In the epic tracks of their debut album "Wanderlust," Finnr's Cane intertwine bitter-cold riffs with gorgeous melodies, Black Metal frenzy with ambient-like atmospheric rock, only following their infallible instinct for exciting soundscapes far from well-worn paths. May the wild songs of Finnr's Cane invite all those who are adventuresome on an ecstatic trip through scenarios of snow and ice that are as impressive as they are deadly, a trip that you won't be forgetting soon...!
Finnr’s Cane have become one of the hardest bands for me to pin down in some time. Though I imagine a number of people will recognise their sound as being primarily black metal, since it’s just easier to leave it at that, their sound is definitely far wider ranging than just that. Even the description of doom/atmospheric black metal/ambient doesn’t really do the band justice. There is definitely some influence from other genres like neo-folk, rock and shoegaze. Considering the band themselves say they take inspiration from acts like Agalloch, Drudkh, Ulver, Wolves in the Throne Room and even The Mahavishnu Orchestra, I’m not entirely surprised this debut full-length, entitled ‘Wanderlust’, has become such a challenge to break down and analyse. Songs like ‘A Winter For Shut-Ins’ begin to turn the screw on the album and really drive the wide ranging influences home. This song begins with typical samples of howling winds, then in comes some sharp sounding riffing alongside penetrative drums. The more the song begins to develop, the more it begins to resemble bands like Velvet Cacoon with their wintry sound.
However, Finnr’s Cane don’t like to dabble too much in one particular influence, so they change the course of their sound constantly, but consistently. The transition from one influence to another is dealt with superbly, but the sheer volume of influences can give the album a very compact feel which definitely makes it harder to become an accessible asset to the metal industry. Songs like the aforementioned ‘A Winter For Shut-Ins’ is a terrific example of this. The song, which is primarily instrumental, swings from sounding like Velvet Cacoon, to Wolves in the Throne Room and onwards and outwards to bands in genres other than black metal. The dissonant feel remains so for the duration of the song and continues on throughout the majority of the album. In terms of the imagery this album conjures, it does have a very typical, clichéd feel to it. The blizzard like effect of the guitar distortion mixed in with the largely repetitive drumming approach and how the vocals seep into the background like they do on Velvet Cacoon’s albums is typical of the more melancholic, wintry type of black metal.
There is enough variation throughout each of the songs however to suggest that Finnr’s Cane aren’t your average by-the-numbers affair. The Agalloch-esque ending to the aforementioned song and how it continues on to the next song, ‘The Lost Traveller’, is a good example of how Finnr’s Cane like to keep things interesting. This song uses cleaner guitars, which each pick of the strings being audible to the listener, giving it an authentic, natural feel just as Agalloch do. This side to the Canadian trio’s sound is much slower, more focused on varying emotions than the repetitive, Velvet Cacoon-esque musings. The album has a good amount of experimentation on it, though the textures of the atmosphere tend to sound the same throughout, though this adds a feeling of consistency, rather than evoking a sense of blandness in the soundscapes of the songs. The vocal contributions, which remind me of how Ossein implement their Ulver-esque vocals into the mix, would be a stand-out element of the album if only they were more audible, not shunted into the background and buried under the instrumentation.
My only major gripe with this album is the vocals. The harsher vocals, which consists of the occasional growl and whatnot, are fine, but the cleaner, chanted vocals like that of Garm, aren’t audible enough to warrant an inclusion when they do pop-up. ‘The Hope For Spring’ does alter the course of the vocals, projecting themselves in a suitably black metal fashion, but this doesn’t last long as the clean vocals are brought back in. The vocals are a sparse element of this mostly instrumental album though. I would have preferred a more dazzling contribution from the vocals if they’re going to be clean. They need that sense of oomph that leads from the front, rather than just dithering in the background like they do whenever they seem to become a apart of the structures. The cleaner aspects of the instrumentation, which appear on songs like ‘Glassice’, don’t make the most of the cleaner vocals when they really should. When the instrumentation slows down and stops using the distortion for the purpose of impacting and enhancing the backbone of the atmospherics, the cleanly chanted vocals should rise up and resonate in the listener like a phoenix from the ashes.
Instead, the instrumentation is content enough to allow the clean vocals of The Bard to meld into the distortion where they bear little relevance or importance. The cleaner instrumentation is, however, an aspect of Finnr’s Cane that works with or without vocals. The synths and occasional input of the beautiful cello, both provided by The Slave, accompany the sombre guitar passages and light drumming on songs like ‘Glassice’ incredibly well. This gives the album a true sense of dynamism and the listener an indication that the band are in no way one-dimensional. Unlike many of the bands who opt for a wintry, wall-of-sound approach, Finnr’s Cane don’t feel the need to burden their sound with a one track approach. There are numerous dimensions to this album, provided subtly by the synths and the beautiful, enigmatic cello, as well as the cleaner guitars. The clean vocals, had they been supplied over the top of the instrumentation rather than under it, would have felt quintessential to the projection, but as they are, they need reworking into the atmosphere and to play a bigger role. This could be said for the sparse cello, too, but when the cello does show up, it does so to good affect. In terms of highlights, I’d have to say ‘The Hope For Spring’ really stands out.
Sample:
&list=PLD0334305DA660FAE
Sample:
&list=PLD0334305DA660FAE&index=5
Sample:
&list=PLD0334305DA660FAE&index=4
Sample:
&list=PLD0334305DA660FAE&index=3
Sample:
&list=PLD0334305DA660FAE&index=2
