Year: 2025
Label: Inverse Records
Ah, the noughties. What a decade in Finnish metal that was. Both in the mainstream and in the underground, Finland truly and finally found its footing. It was a decade of unforeseen popularity and success. In the shadows of the names that made it big, either commercially or through underground influence, countless smaller names carved a niché for themselves. Or at least tried.
Newcomer Mourniaty remind me of that time very, very strongly. From their name, that almost means something to their visuals and music, everything about Mourniaty takes me back to the countless grassroots bands of the era.
And one in particular.
Mourniaty sing in both English and Finnish. What’s weird is that you can tell from the style of the song if it’s going to be in Finnish even before guitarist/vocalist Karulainen utters a word. There’s a very distinct style to the Finnish songs.
Essentially, they’re very closely modeled after finnish minor cult act Ajattara (of former Amorphis frontman Pasi Koskinen). All of the Finnish songs follow in Ajattara’s footsteps into mid-paced, melodic, black heavy metal. Everything from the riffs to the rhythm in the vocals, the structure of the lyrics, even down to Karulainen’s snarling voice approximates what Koskinen’s act did some 20-25 years ago.
I don’t really know what to make out of it. On one hand, it’s woefully derivative and void of originality. On the other… well, Mourniaty don’t do a bad job at it. A track like the title track (minus the extremely cheesy synth-sounding piano) or Kyynelten virta are just about the best Ajattara since… well, way before Ajattara called it a day!
The tracks in English sound quite different, almost like they could a different band. Only the production ties these tracks together, and the fact that Mourniaty stick to a very midtempo speed most of the time.
The tracks in English are a bit more hit-and-miss. Seventh Seal is a pretty nifty track, with some nice synths in it. On the other hand, All Your Lies, one of the fastest songs on the album, is rather trite.
Stylistically, the tracks in English lean both towards second-tier 90’s Scandinavian melodic black metal acts but also the atmospheric dark/gothic/doom/melodeath acts so abundant in the early noughties. I can’t really call into mind any precise names to drop right now, but if you were there, you know what I mean. Bands who were inherently melodic, had plenty of synths, and threw in some blastbeats and black metal style vocals into the mix. And probably never made it out of the demo stage.
Musta maa feels almost like two albums intertwined. There’s the Finnish Ajattara pastiche album, and the English mid-tempo gothic doom black metal album. Even though the sound ties them together, the divide is still clear. This, to some extent, weakens the whole the album tries to be.
And though they don’t do it badly, copying Ajattara this closely is certainly dubious. I mean, it’s less of an influence and more of a blueprint for Mourniaty!
Musta maa is not a bad album. It has some good moments. But, quite honestly, it’s not a genuinely good album either. I like the fact that they go for an unusually midtempo approach to their melodic black metal, but Musta maa still feels like it’d need to ripen a bit. The good songs just aren’t there.
On one hand derivative, on the other forgettable. I feel the seeds to a genuinely rewarding album are in Mourniaty’s sound… but this one falls a bit short.
Only Death Is Real 