Artist: Kalmankantaja
Country: Finland
Label: Wolfspell Records
Formats: CD
Year: 2025
‘Autumnheart’ is the second Kalmankantaja album of 2025, and as the change of logo might foretell, it is quite a different affair. While ‘Musta Aurinko’ took the atmospheric Black Metal formula from a lighter, more Medieval angle, ‘Autumnheart’ is a far from light record. Not only that, it stretches the atmospheric Black Metal formula of the band even further.
While certainly Black Metal will always remains a part of the Kalmankantaja sound, this latest record, released in November 2025, is at least equally infused with Doom Metal. The influence of Katatonia has been prominent on a few of the later Kalmankantaja records, yet I also hear the likes of second half of the 90’s Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride as well as Swallow the Sun. Actually, ‘Autumnheart’ reminds me a lot of the Finnish band Dolorian, a bit of an underrated Doom Metal band with some hints of Black Metal that released the stellar ‘Dolorian’ and ‘When All the Laughter Has Gone’ records around the turn of the century . Take for instance the clean strumming intro with pianos in ‘Bury Me in This Forest’ and tell me this isn’t very close to Doom Metal. While perhaps not as crawling in pace, there are undeniable parallels in the atmosphere and the prominence of the piano sound. Fitting with the amalgam of atmospheric Black Metal and Doom Metal, the sound is very melancholic, filled with clean strumming, frail clean vocals and elegant pianos. As a contrast, the slightly distorted growls and sharper guitar leads give it a harsher edge, although the overall sound remains on the cleaner side. Without a doubt, as a whole the album feels quite different from most of what Grim666 has done with the band, making this closer to the odd-one-out album ‘Second Death’ and the ‘For the Glory of Death’ EP than anything else.
I personally thoroughly enjoyed this more Doomed approach, simplifying the melodies of the guitars and giving more space for pianos and a rich bass sound. Passages like the melodic progressions in the title track or the dragging strumming combined with floating keyboards of ‘Dirge For a Lost Summer’ are simply mesmerizing. Quite frankly, it may be one of my favorite Kalmankantaja records thus far, an enveloping listening experience and altogether a simply beautiful record. Obviously, it’s also an album that may divide opinions. It certainly has little to do with the early depressive Black Metal sound of the band, and could even be a stretch for the average atmospheric Black Metal listener. Yet if you think a marriage of atmospheric Black Metal with some second half of the 90’s Paradise Lost and Swallow the Sun sounds intriguing, make sure to check ‘Autumnheart’ out!
