The Mist from the Mountains 🇫🇮 Monumental – The Temple of Twilight

Band: The Mist from the Mountains
Title: Monumental – The Temple of Twilight
Label: Primitive Reaction
Release date: 28 January 2022
Country: Finland
Format reviewed: High-quality Digital Recording

It’s been a while since I didn’t turn my gaze towards Finland looking for new Metal; and the first time I listened to the song available on Bandcamp by The Mist From The Mountains, I knew I had to listen to more. So I looked for the promo and, BAM! it left me speechless… as Finns usually do with me, no matter the band, no matter the genre. There’s always great Metal coming from that country.

Let me introduce you the band members:
Tuomas Karhumäki – vocals (he is also the owner of Primitive Reaction, the label releasing their album)
Kim Strömsholm – vocals
Henri Villberg – bass, keyboards and vocals
Sami Järvinen – drums
Tuukka Ahonen – guitars

Well… “Monumental – The Temple of Twilight” is a 6-track album of Melodic Black Metal with that undeniable Nordic style that you can notice in the cold melodies and the way these guys manage to bring you to the frozen and dark Finnish landscapes. Yes, by listening to this album you feel like being there… oh, listen to “Master of Wilderness” and tell me you don’t FEEL that! This song has so many influences in it and at the same time sounds so unique… The furious start is pure aggression, with a fantastic Black Metal riff piercing your ears with some evil keys in the background, ultra blasting drums and more than one vocalist doing excellent work; it continues like this until more or less half the track, where there’s a slower section as if everything froze and you feel the cold penetrate your entire body; clean vocals for a short moment and then, again… all explodes and annihilates your senses until the end.

This fantastic journey through frozen Finnish landscapes begins with “Empyrean Fields”, a six and a half minute track that starts in a very calmed and atmospheric way but oh… this is only the prelude for the massive sonic ball that will engulf you later. That subtle synth line in the background, it gives the perfect point to what riffs and guitar melodies and blasting drums are doing. Vocals are harsh, pure aggression, as you expect to sound in a band of this genre. Great way to start!

Not all in this album is a constant fast attack to your ears; there are some calm sections, as in “With the Sun and the Skies and the Birds Above”: it starts with an acoustic guitar and a thunder just before all the instruments enter in a crushing way; there are blast beats, tremolo riffs, growls… then, the thunder and the acoustic guitar strikes again in the middle of the track, and this part is simply delightful, soft, evoking some kind of an eerie presence maybe… and adding keyboards make it even fanciful, leading you to the electric and blasting stuff again.

I love the combination these guys make between Melodic Black Metal with acoustic passages; when we hear the keyboards in the background they are adding some “mystery”, resulting in something truly melancholic; this is a very good use of synths in my opinion!

We must wait until January 28th for this album to be released, and believe me: a bit of patience will be totally worth it. I give this album 9/10 Sílvia

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9/10 Epic Storm
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