Kalmankantaja - Waiennut (Waeltaja II) DIGI-CD

Although the name was very familiar to me, Kalmakantaja from Finland was the sort of band that I never paid much attention to. But when I randomly came across a track from the ‘Waiennut’ album, its music immediately caught my interest, and I decided to review at least that album. Little did I know that the band have a relentless work ethic, and the band produces recordings at a steady pace. In a trilogy of reviews of the 2022 full-length albums, ‘Waiennut’ is the most recent release, released in October.

On this album, the brain behind Kalmankantaja, Grim666, is joined by session vocalist S. Korpituli who also provided vocals for the 2021 album ‘Waeltaja’. Compared to the previous albums ‘Metsäuhri’ and the re-recorded ‘Ahdistus’ album, the production on the latest record is quite different. Especially compared to ‘Metsäuhri’ it seems the sound has been inverted: from an album with a clearer guitar sound and melody-driven approach with distorted vocals, to the raw, straightforward and more atmosphere-oriented sound of ‘Waiennut’. In that sense, the most recent album has more of a Burzum-esque vibe than the band has had on more recent albums. Long-spun tracks with a fairly repetitive structure, haunting minimal keyboards and raspy croaking vocals alternating with clean vocals create a somewhat epic and entrancing landscape, in which the long tracks excellently flow into a whole. Compared to ‘Metsäuhri’ there is a considerably more pace in the album as well, making it more closely to the 2021 album ‘Waeltaja’ in pretty much every possible way.

At first it was a bit daunting to review such an extensive discography, but in this case that was unfounded. And that is because, despite the admirable number of albums the band releases in a year, changes from one album to another make them sound familiar yet different enough to keep every new recording interesting. ‘Waiennut’ certainly has a different sound than the other albums released in 2022, with a much rawer approach to Kalmankantaja’s atmospheric Black Metal. I personally like this rawer and more icy sound a little bit better, but I think one of the key qualities of Kalmankantja is being able to pull off different sounds, making the listener excited to hear what’s coming next from the band. by thewhisperingdarkness(dot)com


1. Alkusanat 02:26  
2. Kuoleman enteitä 08:20  
3. Rantaan rajattomuuden 10:16  
4. Nimi kantaa sielua 11:27  
5. Lopun sanat 07:57  
playing time 40:26