Kadotus ‎"Vaienneet Temppelit" CD

Over the years Finland has been the promised land for profound black metal band after band. Totally overshadowing Norway for the loyal devotee's of the genre. With that said comes Kadotus' second full length. Pure black metal with good riffs and writing and a step up I think from their previous MCD. All those who desire the essence of true black metal should know all of what Finland has to offer.

Kadotus are black metal band from Finland. They've been active in some form since 1999. Their style on this album from 2011 is fairly typical of modern Finnish black metal. They too have what I simply call a Finnish sense of melody quite a few other bands from Finland have. It is a specific substyle regarding black metal that I do quite enjoy. A lot of bands from Finland manage to keep true to the root of the genre without becoming stale. This is not the most innovative record but if innovation means just another generic orthodox black metal band who just goes for an ~evil~ sound (read completely monotonous without songwriting) I definitely do much rather have something like this.
The production and mix on this album are well done. It is definitely modern, you can hear every element of the sound with clarity. They have gone for a somewhat cold sound as you find more often in black metal but there is some warmth left.
The songwriting is decent but nothing really special. They manage to keep my attention and let the solid riffs do their work. The riffs are varied and mostly of the fast paced kind but there are plenty of slower riffs on here as well. I often do not like keyboard use in black metal but the use of keys on some songs is fairly well done. They are a bit placed on the foreground on tracks like Spiritual Keys to Ages Unseen. Their purpose is more to create a chilling atmosphere than catch your attention completely. They give the material a more cold touch and are a nice way of changing stuff up a bit. I would not mind seeing a few more exotic drum patterns than those present on this album. The drummer is a decent one but everything he does you can hear coming from a mile distance. The vocals are also kind of predictable. On a couple tracks vocalist goes for shrieks and then does a brief howling part after. I've got nothing against just using shrieks or howls but if you are combine the two I'd rather not see a vocalist do the same alternation between the two every time he does them. This way of alternating the two does not happen that much but I got kinda tired of this way of doing them fast.
This is a solid record that settles Kadotus as a fine second rate act in the modern Finnish black metal scene. There are a couple of noticeable flaws however none of these are offputting in a significant amount. There are no brilliant flashes in the pan either however. Crucially this band does have an identity and that is something I do find quite important for any band. It has been a couple years since this record however and I hope they will put out something soon again.

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