Artist: Misantropical Painforest / W.A.I.L.
Country: Finland
Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions
Formats: Split LP
Year: 2025
Under the title ‘Dare To Venture Down To Earth, Father! Perish Into Nothingness’ Nuclear War Now! Productions releases a very special split LP. Not only because both Finnish bands are a rare phenomenon, they certainly don’t release new music on an ongoing basis, but mainly because they bring to light a kind of music we don’t hear every day – and certainly not through the Nuclear War Now! Productions label. Musically, both bands could be described as Black Metal, but actually that doesn’t really cover it. Although many bands claim that their music cannot be labeled, that is actually almost always a fairly easy thing to make out. In the case of these Finnish bands, however, it is a little more difficult, but that also makes the music exciting and challenging.
First up is Mistantropical Painforest. A band with roots in the more folky-tinged Second Wave Black Metal, but… different. Above all, do not imagine balanced and flamboyant tableaux in the vein of Borknagar or Ulver, for example. In the accompanying text on the label’s Bandcamp page a comparison is being made with Isengard, I think that parallel can be drawn to some extent. However, it is not really classic Isengard, but more like what that band sounds like on ‘Vårjevndøgn’ (2020). In other words, much more Doom Metal laced classic Heavy Metal (or vice versa, if you prefer).
Although Misantropical Painforest’s music cannot be so easily captured in simple terms, the best you can do is to imagine a hybrid between old Barathrum, Isengard and a band like The Lamp Of Thoth. The music is reduced to a simple basic structure, and certainly a song like ‘Down To Earth’, with its epic riffs and clean vocals, is something that would certainly not be out of place on a The Lamp Of Thoth album. Compared to the band’s earlier recordings, from albums dating back to 2005, 2010 and 2018, it’s clear that the proportion of Black Metal has decreased considerably. If this trend continues then it is possible that with the next album there will be nothing left of Black Metal.
What then remains is (Neo)Folk-soaked Heavy Metal with enough classic Hard Rock and Doom Metal elements to appeal to those fans as well. Is that a bad thing? Not as far as I’m concerned; Misantropical Painforest remains an oddball and that definitely has its charm, and as long as the music remains so engaging and provocative, then there’s not much to complain about. Personally I can enjoy such a creative outburst as in the second half of ‘Father’ with a multitude of horns, flutes and all kinds of unorthodox instruments.
On the other side of the vinyl there is W.A.I.L., that came to my attention with their self-released and self-titled debut LP in 2009. Not only a self-financed debut LP intrigued me back then, also the name, meaning “Wisdom Through Agony into Illumination and Lunacy” did much to catch my mind’s eye. The band’s unorthodox way of approaching the Black Metal genre did the rest and left me wanting more from them, yet… It took the band nine years to come up with their second album and another six years for this split. So: we will have to enjoy it all the more, because the next time we hear from them may be a while away again.
Although W.A.I.L. isn’t the easiest band either, at least their music is a bit less difficult to catch into understandable labels. It might be nonconformist and rather extraordinary in terms of their versatile musical palette, it is still very much Black Metal. Doom-laden and heavily laced with occult ambient elements as well as Folk melodies. It is still very much Black Metal. Moody and extremely well-composed Black Metal that bears obvious resemblances with Varathron, Mortuary Drape and Samael, but all drenched in a slower and more melancholy, Doom Metal spirit. That aforementioned accompanying text from Nuclear War Now! Productions’ Bandcamp-page mentions Samael as a main influence: that is an obvious one. Yet, this time it is not solely the first two albums of the influential Swiss, but it also reflects much of ‘Ceremony Of Opposites’.
With the obvious occult-sounding roots of the band, the sometimes dragging pace and even the use of violins, the music might best be described as a mix between early Samael and the first records of My Dying Bride as well as Phlebotomized. The latter also because of the eccentric and unconventional sense for song writing. Yet, whether or not these labels and comparisons do really fit the music, W.A.I.L. for sure is a band that has very few equals and should appeal to those who are approaching their Black/Doom Metal permissively and with a knack for off-road adventurism.
