Havukruunu are a Finnish black metal band and this is their fourth album.
Tavastland is the 54-minute follow up to 2020’s well-regarded Uinuos Syömein Sota, and is an album I’ve been looking forward to hearing. Havukruunu play black metal with heavy, folk, and pagan metal influences, and their latest record continues their ascent.
Tavatsland finds Havukruunu stepping up their efforts, developing their sound even further into epic waters. Their Bathory influence has really come to the fore, skilfully merged with their own interpretation of the pagan black metal style. It’s a confident step forward that continues the band’s notable discography nicely.
The songs paint vivid pictures with a textured brush and a blackened palette. The music walks a path that takes it between landscapes of vast heroic mountains on the one side, and the frozen harsh barrens on the other. Havukruunu take in both sides, using them to create music that’s as stirring as it is severe. Imposing and majestic, but also cold and harsh, this is black metal capable of both building wonder and slicing with sharpened violence.
The album is rich in sorrowful atmosphere and melancholic mood. Tavatsland boasts an array of dark colours, intensities, and temperatures, from the sub-zero to the molten. The riffs are as strong as ice and the solos blistering with fiery heat. The lead melodies fall on a spectrum between, offering engaging hooks onto which the listener can eagerly grasp. The main vocals are barbed and merciless, but they’re backed up by choirs that drip with epic potency and vibrant grandeur.
Havukruunu have put together an impressive and enjoyable package for their newest record. Tavatsland is surely a record that will see the band earn many laurels, all well-deserved.
Very highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 