Artist: Iätön
Country: Finland
Label: Signal Rex
Formats: LP / CD
Year: 2025
After two highly enjoyable demos released on Altare Productions and Korpituli Records respectively, it is now time for the debut of Finnish Black Metalers Iätön. For that purpose, the band now works together with Signal Rex, a label with an increasing number of impressive Finnish Black Metal releases. Can ‘Portit Pohjolan’ join the ranks of Kratti, Moonstruck and Kerzenlicht amongst some of the finest albums released by the Portuguese record company?
On their previous two demos the band already made it abundantly clear that while they certainly fit within the Finnish Black Metal scene in terms of atmosphere, their musical approach is a little bit different. Retaining the cold sound and melancholic touch, the uptempo melodic riffs play a less important part. Instead, the music of Iätön seems very much designed with the keyboards in mind. But instead of expecting frivolously meandering key wizardry, they are a rather minimal yet instrumental part of the sound of the band. The result is a rather organic whole in which the funereal keys and raw guitars dominate the atmosphere. Accordingly, the band rarely goes into blistering pace, but instead offers a varied landscape containing slower and midtempo sections where the drums play a fundamental role in keeping the music dynamic and ever-evolving. And it’s that balance between the atmosphere and dynamics that makes ‘Portit Pohjolan’ intriguing.
While perhaps closest to a hybrid between Korgonthurus on ‘Marras’ and Barathrum, the songs on Iätön’s debut album certainly also remind in spirit of early Gehenna and the old Hellenic sound. A song like ‘Myrskyn Laulu’ is cold in its sharp guitar sound, offers some more pacey drums as well as plenty of calmer passages with a funeral-like atmosphere. In that sense, a distant comparison with bands like Abysmal Grief and Denial of God is certainly not too far-fetched.‘Korpin Musta Viisaus’ is a key example of the dynamics that the band offers, offering slightly more melodies in which there is even also a slightly epic touch. With a noteworthy bass and delightful raspy vocals, ‘Yön Hämärässä’ is a more uptempo track where the keys lead the way throughout. ‘Varjoista ja Hopeasta’ is then a more guitar-driven track, but credit to the band that the keyboards still remain the focal point of the catchy elements, also when the song progressively increases in pace and intensity. ‘Vainajalan Vaeltaja’ is slower and more melancholic, and bears a sense of threat to it which escalates as it continues. Meanwhile ‘Korpimaiden Kutsu’ has the feel of an album closer, slower, more stripped down and built on atmosphere. It is not the actual closer however, that credit goes to ‘Portit Pohjolan Näkyvät’. As the only song that made it from the demos to the album, it is a clear showcase of how much the band has stuck to their vision, now finally crystalized into a full album.
If you like the cold and melancholic side of Finnish Black Metal, make sure to dive into ‘Portit Pohjolan’. Breaking with the more melodic and up-tempo formula of most of their peers, Iätön offers a different, lower tempo approach in which the shrill guitars, carrying keyboards and diverse drums create a fascinating whole. An album with an excellent atmosphere, indeed a worthy addition to growing contingent of excellent releases from the land of a thousand lakes featured on Signal Rex.
