This is the second album from Radien, a sludge metal band from Finland.
Unissa Palaneet is a 46-minute album containing five tracks, where the a full 21 minutes of the total duration is made up of just the final song. Radien are not without ambition, and they have the skills to back up their vision for doom-heavy sludge music.
Unissa Palaneet is an imposing album of atmospheric doom and textured sludge heaviness. Despite being divided into five tracks, it essentially presents as one continuous piece, moving from section to section as the music unfolds like a tapestry of the end times. Radien know their prophecies very well it seems, and are more than capable guides across this apocalyptic landscape.
Radien have remarkable presence, and Unissa Palaneet holds the listener’s attention throughout. The music is detailed and well-crafted. Each track has its place in the overall album, acting less as individual songs, (although they are that too), and more as scenes in a film, documenting the gradual demise of civilisations.
When they’re heavy, they’re crushing, but Radien don’t have to be heavy to demolish you. Despite the waves of thick tar-like distortion that crash down around you, the true heaviness of Unissa Palaneet comes from the equally thick waves of despair and hopelessness that are given off by the music like bleak tsunamis. This is music that’s highly immersive in its mood-focused intensity, and no matter what the band are doing, they’re always delivering compelling atmosphere to get lost in.
Unissa Palaneet is a very good album of dark doom sludge, one that has many depths worth exploring, if only you can survive the music’s harsh onslaught of misery and woe. For hardened doom and sludge fans, this is definitely one to delve deeply into.
Highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 