Finland's avantgarde metallers Waltari have never been easy to place in a
certain genre but that is often also what characterizes a truely great band.
Going hand in hand with the band's reputation they also decided that a good
title for their brand new album would simply be "Release Date". Just as
Finland is the country of a thousand lakes, Waltari have always been a band
of a thousand faces, never satisfied with limiting themselves musically in
any way. This also shows on "Release Date" which opens up with a very
aggressive techno thrash piece called "Get Stamped", probably the strongest
track of the entire album, only to move into psychedelic rock territory with
"Big Sleep" and a punk-ish attitude in the drinking anthem "Let's Puke
Together".
As easy as it is to recognize Waltari's incredible talent both as musicians
and creative song writers, as difficult is it to take them seriously at
times. Nonetheless they released one of my all-time favorite albums in "Yeah!
Yeah! Die! Die!" more than ten years ago, a completely unique album that you
desperately need to pick up unless you've already heard it. Other releases
from the band have made the same impression on me and the same goes for
"Release Date". At its best it's stellar but it is a roller-coaster ride with
a few too many twists and turns for me to fully enjoy what they're trying to
achieve. The band's never-ending creativity is still highly impressive though and
old fans should not be disappointed. Progressive and crazy metal of the more
exclusive brand. Stand-out tracks: "Get Stomped" and "Spokebone", the latter a unique song together with Finnish ethno group Värttinä.