“Wolfheart” Tyhjyys 2017 CD-REVIEW by Nabil Hossam
Tuomas Saukkonen, the Finnish melodic death metal genius and one of the most talented musicians out there and the mastermind of many bands including, Before the Dawn, Dawn of Solace, Black Sun Aeon and recently Wolfheart, has come along with his band with a new Wolfheart album on the year 2017.
After he declared shutting down all his project and starting his current project, Wolfheart, many opinions differed if he will still keep his solid melodic death/doom metal form, will he turn into a commercial band or they call it “a sell-out”, or his career has come to an end?
Personally I have very high expectations for anything that is released by this man, he just knows what he is doing, and he never failed his audience. Wolfheart was a great proof that no matter what this man will keep introducing great music.
After the two successful releases, Winterborn on 2013 and Shadow World on 2015, he and his band members have come with another masterpiece, Tyhjyys.
Tyhjyys is the third album, and if you are following the band’s releases you will notice that their debut has many mellow tracks. Shadow World was heavier and it was just a pure melodic death metal album. Tyhjyys is a combination between both, mostly towards the heavy side.
Before we start let’s mention the bands’ members, Tuomas Saukkonen, the mastermind and he plays all instruments in addition to the vocals, Lauri Silvonen is the bassist, Mika Lammassaari is the guitarist and Joonas Kauppinen for the drums. In addition to Tuomas, the band’s members are really talented and they contributed into making that masterpiece, Tyhjyys.
Tyhjyys means emptiness, and this is suitable to the album’s gloomy atmosphere. In addition to the melodic death metal construction it has this doom-ish influence in many of its track. So let’s talk about the album:
It contains 8 tracks, first track is a mellow intro. Hearing a beautiful mellow intro is something very common in Tuomas Saukkonen works, sometimes it’s an outro like “Avalanche” in Dawn of Solace first and only album, The Darkness. Followed by “The Flood” which was the first track that they released and it gave a great impression and made the album look promising, it actually is.
“The Flood” is a pure melodic death metal track and actually you rarely see melodic death metal on the scene nowadays that is not bland. The track is very good vocally, instrumentally and of course the lyrics are good as always. The riffs and the melodies were catchy and the fast beat drums were one of the strengths of the song. The whole track is one of the strengths of the album to be precise.
“World on Fire” is the third track, and it’s the third single to be released before the official release. Personally I consider the style of this song something new to hear from Tuomas Saukkonen. The start of the track seemed like Viking metal, the piano in the middle of it along with the heavy rifts and also the backing vocals were something not very common in his works. After all it was a strong track especially with the beautiful solo at the end.
So far, you are almost in the middle of the album and you can do nothing but to enjoy this masterpiece. But the best is yet to come, “The Flood”, which was the 2nd released single is track number four. And it’s one of my favorite tracks although it’s hard to pick one. The song starts slowly with a soothing intro before the heavy riffs and the harsh vocals take place. The doom-ish atmosphere is one of its merits and it actually takes you back to the past with its peaceful mellow parts. The backing vocals by Lauri Silvonen were so strong and they added a lot to this track. It’s just a perfect melodic death/doom metal track.
The 2nd half of this album starts with track no.5, “The Rift”. Another excellent track that reminds you of Before the Dawn, especially their Rise of the Phoenix album. An outstanding melodic death metal track that is followed by “Call of the Winter”, and it’s not the first time you see the word “Winter” into one of Tuomas Saukkonen track titles as his music is influenced by this season, mostly released during this season too. The tempo isn’t as fast as the tracks before but the atmosphere is a bit darker.
“Dead White” is track number seven, that starts with catchy and beautiful riffs that get your attention. Another track that I consider from the Before the Dawn era. The backing vocals attract your ears, again, and it’s actually a great thing to end this album’s sequence with. And yeah they sequence is ended because the last track which is called “Tyhjyys” after the album’s title is different than any other track. It’s a pure and solid doom/death metal track with the gloomiest atmosphere. Something you used to hear from Black Sun Aeon or Dawn of Solace. One of my personal favorite tracks, as it contained great melodies, great vocals by Tuomas (as always) and the atmosphere you always look forward to while listening to any project by Tuomas Saukkonen.
The album’s cover art is also eye-catching and suits the album’s atmosphere. I give the album an overall rating of 10/10.
Highlights: Boneyard, The Flood, The Rift and Tyhjyys.
Album track-list:
01. Shores Of The Lake Simpele
02. Boneyard
03. World On Fire
04. The Flood
05. The Rift
06. Call Of The Winter
07. Dead White
08. Tyhjyys
Nabil Hossam / MHF
