“All of a sudden, I found myself in love with the world.” – Alain Jourgensen. And when the moment hits, and rest assured that the moment will smash every other preconception concerning one’s bullshit, your perspective on everything will change. They hail from Finland and come storming with a Celtic blend of massive Old World overtones, thrash speed studded with euphoric melodies and carried on the wind with Kivimetsan Druidi (Druid Of The Stone Forest) is a heavy shadow… a story telling sound. Betrayal, Justice, Revenge is the anti-matter of every over fed and under fucked slovenly hashed together metal album circulating this tiny blue dot that we call Earth. The atmosphere of the album is so much more than can be understood by the frat bastards in Mississippi, or the meth addled whore stroking the last flames of Amsterdam, or even the children of today’s metal scene straightening their locks and donning the rainbow canvas of bracelets while jammin’ hard to whatever garbage is poppin’ at that exact moment. Fuck em’ if they don’t get it.
The brush scaling the land of the last Great Gods is thick and bright, heavy and with the scent of a thousand years of wisdom… a beautiful piano draws us in with the lead of an echoing guitar lighting the way thru, in Lament For The Fallen. The mighty river of Aesis Lilim sweeps in and much like a vast amount of today’s North European metal ensembles, the undertone of battle resounds from the deepest catacombs to the highest peaks of Alterdom. Yet, there’s no muck in the air when Kivimetsan Druidi rocks the kingdoms of our forefathers.
It’s clean and beautiful, still heavy and dense with layers of keyboards and vocals. Leeni-Maria Hovila brings from the gardens of Valhalla the bond of a strapping tight wind that howls only too well along side the vapid throat groans of Joni Koskinen. With Aesis Lilim comes the rushing of melodic thrash metal while staring at the sky thru the arrows falling around and waiting for the rain… waiting for that tempo drain halfway across the field when the first drop hits and the technicality of battle ensues. Wait for the first steel smashing mace to tear away a soldier’s face and you’ll hear Hovila’s voice between the grunts and heavy metal.
Seawitch And The Sorcerer comes with the ashes of mystical incense in the form of heavy inspiration. The thrash resounds throughout the track with sections of blast beats behind a thousand Hovila and Koskinen overlays, and just as well alongside woodwinds and Celtic sounds galore. It’s heavy and groovy and battle ready. Guitar screams are streamed throughout to emulate the sirens of either the Seawitch or the Sorcerer. Somewhere in the catalyst of mandolins and violins and giant things moving about is a beautiful tale told with the lead guitar diving in and out of the waters in a track enduring rhythm.
And following one intrusively original sound is The Visitor and Manalan Vartija. The first, another tale told with heavy beauty and groove. The vocals dive much deeper and dirtier with more woven pieces between the two voices of Kivimetsan Druidi. The keyboard synth is held in constant ebbing and flowing climaxes ensnared in the grips of rad leads. Manalan Vartija is a slower piece, beginning with an odd xylophone style beat and Koskinen screaming on. In an almost carnivalesque atmosphere, funky odd sounds and instruments bounce around behind the metal riffs and journey on.
Tuoppein’nostelulaulu begins as the local pub’s “Hail To The King!” anthem but soon turns into a rhompus rock piece full of chants and screams and choruses. The grooviest and one of the most impressive tracks on the album that holds one of its finest guitar solos, however short, and then fading off into acoustic simplicity that would become Chant Of The Winged One. At six minutes in length, the jam is just another example of Kivimetsan Druidi’s originality and excellent musicianship, just as its follower…Of Betrayal. Of Betrayal stands out however, as a slow moving land creature that rarely kicks it up to a full sprint, but can rock the blast beats and speed leads when the world hands out a life or death situation. Nearly ending on a keyboard refrain that the old God Josh Silver would surely dig, the beat is brutal and the heaviest track on the album. Heavy in every atmospheric tone and archaic grooves that define a thousand years of Celtic / Nordic life.
The meat, the purest bastard, the nobleman, and the heart of the entire album rests at its end, with Desolation White Wolf. If ever there be an epic piece on Betrayal, Justice, Revenge…then its final track is just that. An array of many tales told in a thrash metal jam that becomes a beautiful maven Goddess come down from whence the Gods are born. Six peaceful and gigantic minutes of Kivimetsan Druidi sailing from wild solos and blast beats to the perfect closure. Hovila personifies power through her voice while the band perfects symphonic greatness. Amazing song, and the album’s closest realization to a level of music beyond manmade.
out of 
For those that want to know more of the old and righteous ways, and that enjoyed Kivimetsan Druidi… check out Finntroll, Moonsorrow, Eluveitie, Within Temptation, Amon Amarth, Turisas, and Therion.
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