REVIEWS

Rautavaara Inc. - s/t (EP)
		Tracklisting: 01. Kuolo korjaa satoaan 02. Kadotaan 03. Yksi runo rukousten sekaan 04. Ikuisen toivon maa 05. Taivas kantaa kulkijaa Total: 20:59		Rating:   Links: - Official Website
For a start a quote from Rautavaara Inc.'s website: "Rautavaara Inc. formed during the summer of 2005, their initial goal being merely to enter "Firmarock", a unique event whereby various professional firms create their own bands and compete in a music competition. Rautavaara Inc. was the band of advertising company Avalon Inc., and also included Jarmo Kylmänen and Speedy Lahtinen - old friends of guitarist Arto Remes. The band made it to the semi-finals but unfortunately did not advance to the final round of the competition." Thus we're dealing with a new Oulu-based band here which has formed under some rather unusual circumstances. Nevertheless, what we have here now in form of a self-titled 5-track debut EP is the result of the band which didn't want to remain a 'project' only, but became a real band shortly after this event. Basically the only name I was familiar with is Jarmo Kylmänen, without doubt a very talented vocalist who was involved with bands like Eternal Tears of Sorrow or For My Pain... earlier on. Musicwise one could describe Rautavaara Inc.'s style as something between Melodic Metal and Hardrock with Finnish lyrics (which I simply try to ignore now due to my rather poor Finnish skills :P). They are probably not the first band having the idea to combine these elements to create music, but still the mixture works very well and each of the 5 songs on this EP can convince the listener. I found first parallels with bands like Kilpi for example (also vocalwise), but it seems like Rautavaara Inc. go into a more straightforward hardrock direction without disregarding the melodic aspects. This can be heard very well in "Yksi runo rukousten sekaan", which probably represents the overall style best. However, I wouldn't say that Rautavaara Inc. won a prize for being very inventive regarding to the sound though I have to admit that songs like "Kadotaan" or especially "Ikuisen toivon maa" develop into strong sing-along tunes after a few times listening. In fact it is hard to decide which track is the strongest on this release... whereas "Kuolo korjaa satoaan" has a catchy melody, "Taivas kantaa kulkijaa" is all in all the slowest song adding some necessary variety to this EP. If you're into hardrock that opens up to you easily and yet offers interesting melodies mixed with great vocals, then this EP is probably exactly what you're looking for. Silence
Released: 2006, Self-Released