Aikaintaite is a pretty interesting album from the Finnish duo of Aslak Tolonen and Andy Koski-Semmens, otherwise known as Syven. Interesting in the fact that you really can't find a great or effective way to describe the music that these two have come up with here. Part folk, part ambient, part darkwave, part pagan metal....throw in some world music & new age influences as well and you have a strange but somehow satisfying brew of musical ideas here. You really can't classify this as metal at all, despite a few spots here and there where the doomy riffs come into play, and it's a largely instrumental collection of soundscapes save for the odd chanting and choirs here and there.
So what exactly is so enjoyable about Aikaintaite anyway? Well, for one, if you like the more pastoral nature of some of the Finnish atmospheric black metal, you get a bit of that here, so look for a wide assortment of nature sounds as well as folk instruments like acoustic guitar, the Finnish kantele, and flute. There are only 5 songs on the album, and each are pretty lengthy allowing for extended soundscapes that either contain sparse but gorgeous instrumentation, pastoral folk meandering, ominous vocal sections, or crushing riffs. It's one of those CDs that at first you'll think is best utilized as background noise, but after a few spins you really begin to realize that there's some cool ideas going on here.
Kind of hard to break this down on a track by track basis, as the songs almost all flow into each other so it really needs to be taken as a whole. Aikaintaite is certainly not going to be for everyone, but if you have an adventurous ear Syven and their strange take on organic sounding Finnish dark folk and metal might just suit you.
Track Listing
1. Syvyys
2. Jäljet
3. Ne Jotka Selviävät Talvestamme
4. Jäänkätkemä
5. Tuulenvire
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