Three years since their last album and a couple member changes to boot, however it would appear that drummer Tuomo Latvala recorded his tracks before departing, since which Atte Pesonen took his spot behind the kit, while bassist Erkki Silvennoinen has been replaced by Mikko Kivistö, and also gone is long time guitarist Olli Lappalainen leaving the Finns as a quintet. ‘Origin’ is their ninth album in a career spanning twenty-five years where Markus Vanhala has been there all the way, picking up Jukka Pelkonen and Aapo Koivisto fifteen and sixteen years ago.
The album opens with “Emergence”, a short instrumental that builds slowly, introducing each instrument in turn in a rather prog manner before spilling over into “Prime” where their melo-death roots come in too, but it still feels that the very melodic leads and keyboard are the focal points, and rightly so as they hold the song together while the furious drumming and growls try rip it apart.
Slightly heavier but still just as melodic is “Paragon”, where the keyboards have a space opera feel to them, while the drums and bass rumble on behind Jukka’s growls before Markus and Mikko add their clean vocals to the chorus lifting the song and giving it a rather allegro feel.
The slow second guitar melody on “Reckoning” is used really well as it matches the vocal harmonies but emphasises the heavier riff which the song revolves around.
“Fortitude” rolls in like a crashing wave with Mikko’s bass accenting the drums before Markus’s guitars wash over everything with their chunky riffs and melody as Aapo’s keyboards fill out the sound allowing Jukka’s growls to give the song a slightly angrier edge that the slow refrains temper beautifully, in much the same way the choral clean vocals do.
Easily the heaviest and fastest song on the album, “Friction” rumbles on but still manages have a laid-back feel to it when the chorus comes in letting us know that this music isn’t arduous work and is definitely meant to be enjoyed by all those listening to it, which I certainly am.
While still fast, “Tempest” has a far more open structure to the song and therefore appears more melodic than heavy with the way the higher guitars catch your ear over the galloping drums, even the slow lead is more prog than death metal.
Heading towards doom-death territory, but again having too much of a happy tone to be very doomy, “Unity” has long drawn-out growls over slow heavy riffs and airy melody guitar harmonies.
They end the album with “Solemn” where the nearly 9-minute track takes on a long meandering journey through multiple layers and movements ranging from atmospheric keyboards to thrashy guitar riffs over manically beaten drums, then back to slower almost clean picking all the while the vocals contain a held back fury the instrumental melodies appear to hold in check.
While the album does contain far more harmonies and mellow refrains, it is all worked around the heavier core of the music and vocals making the album really easy to listen to while still being far heavier than plenty of music out there.
(8/10 Marco Gaminara)
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