Sammal: "Suuliekki"

Brilliant fourth entry from Finnish prog-rockers

When a piece of music is excessively catchy it often comes with the issue that you grow tired of it quicker. Catchiness often comes from simple, repeated melodies and easy-to-follow song structures. But Sammal's brand of catchiness is a creature entirely different. Every time I receive a new Sammal release in my inbox, it takes exactly one listen to get the entire album stuck in my head.

Sons of Crom: "The Black Tower"

The strongest arm in modern heavy metal

I can tell by the quality of The Black Tower that my lacking acquaintance with the duo's album debut from 2014, Riddle of Steel, is a huge mistake that will soon have to be mended. From the name one would expect fairly traditional heavy metal, but The Black Tower is anything but bound by the shackles of tradition.

Kimi Kärki: "Eye for an Eye"

Partially derivative, but much more so coloured through by his own style and aesthetic

Kimi Kärki should be known to most fans of doom metal as the lead guitarist of Reverend Bizarre and Lord Vicar. But he's a man of many talents, as his lengthy career would suggest; He's also involved in progressive rock outfit Orne, psychonauts Uhrijuhla and Berliner Schule-revivalists E-Musikgruppe Lux Ohr. Furthermore, he's quite adept as a classic folk guitarist, songwriter and vocalist, as evident on both his solo debut, The Bone of My Bones, and now on his sophomore effort, Eye for an Eye.

Black Rock: "Black Rock"

Down to basics take on thrashy, blackened speed metal

Black Rock might be one of the most fitting band names in recent times; The Finnish crust punk and Hellhammer aficionados from the township of Hyvinkää take the term 'rock n roll' and extrapolates it to fit a blackened speed metal aesthetic coupled with a raw, shouting vocal style in a simple setting.

Somnam: "Melancholy's Masquerade"

Appealingly demented ventures into electronics and ambience

Somnam began some time back in 2005 in Finland, but the one-man project has miraculously endured the passing of time with bravour, having released a full length album as recently as 2015.

Apocryfal: "Ravens"

Abundant confindence makes for music that, if nothing else, passes the time

Every scene has its own trademark sound or fell, and Finland's death metal scene is primarily known as the filthy, strange, doom-laden kind. Apocryfal from Jyväskylä, however, aren't the types to follow suit and as such have taken their band in a different direction - A direction that involves a 3-song demo, adding up to 12 minutes of full-throttle death metal.

Distress of Ruin: "Predators Among Us"

Variation be damned, a monolith of groove in itself

Distress of Ruin is a Finnish bastard child of melodic death metal origin, fused together in a grotesque form with copious amounts of metalcore tendencies. Five man strong, the band from Joensuu presents itself with a classic lineup of two guitars, lead vocals, backing vocals, and a strong rhythm section courtesy of drummer and bassist Sami and Riku.

Ranger: "Knights of Darkness"

Bust open your trashiest beer and put on this thrashing masterpiece

The artwork says it all: Black background, painted chrome-style logo, four black figures in front of a night time cityscape, and a small sticker with the words "skull splitting metal" around a fanged skull. Knights of Darkness is one of those records you love to bust out and show your friends for a night of binge drinking, air guitaring and shouting to the sound of shredding riffs and high-pitched screams, straight from Finland in a classic 80s speed metal style with no shenanigans.

Minus One World: "Sewage"

Breakaway attempt at innovation ends up an airless affair

Minus One World from Salo, Finland, are something akin to mold breakers. Created in 2008, they haven't been much for following trends or traditions since then. Their 2013 EP Sewage is upbeat and almost pleasant when held against the filthy and abrasive traditions of the country's once sprawling death and doom metal scene.

Serpenthia: "Beyond"

Finnish unknowns positively surprise with a grand declaration of war in EP format

Like Sweden and Norway, Finland is home to its own host of excellent black metal bands, even if bands like Horna, Behexen or Impaled Nazarene doesn't ring a bell quite as loudly as, say, Marduk or Darkthrone. Serpenthia from Joensuu has very little in common with the bestial cacophonies of Beherit or the raw tremolos of Satanic Warmaster though.

Stranglion Rot: "Rotten Heart of Evil"

Culmination of zeal and an urge to create, Stranglion Rot delivers a good piece of death metal

Throwing Finland's musical heritage of gloomy, doom-inspired death metal to the wind, one-man project Stranglion Rot unleashes 22 minutes of fast d-beat death metal on Rotten Heart of Evil. Hailing from an unknown part of Finland, the album sounds more akin to something produced in 90s Sweden, opting for barbed wire strings, jackhammer drums and hoarse growls.

Relying on sheer riffing rather than a more composed wholesomeness, Stranglion Rot does not hold back. At times the arrangements come off as the ramblings of an inexperienced songwriter, but sole member Hietala often manages to get the message across through his hellishly catchy guitar lines.

Edge of Haze: "Mirage"

Heavy rock and light metal in unison

Donning your heavy metal glasses, Finland has long had a tradition of esoteric death, gloomy death, upbeat folk and gothic symphonies of power. Edge of Haze, however, seem completely unwilling to adhere to any dogmas, metal or otherwise. Though their sound is fresh and modern, it is by no means a pandering to trend. On their 2012 album Mirage, the Finns reveal themselves to be a powerful quintet with influences that reach far beyond the realm of metal.

Pantheon of Blood: "Consociatio Solis et Lunae"

Abundant craftsmanship capable of great things

Some bands are so offendingly run of the mill that there's just not anything to be excited about. But some bands, while not as such adding any innovative elements, are just plain good at their craft. Finland's Pantheon of Blood belongs to the latter grouping, delving into the depths of black metal songstructure and creating music that may be straight forward, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Eero Koivistoinen Quartet: "Hati Hati"

Well-crafted jazz opus that speaks in colourful volumes of a great musical journey

Originally a student of music at both Sibelius Academy in Finland and Berklee College of Music in Boston, Eero Koivistoinen has remained a fixture in the Finnish jazz scene since the sixties, his first release being with the rock group Blues Section's first album of the same name in 1967. Since then the saxophonist has played with and composed for many musicians and band itterations. Already in 1972 did he enjoy international acclaim with his solo album "Wahoo!", but already as early as 1969 did his band at the time win the band competition at the legendary Montreux Jazz Festival. His extensive discography, over thirty albums at the time of writing, explores several different genres and subgenres, although jazz has always been his mainstay.

Sammal: "Myrskyvaroitus"

Standing out with howling praise

A part of the struggle of participating in trends is standing out from the lot, and those that achieve this are ironically often those that give the trend the most unusual twist. The vast majority will suffer from being unimaginative and ordinary, which when done well may be a strength on its own. Often the boundary between blindly following a trend and expanding into new territory becomes blurred; At which point exactly does music go from simply paying tribute and drawing inspiration from something to discovering new areas to colonize? The Finnish band Sammal, who are with the release of Myrskyvaroitus now three releases into their journey, seem to be an example of this question.

Hard Action: "Sinister Vibes"

Leather-rocking biker music with everything that entails

Everything about this band screams "we're one of those seventies hard n' heavy clones from Sweden that land somewhere in the midst of a circlejerk consisting of early Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy and Girlschool". The promo shots features sunglasses, denim, beards and a bandana. The cover presents wrecked guitar equipment and a stylish seventies design. Songtitles like Watch Me Burn, Cut to the Bone and Dead Dogs really does the trick. It's a sure thing, right? Well, no, not really.

Death Hawks: "Sun Future Moon"

Consistently ambitious and well-crafted nature-rock

The Finnish folk and rock scene has many gems hidden to the rest of the Western world. If you're not acquainted with the progressive grooves of Sammal, the ecclectic ramblings of Paavoharju or the laid back finesse of Riitaoja, all I've got to say is get going! One of the many surprising acts that the land of a thousand lakes has to offer is Death Hawks, a group which has been consistently releasing albums and touring Europe since 2010.

E-Musikgruppe Lux Ohr: "Spiralo"

A journey to 70s Germany with a group of Finns as tour-guides

Some claim that the German music style known af Krautrock (and to an extent the various subgenres the Kraut movement spawned) never quite went out of style. Though Tangerine Dream's mastermind Edgar Froese passed away not too long ago, the group was active right until his death. Others like Klaus Schulze (of Ash Ra Tempel) and the band Faust are still going strong, as if they've forgotten about the passage of time. In addition newer groups are crawling forth from various scenes all over the world, inspired in some degree by the landmark German movement.

Viraga: "Death of a Second Kind"

Another prog effort form the Land of a Thousand Lakes

Though the term "gothic" has meant a great multitude of things over the years, in music it usually refers to that one hard-to-identify vibe of dark melancholy, at the same time both violent and gentle. Viraga, a one man project from the cold and wet country of Finland, recalls the gothic eras of bands like Katatonia and Opeth, retaining the progressive edge that the latter made integral to their sound.

Oranssi Pazuzu: "Värähtelijä"

Soothing tales of the mind's echoing paranoia

Is there such a thing as progressive black metal? Whenever anyone adds just a tiny bit of free thinking into the stale melting pot known as modern black metal everybody has a nervous breakdown tossing the term "post black metal" at it like it cures cancer. But if there's any band out there that deserves a defining term at all, it surely is Oranssi Pazuzu. Since their debut in 2009 they've been in a state of constant roiling evolution, never quite content with their style, always pushing borders. Every album since then has had something different going on, and every time they've got new material coming out it's bound to be surprising.