Review by Felix on June 27, 2024.

Artistic freedom is a fine thing, as is personal development. But the same applies to integrity and reliability. The mastermind behind Korpituli has entered this field of tension. This wasn't a good idea. “Pohjola” is not only the third full-length of the band; it also presents the third musical approach. Previously, the project stumbled with some Burzum vibes into the scene and afterwards the name Emperor was at the top of the agenda. Now the new direction of Korpituli features a lot of folkloric elements and this approach is simply annoying. Multi-voiced Viking vocals and sing-along lines meet mediocre harmonies while the one man army falls victim to its own fickleness. Speedy sections only occur sporadically and black metal is obviously no longer in the portfolio of the one man project. In this respect, you shouldn't be fooled by the cover, which incidentally looks pretty stupid. Or is it particularly heroic to slay an unarmed opponent with an axe?

The new approach of Korpituli asks for a lot of keyboards, narrative vocals and a crude form of melodies that intend to sound very Scandinavian and archaic. At the end, we are attacked by songs like “Pohjan akka”, a song with a few acceptable sections and almost unbearable “melodic” parts as well. The fact that Mister Korpituli tries to sing in a more usual way becomes an own goal, because he is no natural born vocalist. He intends to give the vocals a heroic note, but everything sounds almost amateurish and not authentic. His vocals, the permanent presence of the keyboards and the general milder approach are the biggest problems I have with “Pohjola”. As I said at the beginning of the review, everybody has the right to do what they want, but I have the right not to follow.

Probably the intention behind “Pohjola” was to create an album with a full, masculine sound. But the prominent position of the keyboards and the voluminous yet shitty Pagan vocals kill the album. One can speak of a good sound with respect to the equally harmless musical content, because it does not hurt anybody, it can call itself professional and the single components are more or less well balanced. But who cares in view of this musical disaster which gets more and more evident the longer the album lasts. “Saunavihdat”, for example, delivers nothing but uninspired harmonies that drag on and on before an alibi speed part brings the song to an end (much too late). The dwarfish staccato of the chorus line at the beginning of “Yksi kaksi kolme neljä” makes absolutely no sense. A melody like a hiccup. It takes away any desire to listen to the song to the end. I did it anyway. It wasn't worth it. Okay, maybe this is a love it or hate it album, but honestly speaking I don’t think that these 45 minutes have the power to polarize. “Pohjola” is simply a waste of time for black metal fans. The Pagan metal community can lend an ear, but even they should not have high expectations. And who knows, the fourth album of Korpituli will probably feature techno thrash. Or melo death. Or horror punk...

Rating: 1.4 out of 10

Review by Felix on January 4, 2021.

'Copenhagen Burning' is the name of the opener of Demolizer's debut and to be honest I thought its lyrics deal with a historical event, the fires of 1728 or 1795 for example. Or the Danes take as their theme the completely unjustified bombardment by the English in 1807, which also ended in a major fire. But no, the text remains vague and anti-religious. What a pity, a missed opportunity. Unfortunately, this is not the only wasted chance. Missing opportunities are rather symptomatic for Thrashmageddon.

It's always easy to praise an album to the skies - or to rip it apart verbally. Thrashmageddon is neither suitable for one nor the other. The quartet doesn't do anything seriously wrong, but can't inspire with great song ideas either. Thrash metal with minor borrowings from hardcore, somewhere between Fusion Bomb from Luxembourg and Toxic Shock from Belgium, can inject a very invigorating dose of music. In fact, Demolizer is not lacking in energy and joy of playing either. Only, too little sticks. 'Bloodshot Eyes', for instance, has a good start with scratchy guitars, a fine riff, restrained drum rolls and cool double bass drums. But after about a minute there is a break and the atmosphere of the song is partly lost. Not a bad title, especially as the motif from the beginning returns - I just think the guys could have got more out of the basic structure.

Apart from such fundamentally strong songs, I am listening to a somewhat crude mixture of, for example, a punky, relatively pointless one-minute grenade, a thrash semi-ballad ('Until the Day I Die') and a piece called 'Lost in Torment' whose eerie beginning was cut out of some Testament piece and slightly altered. Debutants of course have the right not to be completely stuck stylistically. In this respect, a stumbling through the various niches of the thrash metal hall of fame is forgivable. Nevertheless, a somewhat diffuse picture emerges in the end. However, the production is not to blame for this. This first business card from Demolizer sounds loud, direct, clear and sharp. The aggressive vocals and the noise level of the instruments balance each other out. Working together, they roll out the red carpet for a fine headbanging air guitar session, but unfortunately the cracking compositions are lacking for this. To illustrate it again with 'Copenhagen Burning': its intro sets the stage excellently, but instead of an all-destroying blow, a very solid track follows, hectic solo included - nothing less, but also nothing more.

I like listening to thrash too much to give ambitious, carefree and energetic up-and-coming artists a bad review. My advice (which of course nobody really needs) would be to put a few catchy choruses on the next album. The true classics had choruses like "Time to run or fight off the strike of the beast" or middle parts like "watch as flowers decay - on a cryptic life that died" which immediately captured the ear. If Demolizer manages to add one or two earworm parts to their next songs, nothing will stand in the way of a successful future. At the moment they haven't taken that chance yet.

Rating: 6.8 out of 10