Finist - _Awakening_
(Ancient Nation, 2005)
by: Quentin Kalis (7 out of 10)
The Nokturnal Mortum crowd are no strangers to side projects, and now it is the turn of Saturious. While black metal fans may have found something of interest in Varggoth's (vox) RAC / metal crossover Aryan Terrorism and ambient black metal Mistiggo Varggoth Darkestra projects, it is unlikely that the same can be said of Finist, as Saturious has appropriated the genre of dragonslayers and elfhuggers for tales of Aryan might and glory. I wouldn't have thought of power metal as an apt vehicle for the expression of national socialist ideas, but I suppose it was just a matter of time.

Unlike the majority of the Slavic fraternity, Saturious has eschewed themes of national romanticism in favour of a far less ambiguous lyrical approach, but not quite reaching the over-the-top nature of Aryan Terrorism. Despite expectations and once I'd gotten over the initial shock, the music turned out to be pretty catchy, and is more than capable of holding its own against the big boys. But the biggest problem that I have with this CD are the vocals: not the blackened snarls which Saturious is perfectly capable of handling, but his dire attempts at performing clean vocals. His shortcomings in this department are particularly noticeable on the rock ballad "Time Will Come". Had he delegated this duty to one of the many guests on this album, it would probably deserve a rating of eight or above; but his cringe-inducing clean vocals simply ruin any song on which they appear.

Contact: http://www.thepaganfront.com/anp/

(article published 12/12/2006)


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