Planeetta 9 - Pirun Piiska (2021)
Following up on their single by the same name from earlier this year, the Finnish sextet of Planeetta 9 bring a concept EP to life across four tracks. Blending doom metal, rock, and folk music, the group delivers an undeniably distinctive style, and shows how deep the well of ideas they drew from in concocting these songs is.
The title track is the first of the four, working some tight-knit grooves with twisting rhythmic arrangements, earthy vocals, and a rich diversity to the instrumentation. The breakdowns are inventive with their heaviness, the switch-ups in band-member focus feel like natural flows to the song, and the escalating intensity is handled to very nice effect. A bit of guitar soloing, paired with deep-beat drums, gives the unpredictable path of the song a helpful anchor, and an extra hook to fix it in memory. Track two, “Sama hauta”, opens with a more traditional doom metal riff, bringing Saint Vitus, Candlemass, or Below to mind with the dramatically-delivered vocals alongside the melancholy string tones. The band hits a fine line between weight and melody in the mood, with the nimble handling of shifts and augmentations casting them in excellent light.
“Juoksuhiekka”, the third in the run, brings the somber tones used in the preceding songs to fuller life, employing bowed instruments and piano, along with a hushed vocal presence, to thoroughly evoke a regretful ache. Easily the most withdrawn of the EP's songs, it encourages a bit of introspection before “Vakuumilapset” leaps the energy back up. Returning the electric guitars and cymbals to the fore, this closing piece finds the band luxuriating in winding chord progressions, rich tones, and plenty of reverb. A frenzied crescendo ridden right into another one lets the band exit the EP with flying colors. Each of the songs has so much going on, and with such fine technique, that despite the four-song length, this is one that can easily be relistened to time and time again while still finding new details.
~ Gabriel
For Fans Of; Crown Larks, Hukkunud Hinged, Monolith Grows!, Odradek Room, Stonerror
Planeetta 9 - Sama hauta (320 kbps)
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