playing the guitar roughly for 4 years and making songs as long. My personal soloproject's demo is available for a free download in bandcamp (http://untoldmemories.bandcamp.com/). I released the demo in December 2012 as a christmas gift for my fiance (but anyhow, maybe I will ramble about Untold Memories in other posts).

You can follow me in Last.fm at http://www.last.fm/user/Masavain and i will accept friend requests too.

Peace and ΓΟΛΕ

 -Matti