Review Summary: Holy fantastic progressive metal album, Batman!
Stam1na is a Finnish Progressive Metal quartet whose music leans towards the thrashier side of the prog metal spectrum. They were picked up by Sakara records in 2004 after they'd made a total of 8 demos from 1997 to 2004 that generated a large amount of buzz in the Finnish metal community thanks to their tremendous musicianship and originality. Their self-titled debut in 2005 was released to critical acclaim and quite a bit of commercial success in Finland, debuting at number 13 on the official Finnish album chart. The album, comprised mainly of reworked versions of songs from their previous demos. A year later they released their second album, Uudet Kymmenen Käskyä, which is darker, more serious, more complex and simply better than their debut.
The album opener, which is also the title track, perfectly sets the tone for what's to come, singer Antti Hyyrynen sings in a choirlike way, "Herätä tai vaipua koomaan" ("To wake up or fall in a coma"), as he is accompanied by power chords being pounded away on the guitar. This is followed by a complex, thrashy guitar riff and screaming vocals. This describes the entire album really well as a whole, not because the entire album is repetitive, but rather because it is grandiose all the way through, especially for an album with a lot of thrash elements. No, there are no Nightwish style orchestral parts, or orchestral parts at all for that matter, but the band does a tremendous job of using nothing but the basic metal instruments (and just a hint of synthetisizers here and there) to create a very full sound. Despite the album's sound overall grandiose feel, it does include quite a few choruses that could be included into some pop songs, which partially explains the band's popularity in Finland. The album has lots of memorable moments throughout, but it really is the kind of album that will open up over time, if given the chance. After the hearing the songs once, there's very little apart from the choruses and a few riffs here and there that stand out, but over time the album comes together incredibly well.
Uudet Kymmenen Käskyä is not a concept album per se, although the album feels very much like a whole, most of the songs flow into one another seamlessly and some of the songs have similar musical themes. However, lyrically the songs have very little to do with one another, Viisi Laukausta Päähän (Five Shots to the Head) deals with terrorism, Likainen Parketti (Dirty Parquet) is a fairly straightforward love song, and so on. While the subjects of the lyrics can feel a bit disjointed, Antti Hyyrynen did a brilliant job this time, the lyrics feel really profound and beautiful, "Tämä on vapaa maa, vapaa maa, vapaan maailman raskain taakka, on vain yksi elämä" ("This is a free land, a free land, the free world's greatest burden, you only have one life")
Uudet Kymmenen Käskyä will likely be the album Stam1na will be remembered for, it succeeds in everything it does, there's not a single moment that feels out of place. The only flaw the album really has is its lack of musical variety, the songs can sound bit alike, but since the album only clocks in at 47:51, this doesn't lead to the album becoming a tedious listen, or feeling repetitive for that matter. It should also be noted that the album is entirely in Finnish, so non-Finnish people won't get much out of the great lyrics throughout the album, but the album should still prove to be an enjoyable listen to everyone who is at all a fan of thrash metal, progressive metal or metal in general.
Recommended Tracks:
Uudet Kymmenen Käskyä
Vapaa Maa
Likainen Parketti
Everything else
