There's no but a few Finnish sung heavy metal albums, so Kilpi sounded like a fresh wind with their debut album 'Sähkönsinistä sinfoniaa' (2003). Well, their freshness didn't intrigue me to much and this 2nd album was the first I bought, thanks to a cheap price. They already have their 3rd one out, by the way...

Kilpi's heavy metal leans heavily towards 1980s and of course hard rock also play a big part. There's familiar elements from both, the old continent and the new continent. Still, the Finnish language makes the band sound unique enough and noone can accuse the band for aping other Finnish acts. But, and this is a big but for me; I don't like about lyrics. This makes me wonder how English speaking people can listen to all those crappy lyricsmiths in metal scene. Kilpi's lyrics are too down-to-earth, there is no wittiness. Vocals are powerful, but faceless. Back to the music: North American influence is a tad too big for my liking and the band don't introduce anything new into the world of heavy metal, and all in all sound faceless. However, the songs vary quite a bit from each other. You guessed it, a couple of slower songs are included (closer instrumental 'Matkalla' happens to sound a bit like Joe Satriani's works). The song quality varies from good to dull, mostly sticking somewhere in the middle. The album sound powerful yet clean, just what as one would expect, and instrumentalists do it with skill.

Bonus DVD is a good extra, including both promotional studio clips and songs recorded live. The promo clips are just what one might expect; band playing "live" among huge lights and pyros and on the other, the band was filmed on the road. Live clips have good sound and pictures were immortalised with a few cameras.

Musicwise, 'II taso' is quite a solid album and those heavy metallers who also like the band's lyrics, might find this album "essential". I don't. A for effort, though.

Rating: 5½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
02/25/2006 13:39