Having dropped the "Inc." of the band's name in early 2007, Rautavaara are back with a second self published EP now. Unlike their debut EP, the new EP titled "Syytön" (Innocent) can be downloaded from their homepage and it also contains a promotional video for the song "Välissä kahden tulen" (Between two fires).
Not much has changed in the overall impression compared to their previous work. We're still dealing with a mix of straightforward melodic metal and hard rock. The interesting fact is that the lyrics are in Finnish, a feature they should stick to in the future as well. Musicwise it was already visible in the beginning that we're talking about experienced musicians here and no absolute beginner band. Especially the vocals stand out since Jarmo Kylmänen's strong and clean vocal style fits perfectly to this kind of music.
There are some slight variations of pace within the songs, but I would neither say the music itself is too demanding nor that a progression from their self-titled debut is audible. I miss the catchiness and the sing-along elements of the songs a bit though, which was much stronger before. However, the band kept up the good quality level in compositions and production they had set with their last EP.
As a special extra, Rautavaara added a video clip both in low and high quality to this EP which can also be found on their homepage. The black-and-white colored clip illustrates the story of the song "Välissä kahden tulen", which tells about soldiers on a battlefield (in connection with the cover artwork), with the band playing on the ravaged battlefield.
If you like simple and melodic hard rock with Finnish lyrics that doesn't command too much attention from the listener don't miss to check them out. Unfortunately this kind of music tends to get boring quite often in the long run.