IV

I have found - this TAIPUVA LUOTISUORA's IV should be called as the psychedelic-heavy-symphonic style or the widely-ranged eclectic sound!

Always I feel Northern-European hard rock has grand activity. Oh well, it doesn't mean at all TAIPUVA LUOTISUORA should be a hard rock outfit...but wait, relax yourself and listen to the first track Kuuvuori, and you may find in their sounds are Finnish flavour of wood, cold as ice but warm as a Finn. Indeed the song has more 'heavily symphonic' elements than psychedelic / space rock ones, and I feel they should have some Scandinavian Metal essence like TNT, a Norwegian HM pioneer (exactly typical stuffs are the first above-mentioned and Kvasikonforminen Äyriäinen I do feel), but they should simultaneously have the Hawkwind-tinged spacey machinegun I'm sure. Namely, we can enjoy on their albums or stage, an amazingly eclectic chandelier with huge amount of starshines in the dark space - let me say we can palpitate with a bulky mixed psychecleavhony(!!!) on the last track Kurki alright? :-)

Furthermore, they cannot overdrive in their works at all - as if every player's body and mind be floating in the space or on the sea, he can relax over shooting his instrumental arrows. (Yup, a quiet and cool but dynamic rock tune like Muting Glow, or an acoustically and gracefully symphonic stream like Imiginally Blizzard be in...) Therefore we can realize their sounds and style are Hawkishly spacey.

Absolutely enthusiastic and metallically fruitful fireworks displayed in our inner 'space' should be in the repetitions with simple phrases - I wanna say BRAVO for TAIPUVA LUOTISUORA and their new terrific treasure from 'cold and warm' Finland.

What I found more interesting in this fourth work of studio of this Finnish band TAIPUVA LUOTISUORA' "IV", is that, in spite of presenting a space-prog, with influences of knowner bands, as for instance OZRIC TENTACLES, QUANTUM FANTAY & HIDRIA SPACEFOLK, his sound presents in certain moments a heavier approach with riffs than they remind RUSH, as in the track 1 "Kuuvuori" and track 4 "Ilman Rihlan Kiertämää" and another that denote a certain influence of the ecletic-prog "in the vein " of HAPPY THE MAN, as in the tracks 8 "Hopeful Sprout" and the track 9 " Kurki." This does with that the audition pleases a larger variety of listeners than the bands mentioned above. My rate is 3 stars!!!

This is one of those Space Rock albums that just "sounds" right to these ears. The synths are warm and melancholic and there's a nice contrast between heaviness and spaciness. A four piece out of Finland they have been compared mostly to QUANTUM FANTAY, OZRIC TENTACLES and HIDRIA SPACEFOLK and it's the latter, those fellow Finns that they remind me of the most. I have trouble with QUANTUM FANTAY and have two of their higher rated albums that are both 3 star records in my opinion. The wildcard in my opinion with this particular band is the keyboardist adding synths, piano and more but also woodwinds and a traditional Finnish instrument called a kantele which is like a zither, where you have strings to pluck, like a lap harp. But this guy brings in some interesting sounds and warmth. Guitar, bass and drums are all great as well.

What's also interesting about this record is the shorter tracks. The longest and best is the closer "Kurki" at almost 8 minutes but most are 5 minutes or under. This is almost refreshing after listening to many 20 and 30 minute jams let alone the 60 minute ones. Besides the closer I love the heaviness on the opener but some good contrasts as well with repeated themes which is a constant on this album. The second song has wordless vocal harmonies which sound great as they come and go. "Capricious Bonfire" is uplifting and bright but melancholic synths and more are contrasted with it. Tracks 4, 5 and 7 are all very good as well.

I've really enjoyed spinning this one all last week but also on and off over the previous months. My favourite from this band.