Beer’n Thrash

It would be an educated guess to state that around 90% of bands get started in Bars or Pubs, Mental Care Foundation (MCF) is no exeption in that regard. Founded in small city of Kokkola on the westcoast of Finland, the four guys knew about each other from before but didn’t really become friends until the band started. By the end of 2003 the band had begun to rehearse a set comprised of mainly Slayer and Pantera covers…getting bored rather quickly it was evident that the next move was to write their own material. Thei music was pretty much in the vein of their idols , following the style of the bands that they had previously covered.

Female Fronted Metal from Finland

If you think about how long it takes for some bands to get a foothold in the music business and to present themselves to countless fans worldwide, you should have a lot of respect for EVIL DRIVE. The Finish quintet was founded in 2013, exactly five years ago, and mastered the first hurdles on their way to the big stages brilliantly. The Finns only needed two years to achieve their first record deal for their Melodic Death/Thrash Metal. The Danish label Mighty Music released their debut album „The Land Of The Dead“ in 2015 which also marks the year the band stepped into the focus of a fitting listenership for the first time. At the same time, the scene press reacted quite positive to the newcomers and their first album received good review and the deserved recognition.

Since then, EVIL DRIVE have increased their live appearances and developed musically as well. In their own creative forge, the Evil Drive Studio, the band continuously worked on new material has now been collected on their upcoming album „Ragemaker“. As you will notice, the band has improved in every aspect. The sound is more powerful, the songwriting more delicate and varied and the instrumental parts have gained audible technical dexterity. Also singer Viktoria Viren has expanded her vocal range, making her vocals more colorful and haunting than ever before. One of the biggest wins is J-P Pusa, who joined the band as guitarist and directly started to work on each and every aspect of the band. Not only did he produce the album, he has also worked diligently on the songwriting and the arrangements together with the rest of the band, making the sound of „Ragemaker“ much more impressive than its predecessor’s. Not only did EVIL DRIVE initiate their own progress, they also reached the attention of Reaper Entertainment: this still young label from Germany directly signed them with a three album deal.

www.evildriveband.com

Finnish Melodic Death Metal

After five long years from their latest release, Finnish metallers Suotana have emerged straight from the everfrost with a new album ‘’Ounas I’’, set for release on March 17, 2023! This full-length release is an epic continuation of the journey its predecessor ‘’Land of the Ending Time’’ began in 2018, and propels the band to a new height. ‘’Ounas I’’ contains 41 freezing minutes of music, including five brand-new Suotana tracks and one ‘Suotanized’ version of Summoning’s “Land of the Dead”.

 The album artwork captures the atmosphere of northern nature and landscapes from which the band was born. Guitarist and songwriter Ville Rautio states,”’Ounas I’ is a concept album which carries the listener through the ages, binding ancient history and the present day. The journey’s epic finale is a 13-minute mammoth of a song, ‘River Ounas’. This black metal-infused odyssey leads us to the current time, where preserving nature’s diversity is becoming more relevant than ever before.”

 Musically, the album introduces nuances while remaining firmly planted in familiar Suotana sounds, including melodic death metal, melodic black metal, and a dash of power metal. The most remarkable differences are the guests on the album. Keyboard player Veli-Matti Kananen (Kalmah) and female vocalist Mora contribute their own unique talents.

 Originally founded in 2005 as guitarist Ville Rautio’s solo project, Suotana’s upward trajectory was not diminished by several line-up changes in the wake of their 2014 debut album, “Forgotten Soil Of This Land”. The sextet joined the Reaper Entertainment family and released two more energetic full-length albums to critical acclaim, “Frostrealm” (2015) and “Land Of The Ending Time” (2018). The current lineup includes vocalist Tuomo Marttinen, guitarist Pasi Portaankorva, keyboardist Tommi Neitola, bassist Rauli Alaruikka, and drummer Rauli Juopperi.

 Suotana’s catalog contains a common thread: music and cover artwork are carefully interwoven to draw an impressive portrait of vast, deserted winter landscapes, whose gloomy atmosphere of oppressive loneliness runs like a heavy, dark band through the entire work.

Melodic-Death/Power-Metal from Finland

Gladenfold is a group of five, out of Turku, Finland, which first saw the light of day over a decade ago, in 2003. The group currently consists of Esko Itälä (Vocals and acoustic guitars), Matias Knuuttila (Guitars), Toke Fønskov Gerdts (Guitars), Lauri Itälä (Drums) and Paavali Pouttu (Keyboards). The band has been actively playing shows in Finland, opening for such household names as Bal-Sagoth, Battle Beast, Shade Empire and Crimfall.

Rooted in Melodic Death Metals aggression and energy, borrowing the grandeur of Power Metal and Symphonic Metal, Gladenfold creates an inherently Nordic-sounding blend of metal music, basing itself especially within the Finnish metal tradition (inspired by for example Norther, Children of Bodom and Ensiferum), with German Power Metal (such as Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray and Freedom Call) still heavily influencing the overall sound.

Gladenfold serves roaring drums, tight and agile rhythm guitars, soaring guitar and keyboard solos, ferocious growling mixed with multi-layered singing as the foundation, but incorporates skillfully crafted keyboards, elegant classical guitars, the majestic symphonic orchestra and choir for even grander sonic landscapes.

While the overall vision has remained the same, Gladenfold has been constantly evolving.

Early milestones include the Frozen Halls demo (2005), which was the entry to the Gladenfold universe, as well as the In Somno EP (2006), which showcased a more folk metal inspired sound and lastly the Time of Departure EP (2008), which really cemented the Gladenfold sound. The Tales from Worlds Afar EP (2011) took all of this to a new level, especially production-wise, but also in the incorporation of symphonic elements.

In 2014, Gladenfold released the well-received debut album, From Dusk to Eternity, which stands as a testament to all words previously attributed to the band. The album was of a grander scale than anything the band had created before, and was the first release to really include classical guitar and choir elements. The upcoming album, When Gods Descend, is a refinement of all these attributes, and exhibits an even more ambitious musical scale and production. The album encompasses everything from the softest ballad, through concise and crushing pieces, to longer epics that draw you in for the long haul.