Available: Now

Label: Ektro Records

Official Websites:

www.facebook.com/arkhaminkirjasto
www.ektrorecords.com
www.facebook.com/ektrorecords

How about some Lovecraft themed metal from Finland!  Hell yeah!  Please excuse me I get excited about Lovecraftian themed things whether they are stories, video games, board games or music.  So I will try not to be overly biased here.

Arkhamin Kirjasto are a Finnish based metal duo who style their music, in my opinion, with melodies you would hear in Iron Maiden but with a Doom/Death metal style singing , though the vocals aren’t as off putting as you would find in some extreme metal acts.  So what does this strange little mish-mash of genre offer us as a metal listener or a Lovecraftian fan?  Well check your sanity at the door because shit is getting ready to get Cthulhed!

‘The Undead Priest of Holy Trinity Death’ offer us 3 tracks of around 3-4 minutes each of some nice horror themed songs lyrically.  Most bands I have heard that use Lovecraft as a inspiration tend to be either VERY doom metal or VERY extreme metal to the point they could be singing about flowers growing in a summer glade for all I could tell.  Arkhamin Kirjasto offers a nice balance to my ears.  Yes the vocals are more growly than say, from bands like Iron Maiden or Judas Priest but they can be understood which I feel is important when listening to songs that deal with Lovecraft.  Musically, instead of going the extreme metal rout Arkhamin Kirjasto place nice guitar melodies in their songs to help give them a nice atmosphere.  The track ‘Spellbound and Tortured’ does a good job with this.

As always, I do not give ratings to EP’s as there is never enough material to fully gauge the band. However, I hope to be able to get my hands on the next full length from Arkhamin Kirjasto and see what evil eldritch music they can unleash and I fully expect to be able to understand the lyrics so I can fully lose my sanity!!!!!