Band: HIIDENHAUTA
Country: Finland
Title: Riivin
Label: Inverse Records
Year: 2020
Style: Melodic Black Metal

Review:
Finnish language is really difficult language ... But it sounds really nice in a blackmetal edition, heh ... Finnish Hiidendauta very successfully breaks the typical, “painful” black metal oozing with its own language and a large dose of folk female chants (tracks "Riidenlieko",  "Raate" and in the following pieces). The wall of sounds harmonizes with the pleasant timbre of Emma Keskimäki's voice and the rage spewed out of Tuomas Keskimäki's vocal cords. Black metal rawness is also broken here by symphonic and slightly psychedelic climates ("Lettorikko", "Petäjä" and the ending track "Harmio"), depressive and neofolk ("Leväkkö"), folk-gothic ("Halava", "Yövilkka") and even progressive ("Ahonoidanlukko"). Basically, the album "Riivin"  does not a “Discovery of America” so much in black metal genre, but it is certainly an interesting musical match between Darkthrone, Slayer, Sear Bliss and Lacrimosa sung (and shouted out) in Finnish. And this definitely distinguishes the Hiidenhauta formations from their Finntroll or Amorphis mates. It is simply melodic black metal, which is close to nature and folklore in the textual layer - I recommend playing with translating titles and texts on your own, understanding them opens your head more to the sounds of "Riivin".
Reviewed by Vilcin
Rating: 7/10

Contact:
facebook.com/Hiidenhauta