Nattvindens Gråt - Chaos Without Theory (1997)

The year after Nattvindens Gråt released their worthy if oddly vocalized debut, A Bard's Tale, two of the members (bassist Sami Vänskä and keyboard player Tuomas Holopainen) would go on to form Nightwish, which in a few words would become a huge commercial success throughout Europe and beyond. However, this would not spell the end for the doom band, as the troops were rallied for one more album through Solititium, Chaos Without Theory, which was sadly almost as neglected as its predecessor. It's not much of a surprise, really, since by this point the market of European metal was really picking up in various categories, with the bigger black, doom and death metal bands making some waves, and many like this project were simply not serious enough to escape falling by the wayside. In fact, very few acts on the Solistitium imprint made much of an impact aside from Behemoth, who later changed their style and became an institution.

At any rate, Chaos Without Theory is a tighter affair than A Bard's Tale, and there is certainly an improvement in Tapio Wilska's presence. Here he ups his game considerably, shifting from the Yearning like groans of the debut to a Finnish likeness of Moonspell's Fernano Ribeiro: doomy, deeper and fully gothed out. Sure enough, it works well, but what of the music itself? Well, this is largely the style of the previous album, thick and simple doom riffs not afraid to kick into a mid pace, with a ton of keyboards layered over the top, but it has also become slightly more technical and fluent in tracks like the thrashing "Dance from Beyond" or the flowing "Liquid Silent Dreams". There are also some driving Gothic/doom metal numbers like "Sadoeroticart" and "Sleep Eternal" which recall Moonspell, Dreadful Shadows, Tiamat and so forth. While these are tolerable, it is the thunderous Arabesque mystique of opener "Sethian Seal" and the pummeling chords of "Chaos Without Theory" that truly stood out to me.

There are also a few slower pieces, namely "In Gothic Archways" and "Sorrow's Shroud" which develop a stronger atmosphere, but almost as a trade off, the vocals in the latter seem to skirt back towards the silliness of the debut, at least temporarily. In general, though, the album's production levels and the majority of Wilska's performance are superior to A Bard's Tale, while the songs just...aren't. The gloomy mood and atmosphere of the debut are somewhat present in the songwriting, but the more professional power of the mix and the general energy the band implements detract ever so slightly from what made that album 'special' in its own, lame but lovable way. Chaos Without Theory is no slouch of a sophomore, but aside from the few songs I enjoy, it all seems to blend together and settle itself into mediocrity, and I never feel compelled to sit through the entire thing like I do the debut (on a rare, rainy day).

This was not necessarily the 'end' for the project, as guitarist Teemu Kautonen would resurrect it as plain Nattvind for an album in 2002, but that had more of a straight Gothic metal feel, and should probably not be considered one and the same with the original incarnation. That album, Subuniverses, is also even more painfully more difficult to find than either Gråt effort, and it wouldn't find any success beyond what the band had already failed to accomplish here. Sad but true: if you were not purchasing a lot of imports or targeting Solistitium releases in particular, it is likely you've never heard of this band. They're not necessarily doomy enough for the doom laden, or Gothic enough for the goths, but they do find an epic balance of the two that mirrors Swedish acts like Lake of Tears or Tiamat in their heyday. I've mentioned the similarities to Yearning a number of times already, but that band's debut With Tragedies Adorn, which came out the very seem year, destroys this record.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (he calls them to fulfill their fates)

Nattvindens Gråt - A Bard's Tale (1995)

Solistitium was one of those smaller labels which always managed to produce fascinating, if somewhat forgettable acts for the most part, and Nattvindens Gråt ('Cry of the Night Wind') was one such band. Formed as an ancillary entity to the underrated Finnish black metal act Darkwoods My Betrothed, this was a fairly unique take on heavy/doom metal with fantasy-based lyrics and an epic quality evoked through the use of pianos and keyboards, simple but big riffs, and the mix of clean male and female vocals. The roster was essentially a mash up of Wizzard and Darkwoods My Betrothed personnel, including Tapio Wilska on vocals (he'd later join Finntroll) and Tuomas Holopainen on keyboards, who would see huge success with Nightwish.

For some reason, this debut holds sentimental value to me. I picked it up almost completely at random in a specialty shop the year it was released, and took to it immediately. However, even at that point, I could recognize its most potent flaw: Wilska's clean, deep vocals, which sound like a drunken Finnish friar with one too many in the gullet, singing out his woes in a public forum, begging for spare change to fuel his addiction for another evening. Much of this is likely due to his native accent, but there is no denying the comical effect it casts over the record, especially when joined with the more Kermit the Frog, narrative co-vocals (displayed most prominently in the escalating chorus to "Stormwind the Soothsayer"). About the only person I can really compare the majority of the vocals to would be the late Juhani Palomäki on the earlier Yearning records, but he was a lot better and easier to take seriously.

Here, you'll just have to get past them if you wish to feel involved, because they're pretty goofy on the majority of the tracks. The band also uses a session female vocalist on a number of tunes like "The Echo" and the piano interlude "Towards the Sea", but these are actually suitable to the epic travels of the album's titular 'bard' or 'rider', which provide the lyrical backdrop to this story as he shifts through a number of ancient terrains, against the elements. Acoustic guitars are also applied liberally to tracks like the moody, brooding "Song of the Tide Waves", and Holopainen maintains a presence throughout the entire album, with both scintillating progressive pads and clean pianos.

All of this makes for a rather mesmerizing mix when contrasted with the great power of the guitars, carving out granite with huge, classic rhythms and melodies in "Vagabond's Dusk" or "Skyfires Dance", the latter of which reminds me of Swedes Therion or Tiamat around this time, or perhaps the first two records from Lake of Tears. There are more ambitious tracks like the piano driven epic finale "The Two Oaks", bombastic medieval chorus strewn "The Road Goes Ever On" or the spacious, highly atmospheric tones of "A Lonely October Night", but in all, the album flows rather smoothly through both its calms and aggressive spurts. It does work best when Wilska somehow pulls himself together, as in "The Echo" where he sounds most like the earlier mentioned Yearning, back and forth against the ethereal female vox, but this is sadly not always the case.

By now, A Bard's Tale is but a footnote, and Nattvindens Gråt are a long lost obscurity who are probably rarely listened to outside those few brave souls wishing to explore the backlog of its Nightwish and Finntroll alumni. But for some reason, there is a subtle charm to the album, and its very possible that anyone fond of the mid 90s material from other band's I've name dropped in this review would get something from it. The production is straightforward but wonderful, capturing the potency of the guitars in full and casting some archaic gloom over the compositions, and it's completely listenable today. The only thing holding it back from further praise would be Wilska (who would improve drastically over the years). Once that barrier is crossed, the album becomes rather memorable.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10] (say goodbye to the warm breath of summer)