From the Land of a Thousand Lakes, way up north in Finland comes Black Metal veteran Hex Inferi and his one man project, Kryptamok. I’m not sure what’s in the water way up north, but Finland sure churns out some quality Black Metal. And that’s what this is, plain and simple.
With your usual 90’s second wave flourishes fully on display, Hex interjects his own nuances with some nice avant garde sounding vocals at times and also some very ethereal sounding keyboards that fit well with the overall vibe of the album. It reminds me of Sargeist or Horna (Hex is an ex-Horna member) at times, and also has some early Dimmu Borgir or Emperor moments with the haunting keys as well.
The spoken word part at the beginning of ‘Helvetin esitaistelija’ was very dark and sounded like ole Hex was summoning up some sort of demon in Finnish. This song in particular stood out to me and had a rather majestic sounding outro. “Laulakaa tulesta, laulakaa liekeistä” follows with some serious fury and is also an album highlight. The clean and crisp sound is definitely a fitting production for ‘Kataklysmi’, and the keyboards, who are quite present, are a huge asset if you ask me.
This is a very solid album I’d recommend to any fan of 90’s Second Wave Black Metal or the Finnish Black Metal scene in general.
