Throughout my first listen to Kuolemanlaakso's second album Tulijoutsen I kept thinking to myself "This guitarist plays a helluva lot like Tom G Warrior", and it was only when it came time to do my homework on the band that it became apparent that this was no coincidence. Kuolemanlaakso, originally the solo project of Chaosweaver mastermind Markus Laakso, was formed as an outlet for Laakso to indulge his desire to play doomier material in the vein of Triptykon's Eparistera Daimones, and both their debut and Tulijoutsen were produced by Warrior's co-guitarist in said band, V Santura. It was inevitable that Warrior's shadow would loom large on this record, but seeing as it's, well, Tom G fucking Warrior, that's no bad thing.
Opening track 'Aarnivalkea' begins with a monster of a riff, soon joined by Swallow The Sun's Mikko Kotamäki's soulfully sung vocals. His range here is impressive, going from clean singing to harsh growls you'll scarcely believe come from the same throat, and always perfectly suited to the tone of the music. It's here that guitarists Laakso and Kouta's Warrior-worship is most apparent, their wonderfully bendy, chewy riffs so obvious in inspiration that they almost reach the point of pastiche.
Following track 'Verihaaksi' is a more straightforward doom track, but as Sabbath themselves once said of their inspiration "People pay money to get scared, why don't we start writing scary music?"; and on this track Kuolemanlaakso succeed at doing just that. There are some genuinely eerie moments of chiming churchbell guitars married to Kotamäki's serpentine hiss, which will send shivers up the spine of even the most frostbitten metal fan. Many bands fall foul of the use of keyboards, as in the wrong hands they can sound outdated and cheesy, but here they weave seamlessly through the crushing tone of the riffs.
'Me Vaellamme Yössä' loses my interest a bit, seeing as the overly simplistic opening riff seems to go on forever, without much variety save for subtle keyboards in the background. By the time they get around to the song proper, I'm already reaching for the skip track button. The vocal delivery veers dangerously close to nu-metal of all things, and that repetitive rhythm just never lets up. Thankfully they redeem themselves with 'Arpeni', another Triptykon-esque trudge with a tremendous strings-bent-to-breaking point riff.
The remainder of the album is extremely solid, with 'Musta' leaning more towards the death metal end of the death-doom spectrum, while 'Glastonburyn Lehto' has a jarringly funky bizarro-folk rhythm and haunting female vocals that harmonise beautifully with Kotamäki's baritone mutterings. It's so out of place in the context of the rest of the album, but is just as expertly played.
Penultimate song 'Tuonen Tähtivyö' doesn't deviate too much from the the same formula as the majority of the album, alternating between cleanly sung passages and repulsive rasps, whilst also featuring the sort of keyboards that has the teenage HIM fan in me grinning like a fool.
'Raadot Raunioilla' closes proceedings with a satisfyingly chunky riff and vocal melodies that hark back to the first track, giving the album an ouroboric structure. Which is handy if you feel like listening to the whole thing all over again immediately, and given how solid an album Kuolemanlaakso have produced here, that's entirely feasible.
Tulijoutsen (Finnish for 'The Fire Swan') is a grandiose, sweeping record, chock full of the type of melancholic melodies that the Finns seem to do so well across 8 tracks of devastating doom. For those who like their metal on the miserable side, this will be an essential listen.
