Aesthus / Sieluhaaska
Kaksi liekkiä Saatanalle Split

ringing together two of Finnish black metal hottest / coldest newcomers, Kaksi liekkiä Saatanalle is pure nastiness distilled into 20 tundra-deep minutes; with two songs a piece here, both AESTHUS and SIELUHAASKA delivered debut albums under the banner of PURITY THROUGH FIRE in 2022 and 2023, respectively. AESTHUS are up first, and whip forth the freezing filth which made their Hänen temppelinsä varjoissa so celebrated in the underground. No more but definitely no less, the quintet stick to classic Finnish black metal in the turn-of-the-millennium tradition, here arguably sounding both more melodic and frantic than said debut album. SIELUHAASKA, for their part, put a more measured twist on Finnish black metal - pensive, anguished, and strangely anthemic - with their Kun aurinkoni kuoli debut, and here continue their hypnotic ways with even more anguish and arguably more mesmerizing gait. Almost honorarily Teutonic by design, their folkish fire might remind of Finnish dark horses like Noenum or Mortualia. Kaksi liekkiä Saatanalle proves, once again, it's always darkest up north...