Circle - Tulikoira

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Circle - Tulikoira

Artist:	Circle
Title:	Tulikoira
Label:	Ektro - 033
Length(s):	43 minutes
Year(s) of release:	2005
Month of review:	[02/2006]

Line up

Mike Rättö - vocals, keyboards
Tommi Leppänen - drums
Janne Westerlund - guitars
Jussi Lehtisalo - bass
Janne Tuomi - percussion
Tuomas Laurila - tapes
Jani Vitanen - special guitar, tapes and loops

Tracks

1)	Rautakäärme	7.05
2)	Tulilintu	3.50
3)	Berserk	8.03
4)	Puutiikeri	24.13

Summary

If I am not mistaken, Tulikoira means Firedog. Circle hails from Finland and features a few people (the rhythm section) from the more psychedelic and strange outfit Ektroverde. They call themselves elements of the NWOFHM, but I think there is more to it than that.

The music

Rautakäärme opens with sparse vocals as if sung in a dungeon, and angry guitar chords. Then the bass and drums set, and we indeed arrive in metal territory. However, the keyboards that line the music do a nice job of adding a sense of tension to the pace rhythm section and heavy guitars. Nothing overly bombastic, mind you. Then the music dies down again, and the voices return. Then the pace comes in, and singer Rättö adds his typical understated vocals. The end is a strange mix of full blown metal and psychedelica with a strongly sinister feel.

Tulilintu is a relatively short track, which shows their liking for bands like Iron Maiden. The singing is not as high, and don't try to follow the lyrics. The singing is not so clear that I can make out what language it is in, but in view of the title, which does sound Finnish, my guess is that it is Finnish after all. By the way, although my reference says Iron Maiden, you may also subtract 10 years or so, and end up in the first half of the seventies because of the fuzz guitar. Indeed, the sound is very much seventies hardrock, except a bit harder and the electronics and loops are certainly not typical for THAT era.

Berserk is a song ripe with tension and whispered lyrics. The build up is slow, with the rhythm section playing a remarkable role on this monotonous song, which does succeed, even with the somewhat formless electronic/ambient middle part. Here, again, I seem to detect some of the looseness of the improvising seventies prog/psyche scene.

Over half of this album is taken up by Puutiikeri. It opens with a plodding rhythm, which strongly reminds me of Black Sabbath. The vocals lie below the music, they are almost magical chants of a kind. The electronics that set in are more in the vein of a low key Ozrics, not something you'd expect here. The band is in no hurry to develop the song, indeed they very much take their time to let the situation develop. Halfway, we get some estranging samples of classical music, followed by some more minutes of improvisation. I was expecting a climax at the end, but it is relatively short. A shame maybe, but it would have been the easy way out.

Conclusion

If this is the New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal (maybe they want to contrast with the likes of Nightwish), then I am all for it. The music is an original combination of metal (except for track two without the loud vocals, and overall without the posing), which takes a strong dose of adventurousness that reminds me of the 'anything goes' of the seventies prog and psyche scene. Thus Circle is a band that offers something new. They can rock hard, they can build tension as the best of them, but what sets them apart most I guess is their ability is to mix in psychedelica and electronics in what to me is a very new way. A marriage of the old and the new. I wonder where they go next.