Havukruunu - Tavastland

Havukruunu is a Finnish black metal band that formed in 2005.  Their latest album, “Tavastland,” is their fourth full-length album; they have also released four demos and three EPs.

This is an utterly engrossing album with so many great things going for it.  The cold, blackened feel that makes the genre so good in the first place is present.  Raging drums, razor-sharp guitars, and abrasive vocals round the elements that would already make this album a solid experience, even if these were the only things it offered. 

However, “Tavastland,” is an album of dynamics that runs through a myriad approach of sounds all the while remaining ridiculously cohesive and focused.  Traditional metal, folk, melodic, and maybe even some power metal because fuck it why not are melded into its atmosphere.

Most importantly, this entire album is highly memorable.  When the band fires on all cylinders, I often found myself humming along to the music and that’s not something that usually happens to me with black metal.  Every song has a big catchy hook and many infectious passages; in many ways, each song is a journey unto itself but it remains part of a large whole, like any album with great flow should.

“Kuolematon laulunhenki,” opens up this beast of an album. After a brief intro of spoken word and ambient noises, the guitars launch some of the most catchy music I’ve heard in black metal.  Within seconds, my entire body was thrashing around in my chair.  Oh and the bass?  Absolutely SLAPS.  I’m always ready to enjoy bass in black metal so I’m glad it shines through the mix. It’s fast, furious, and the blackened screams/growl push the must ever forward as it subtlety changes gears into a sort jaunty type jig that wouldn’t sound out of place on a folk metal album. 

“Havukruunu ja talvenvarjo,” is urgent, speedy drums and bass bursting forth while the guitars provide an undercurrent of sweeping, fast-paced atmospheric melodies.   The cadence of the lyrics being spat out gripped me pretty tight while being pulled downward by the current of the music.  The first half is all fire and brimstone but the later half introduces acoustics and more passage that just buried themselves into my head.

The title track blistering and the bass makes it all worthwhile, as it rides over and through the riffs.  Around the 1:50 mark, the song settles into a stellar groove with some rather brutal death growls before cascading into a sweeping passage of epic melodies.  It’s moments like this that display the band at their true power.   I love the clean chorus of vocals—-very folky, almost like sea shanty in a way. 

The final song, “De Miseriis Fennorum,” is the epic of the album, nearly 11 minutes long.  The vocals are particularly engaging, a strong cadence to them but also venomous with a lot of power.  The music is more on the traditional metal side but also throws in plenty of blackened riffs as well.  The guitar solo does a great job in moving the song from moment to moment and I especially like the passage around the halfway mark with the fast, tight rhythms. 

“Tavastland,” is a sprawling, adventurous black metal album that colors outside the lines yet remains faithful to the monochrome world of black metal.  I cannot recommend this album enough.  

Rating: Excellent