Saasta never rests.
Barely a year after the release of their debut album, the Finnish band created by Leevi Kärsämä (vocals, Soulwound), Topias Jokipii (guitar, Chestcrush, Frigore, Helveteskval), Janne Hietanen (bass, Of Spite, Solamnia) and Jimi Lahtinen (drums) unveil Black | Death | Doom, their new EP, on Inverse Records.
Stygian Grey opens the EP with an oppressive dissonance, followed by a suffocating heaviness where the instruments trample us before giving way to the massive Black | Death | Doom, the eponymous composition, where screams finally join the slow mix. A few jerky passages give the track a touch of energy, leaving the wolves’ howls to add an ominous touch, before moving straight on to Sickness and its heavy approach. Heaviness also dominates the track and its darkness, leaving the few misty harmonics to offer more soothing elements before the band offers much more stirring vocal parts on Murhattu, spreading a hint of madness while keeping its thick haunting basis.
Black | Death | Doom chokes us for twelve minutes, letting Saasta unfurl thick heavy riffs under massive constant howls. Don’t pause while listening, and let the sound continuity do its work.
80/100