Finland is very reliable for a few things: lakes, soft Viola cheese, sauna, hockey players and black metal. Sure enough many other metal genres are represented plentifully in Finland, but the country has been a home for a number of influential seminal acts. Aihos from Savonlinna (in the Southeast, not that far from Russian border with Karelia) is one of those second or third generation bands trying to follow the leaders.

More boisterous than bestial, time and time again while listening to Ikuisuuden suojaan I was thinking to myself that this album/EP is almost there. Raiskatun maan tomuun could be a little crispier with its double bass or blasting. Teloitus just does not have enough desperation, does not stand enough on the brink, so it sounds like a cleaned up Horna, with … appropriately cleaned up vocals. There are simply not enough razors thrown in my direction to feel the pain. There is grimness here, but it isn’t 100% believable most of the time. There is war metal on Hyperborean ilmestys, but the warrior is a knight laced in shiny scaly armor rather than foamed at the mouth berserk. And that is why I am going to call it almost Horna, Sargeist and Behexen disciple, where the pupil cold still learn a bit from the master.

To be certain, Aihos melodicism, like many in Finnish black metal is strong and undeniable. Fast fingered leads are strong statements and fit well within songs (Raiskatun maan tomuun, Tulen ja jään liitto). And then there are some moments when the band transcends itself, plunges and devotes itself completely, while delivering the pinnacle results. The stoicism and the whirling snowstorm thrashing in Hetki ennen kuolemaa, the crazy feel of Tulen ja jään liittowith additional screams and syncopated rolls are complete pictures. Acoustic desolation bookending the start and end of Tulen ja jään liitto with acoustic strings penetrates to the bone. Thus Aihos has what it takes, almost, and Ikuisuunden suojaan is a start. Woodcut and old Hammer of Hate are the Finnish labels teeming with bands like Aihos, so Blood Harvest did well by snatching and re-releasing Aihos five-year old debut.