Karu has sharpened its riffs.
For this second album entitled Perdition, Niko Hienonen (vocals, ex-Celesti Alliance), Kalle Pöyskö (guitar/vocals, Celesti Alliance), and Toni Tieaho (guitar, Crystalic, Existence Depraved) have signed with Rockshots Records.
The adventure begins with Shores Of Mist And Blood, a long introduction with initially quite gentle flavors that darken and become warlike thanks to oriental percussion, leading into the epic Shadow War, where Death Metal roots meet majestic orchestrations for an as devastating as natural alliance. Roars perfectly complement the aggressive approach of the musicians, who don’t hesitate to pause a few times to punctuate their assault, even daring to use whispers and soaring melodies as well as clean vocals before charging again and placing piercing leads. The length of the track allows for great variety within the same riffs, as on Alone In The Forest, which starts with disturbing touches before transforming into a heavy, majestic, and haunting rhythm, but which becomes a little more jerky at times to assert its power. The alternation between screams and clean vocals is perfectly managed, allowing this unifying track to reveal its full force in waves, some of which are truly intense. The musicians then offer us a moment of respite with Embers In The Sky, where Asian sounds are developed, allowing us to join Trail of Fire, which picks up the pace and brings back saturation and violence. The track is already quite aggressive, but it moves up a notch when the saturated vocals are added to the wave that doesn’t slow down in the first part, but allows itself a moment of hesitation thanks to samples. However, the band quickly returns to hammer us with a massive finale before calming down for a moment and moving on to the heavy Path Of The Unforgiven. Once again, the tones of the land of the rising sun are present in the instrumental, but the track is quite short, giving way to Perdition, the gargantuan eponymous track lasting over twelve minutes, where riffs and vocals come together one last time, shifting from fury to a saving calm, but also featuring piercing solos that accentuate the epic side before a short speech in Japanese, followed by a very soft and long outro.
Karu is a truly impressive project. Their previous album was only released last year, but the band has managed to create, record, and release Perdition, a new album of such richness, which commands respect and treats us to a 45-minute epic!
90/100
