Kuolemanlaakso - Tulijoutsen (2014)

Featuring Miko Kotamaki of one of my favorite doom bands, Swallow the Sun, Kuolemanlaakso is death/doom band whose lyrics are entirely in Finnish and are based on the poetry of Eino Leino. Not surprisingly, the music is pretty close in style to that of StS, if not a little more stripped down, and while I do prefer StS there are some pretty interesting bits on this album that make it a worthwhile listen. There are quite a few great riffs and Kotamaki's excellent vocals, consisting of banshee-esque rasps and demonic growls, are my highlight of the album. It's pretty much standard death/doom fare except for "Glastonburyn Lehto" which is an odd folky/psychedelic number featuring clean vocals and guitars. All in all, this album is quite good and should be enough to tide StS fans over until the next release.
8/10