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Ajattara - Itse review



Reviewer:
8.5

55 users:
8.05
Band: Ajattara
Album: Itse
Release date: March 2001


01. Yhdeksäs
02. Verivalta
03. Musta Aurinko
04. Kuolevan Rukous
05. Ägräs
06. Murhamiesi
07. Tulessa
08. Manan Lapset
09. Rajan Takaa
10. Vihan Musta Tanssi

Who could be so ignorant as to hear that Pasi Koskinen has another new side project and not go after it? Well not me. Every time I hear that name my hair stands on end. First thinking of all his fantastic work with Amorphis, the amazing band Shape of Despair, and now this!

Ajattara can be categorised as mid-tempo black metal, also known as "Dark Metal", and do they sound dark or what? Just imagine yourself coming home from work where you've been forced to listen to all that radio crap music and then put on Itse, Ajattara's debut album. I'll tell you how it makes you feel; it makes you want to tear the shit out of yourself and everyone around you. This album is pure evil and would probably make Satan shit his pants, and the Finnish lyrics are just another addition to the dark, evil sound of the band.

The album starts with the opening track Yhdeksäs, which slowly takes us into a valley of darkness, and as we desperately look around us we start hearing some powerful guitar riffs (by Pasi Koskinen himself) and before we know it the drums and the sound of Satan himself start. After something like 5 minutes when we have finally got used to the atmosphere and the darkness of this album, the second song Verivalta starts with a fast and heavy tempo as if to say that we haven't heard anything yet. The rest of the album follows in pretty much the same tempo but with good variation which serves to not take away the fear. Some other songs like Ägräs or Tulessa start with synths played by Pasi Koskinen (who is also known as Ruoja in this band). Finally, after more than half an hour when we are more than certain that there is no way we can escape this hell and we are doomed forever, we reach the final track of the album: Vihan Musta Tanssi, now as the growls, drums, and all the guitar riffs fade away in this track it gives us a feeling like we are surrounded by some kind of fog that slowly washes all the evil away and puts an end to the album and our suffering.

Pasi Koskinen has done it again, this side-project is truly amazing and although this is only mid-tempo and slow black metal it is, in my opinion, way more evil, dark and heavy than many of the so-called "true" black metal bands nowadays. Itse is an album that should be in any extreme metal freak's collection.

Keywords: Suicidal grunts, powerful guitar riffs and heavy drums.

Written by Azhidahak | 19.11.2004




Comments

Comments: 1   Visited by: 12 users
15.08.2011 - 06:19
Rating: 9
Jason W.
Razorbliss
Excellent album, great review on it as well.
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"After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." - Aldous Huxley
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