Line-Up (please click the name for an individual bio):
Rinksa Antti Simo Leeni-Maria Atte Joni
Eighteen months since their acclaimed Century Media debut album ‘Shadowheart’ and loads of gigs, mostly outside their home land Finland, have seen these up and coming Finnish fantasy metal shooting stars to mature into a firm crowd favourite. Kivimetsän Druidi’s unmistakeable, heavy, drivingly fast and highly athmospheric sound has won them quickly a worldwide fanbase. Two successful European tours, recent North American tour – Heathenfest America in November and numerous festival gigs have seen them play in 19 different countries. Now they have a total of 140 gigs under their belt.
Founded in 2002 Kivimetsän Druidi was first recognized as a part of Finnish folk metal genre. Gradually, however, they have adopted influences from various metal genres and their music has evolved towards more extreme expression. Although you can hear echoes from symphonic, folk, pagan and even thrash metal in their unique sound, they tend to describe their heavy but melodic music as extreme fantasy metal. Extreme because of the extreme sounds, dark growls and various influences and fantasy not only because of the lyrical themes, but also because of the freedom to mix together elements from various metal genres. And metal – yes, they definitely play heavy metal although they also are an integral part of female fronted metal movement.
‘Betrayal, Justice, Revenge’ was recorded at MadMix Studio in Kivimetsän Druidi’s home town Kouvola between September and December 2009 by Aki Väkevä and Jani Huusari. It was mixed by Aki Väkevä who also co-produced the album with the band members. Mika Jussila then mastered the album at Finnvox Studios in Helsinki in January 2010.
The new album is versatile, diverse and full of surprises. If the debut album was more or less a collection of songs from a legthy period – three or four years, ‘Betrayal, Justice, Revenge’ expresses what Kivimetsän Druidi’s music is right now. Although brothers Koskinen (Antti and Joni) have once again been mainly responsible of the music, Atte Marttinen, Antti Rinkinen and Leeni-Maria Hovila have also took considerably part to the writing process. And most of the lyrics were written by Leeni-Maria. So this time the songwriting process has very much been team work.
In addition to the strong set of songs it’s easy to notice Leeni-Maria’s vastly improved singing on this album. Her vocal work crowns the heaviness and epicness of the songs. With Joni’s growling vocals the combination works wonders here. Joni’s and Rinksa’s guitar riffs attack the poor listener severely and Antti’s majestic keyboards are supported by Atte’s skilled orchestrations. The heavy and accurate basics are once again provided by the rhythm duo Atte and Simo.
The
industrious touring can be heard on this album. They can really play. The
Heathenfest America tour with Eluveitie, Alestorm, Belphegor and Vreid
convinced them that they have great support also in the USA and Canada, not
only in Europe. This was concretely proved in San Francisco, CA where the
audience knew the songs and sung along. With a new album to support Kivimetsän
Druidi will first tour in their native Finland, then play as many festival gigs
as possible in Finland and Europe and then tour once again in Europe in the
Autumn at the latest. And if asked, they would love to go back to the North
America, too.
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