As to be expected every year or every other year, Finnish peculiarity TURMION KÄTILÖT is back with another record this year, going by the title “Global Warning.” The band is often referred to as “industrial metal,” but in my opinion, their mixture of electronic and metal music is much more than that. TURMION KÄTILÖT has managed to build a unique sound over the years, reaching another milestone on “Global Warning,” their 9th album overall but the first one released via record label giant, Nuclear Blast.
My love for TURMION KÄTILÖT is a result of the local music channels that I used to hunt for new music in my early teens, mostly focusing on hardcore, Eurodance, trance, and techno music with the popular German masters of SCOOTER right on top. During my childhood, my taste in music was shaped just like it usually is, zealously absorbing every influence I came across, and although rock and metal music came out on top, I can’t help but feel substantially nostalgic listening to the electronic music performers of the early 2000s as well.
Thus, TURMION KÄTILÖT offers a perfect mixture for like-minded people since their music so amazingly blends death metal with dominant happy hardcore-ish electronic melodies. My first impression listening to them back in 2010 was “Wow, this is SCOOTER with death metal vocals and guitars!”
The band has been very consistent, especially in the last decade of their career. I was a little bit afraid that them joining the ranks of the German metal label giant Nuclear Blast might influence their sound and direction but my fears have been proven absolutely wrong. “Global Warning” offers exactly what a long-time TURMION KÄTILÖT fan would expect. Computability and the lack of surprises are not negative terms this time as they’re not a band I listen to to be surprised. This is TURMION KÄTILÖT in their best and truest form, solid as ever, with all the elements there are to love about them.
Although lead vocalist MC Raaka Pee has always been the one standing at the band’s front, live performances featured a second vocalist. Spellgoth performed with the band up until 2017 when he finally decided to leave the band. On studio records, however, he has always had very limited contributions and those who aren’t familiar with the band couldn’t even tell there might be another voice there sometimes, unlike his replacement, Shag-U. Adding another quite perceptible voice to their arsenal in “Universal Satan” (2018), this is now the second album featuring Shag-U, who is far easier to pick out in their sound than his predecessor.
While I really don’t feel there is a need to go through the album song by song because there is such a natural unity in sound and songwriting, there are moments here that really deserve to be mentioned. “Naitu” serves as the opener, meant to set the mood for the whole album and, just like always, it is an absolute success with its super earworm-syndrome synth melodies and chorus. “Kyntövuohi” follows as a heavier and more straightforward track showing a darker and heavier industrial side of the band along with “Sano kun riittää,” yet both manage to shake it up with a catchy singalong choruses.
There are multiple songs on “Global Warning” that without a doubt will make you learn and chant the lyrics along, even if you don’t understand a single word. “Kuoleman juuret” is the finest example of that, closely followed by “Jumalauta.” Most songs on the album fall into that category, where you can easily find yourself singing along after a few listens; it must be a specialty of the Finnish language, as though these words were intentionally designed to stick in your head. “Viha ja rakkaus” serves as the trademark TURMION KÄTILÖT-style ballad of the album, being the slowest track with a musing melody and structure. Part 5 of “To Be Continued…”, their usual closing track for their albums since the “Technodiktator” (2013) album is called “Mosquito A la Carte” this time, and follows the usual trend of experimenting with the elements a little bit.
I rarely listen to albums I can’t complain about at all, but this is one of them. It’s going to be interesting to see where their road leads under the wings of NUCLEAR BLAST and gaining some more international popularity after their tour with NIGHTWISH, but damn, it will be so good to see them in different places all over the world, not only in Finland. While I know being in the spotlight hurts the original identity of so many bands I can calmly say TURMION KÄTILÖT is a safe handhold in this chaotic world. If this is the first album you’ll hear by them and you like it just as much as I do, good luck on your journey checking out the other ones – I can firmly recommend their entire discography!
Written by Árpi Fejes
Photo by Susanna Raitamaa
Tracklist
1 Naitu
2 Kyntövuohi
3 Sylkekää siihen
4 Viha ja rakkaus
5 Turvasana
6 Kuoleman juuret
7 Syvissä vesissä
8 Sano kun riittää
9 Jumalauta
10 Revi minut auki
11 Syntisten laulu
12 Ikävä
13 Mosquito A la Carte (To Be Continued 5)
Lineup
MC Raaka Pee – lead vocals
Shag-U – additional vocals
Bobby Undertaker – guitars, backing vocals
Master Bates – bass guitar, backing vocals
RunQ – keyboards, synthesizers, programming
DQ – drums
Label
Nuclear Blast
