Suotana is a Finnish melodic death metal band that I, and many others, discovered after the release of their sophomore effort, Land of the Ending Time, in 2018. I was on a Children of Bodom kick at the time. Hexed had been out about a month. I went on one of those “Similar Artists” searches. Or maybe it was a Bandcamp “sounds like.” Either way — that journey led me to this scathing sextet.
The band’s appeal lies not so much in inventiveness but in a remarkable ability to write densely layered songs that are as nuanced as they are memorable. Land of the Ending Time’s “Troutrace” and “Sorrowl” were perhaps the best representations of that in 2018—Guitar Hero-esque theatrics at breakneck speed, drenched in keyboards, and pulled together with an impossibly catchy, gravelly chorus. I hoped that with time and experience we would hear more of that on the follow up.
Yet Ounas I is not Land of the Ending Time, Pt. II. Nor was it designed to be — the “I” in Ounas I is hardly a subtle hint. Instead, what we get is a more mature Suotana. The arrangements feel more deliberate, less like a happy accident. There’s some trade-off with that approach. Though the pace is slightly dialed down, and the highs here don’t feel quite as thrilling as they did on Land, there’s an undeniable consistency. Whereas Land dragged about three-quarters of the way through, there isn’t a song here that doesn’t have something to hook you in, including the Summoning cover, “Land of the Dead.”
Even the order in which these songs appear feels remarkably thoughtful — instrumental opener “Lake Ounas (The Beginning)” into the speedier, shorter number “Through the Mammoth Valley,” with each successive song thereafter becoming slightly longer, more multi-part. I prefer this version of Suotana. This feels distinctive in a way that Land of the Ending Time did not. But a part of me misses the nostalgic recklessness.
Consistency aside, there are standouts. Sweeping album closer “River Uonas” is the most obvious. It’s fast, slow, ethereal, ambient, aggressive, and above all, a multi-chapter affair. Even at a brisk thirteen minutes, it could have been an EP all its own. “River Uonas” alone achieves what I had hoped from Suotanas in 2023. Unexpectedly, the hybrid tag seems more appropriate here than anywhere else on the album, with a few passages that would feel quite at home on any melodic black metal album. Yet there are some equally unexpected moments of tranquility. Operating in that duality without playing in a way that makes those transitory periods obvious is a skill that seems worth applauding.
Ounas I will undoubtedly earn Suotana some new fans, and deservedly so. Everything from Simo Räsänen’s cover art to the narrative build-up to “River Uonas” feels like positive growth. Expectations exceeded.
