TULIKASTE

Clearly I'm not as enthusiastic about this Finnish debut long player album as Eetu is (he's seen the band on stage too, and that always helps), but they surely deserve multiple reviews, and so here's [sadly no more than] the second one. Categorized as Prog Metal here, TULITERÄ is to an equal degree a Space Rock band, all instrumental by the way. They really combine the two genres seamlessly like it was the most natural thing to do. Now, it's good to remember that I'm not much into Metal myself, but I try to do justice to this extremely powerful, energetic and well produced music.

The composing and arranging credits go to multi-intrumentalist Vesa Partti (guitars, synths, programming, additional bass). Gladly he didn't choose to act as basically a "one-man band" recording artist like several of his countrymen (e.g. TIME TRAVELLER, RIKK ECCENT, LOW BUDGET ORCHESTRA,...); instead he has formed a six-man band capable of full-blown sound and live performance. The other five guys handle guitar, bass, drums, synths and sitar respectively (nearly each of them with some additional participations mainly on synths). Technically speaking, everything is approaching perfection.

The music bursts with power. The metallic electric guitar walls, the multi-layered synths and the hectic rhythm section all serve the singular purpose of hypnotic Metal Space Rock - to blow your mind out, as the clichéd phrase goes. Obviously a listener less keen on Metal will begin to miss some more ethereal spaceyness. Of course there are occasional moments where the Metal wall of sound is not built up to the last brick, for example the opening track 'Percolator' proceeds many electronic-oriented minutes before the Metal element really enters at all. Some tracks are cast in shiny Metal right from the start, while some begin without Metal guitar and machinegun-like drumming that usually enter rather quickly anyway. To my taste however, non-Metallic approach is far too limited on the coure of this hour long album.

In other words, what Partti and his group should improve is composing, and giving more room to sonic/dynamic variation. In the end all nine tracks are quite alike. The Space Rock element is there constantly, but very seldom without the Metal element. If you happen to dig both genres, you definitely should try this band. I personally rather listen to HIDRIA SPACEFOLK, TAIPUVA LUOTISUORA, DEEP SPACE CONSTRUCTORS, DASPUTNIK and other acts of Finnish Space Rock. 3½ stars rounded up for the perfectly fitting design.