ATLASES – Penumbra

«Better late than never.»

[ancient Mongolian saying]

The sacred scrolls foretold the following proverb: a friend is a treasure. Your fellow dreamer, then, believes that the same words may be said to bands, too. Finland, in particular, is the home country of many of those acts that mean the most to me; and here I am, today, looking forward to add another name to that list, a name you shall keep in mind, too: Atlases. Hailing from Pori, this five-people doomish post-metal act's debut record, "Penumbra", was released last October through the Romanian label Pest Records; and what an EP!

These Finnish guys did what every single Finnish musician should do: sound Finnish. The atmosphere says Finland, the mood says Finland, even the dynamics says Finland; the only element which doesn't behave the same way is language, but it's not even slightly a problem, from my perspective. The most obvious influence for Atlases is their fellow death-doom countrymen Swallow The Sun: Juha Raivio and friends' melodic, doomish aura left a deep mark on Pori's band — and it's so clear that one might forget for a moment which band they're listening to. Another key element in Atlases' sound is similarly taken from Insomnium: thought "Penumbra" is not a death metal record, our guys showed their passion for Sevänen & co. filling their EP up with Insomnium trademark slow melodies.

Last but not least, it's worth mentioning another source of inspiration for this band's sound: Cult Of Luna. This Swedish post-metal act is surely another of those project whose sound Atlases flirt with; and the final result of this flirting is great: it's doomy, monolithic, pretty fantastic — at least as much as it is obvious.

Do you love Swallow The Sun and early Insomnium's doomish melodies? Are you into Cult Of Luna kind of Post-? Then let yourself experience Atlases: you're going to love their debut EP "Penumbra".