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Mother Susurrus: Maahaavaa

Hailing from The Land of the Thousand Lakes, the Tampere-based experimental act Mother Susurrus present to you their five-track opus Maahaavaa. And, let it be known right from the get go: this is not music for everyone. Chances are that mainstream pop fans will run away like fleas from a dog in the shower, as their heads are likely not to be able to process this kind of music. So, if you are a mainstream pop fan, don't bother reading on.

But, given that this is Sea of Tranquility, it is more likely that you are indeed not a braindead mainstream pop fan, but that you are a free-thinking individual with an actual interest in deviant non-mainstream music. And this is exactly how Maahaavaa could be described. The five tracks are darkly psychedelic, combining extremely heavy sludgy figures, played on muddy guitars, with an introspect psychedelia which is outright fear-inducing at times, but also have a trance-inspiring feel to them. The five tracks take the listener through a meandering maze of layers, textures and moods – most of which retain the dark and introspective feel. Operating mainly with sludgy and, at times more doom metal-oriented, figures, Mother Susurrus also draw inspiration from drone music, which is not only reflected in the considerable length and lumbering pace of the five tracks, but also in a couple of soundscaping passages. The Finns also draw on traditional singing styles from their native country, as heard in "Anagnorisis".

This album is definitely worth given a listen or ten, if you prefer your music sludgy and challenging. Fans of doom metal, sludge metal, drone metal and post-metal are bound to enjoy the abyssmal darkness that oozes from Maahaavaa.


Tracklist
1. Superposition
2. Scopolamine
3. Anagnorisis
4. Ylösnousemus
5. Uniemä

Added: August 17th 2013
Reviewer: Kim Jensen
Score:
Related Link: Mother Susurrus @ Facebook
Hits: 2176
Language: english

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» SoT Staff Roundtable Reviews:

Mother Susurrus: Maahaavaa
Posted by Steven Reid, SoT Staff Writer on 2013-08-16 19:37:16
My Score:

I'm not sure what it is that drives those people near the Arctic Circle to such individualistic extremes, but alongside the likes of Iceland's Solstafir come Finnish noise grinders Mother Sususrrus, a band capable of fusing together sludge, stoner, doom and drone to come up with something which fails to sound exactly like any one of those genres. What it is though is immense, with an analogue recording set-up resulting in a CD which when played at volume begins to not only make complete sense, but almost melt away the walls that surround you, leaving your mind at one with the cold, stark surrounds of this band's homeland. The guitar wails are huge and jarring, yet underneath the swathes of sloth like riffage a keen sense of melody takes the focus, allowing Mother Susurrus to appeal to those who (like myself) find drone to be like staring boredom in the face, while vocally the controlled wildman approach simply heightens the uncompromising intensity of what this band so expertly lay down. Cleverly the tempo varies not only from song to song, but within each individual track as well, again raising the interest levels for those who would usually have disengaged by now, with "Scopolmine" proving especially captivating in that sense.

As you may expect from such a style as displayed on Maahaavaa, the songs verge into long drawn out territory, but don't expect one or two simple ideas regurgitated ad infinitum, with Mother Susurrus instead keen to show a breadth of ideas which are slowly yet consistently allowed to reveal themselves as the songs grow in your mind. "Agannorisis" adds a spacey unease, sounding like an inner cry of pain played out over five minutes of guitar and bass howls, vocals cries and thunderous beats, while "Ylosnousemus" brings a chanted drone of focus back to proceedings. That leaves "Uniema" to plummet into a more extreme metal pit of despair with the clawing air and harsh vocals crushing through the weight of hopelessness, while somehow always revealing a releasing chink of light at the end of the tunnel to aim for. However while all four of these tracks are thoroughly engrossing and involving, it is the opening outpouring of "Superposition" which best illustrates the sheer diversity of extremities worked through on this album, with grinding guitars always playing off against a strum of melody and hopeful vocals, before a doom laden riff infuses the mood tenfold with gripping purpose.

Maahaavaa may well be too intense for some, while possibly not extreme enough for others, but for those who want their doom/drone/stoner to offer light and hope, what Mother Susurrus possess in abundance is sure to delight.



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