A Secret Device

Headbangers have often reflected on why so many death metal, black metal, and grindcore bands have come from Nordic countries. Is it the climate? Are the long, snowy, brutally cold winters of Sweden, Norway, and Finland conducive to writing dark, morbid lyrics? Maybe, but Scandinavia has also provided some of the cutest, most effervescent and bubblegum Europop imaginable. At any rate, extreme metal continues to be ubiquitous in the Nordic countries, and that includes Finland. Helsinki, in fact, is where Tartharia recorded this five-song, 19-minute black metal EP. Tartharia is a band that has both Scandinavian and non-Scandinavian members; some members are Finnish, while others are Russian — however, all of their dark lyrics are in English. Although quite brutal, A Secret Device isn't grindcore. Tartharia favors a lot of tempo changes (in contrast to grindcore bands that play at an insanely fast tempo 100 percent of the time), and their style of black metal often brings to mind Cradle of Filth. In fact, lead singer Tahvo Kenonen's twisted vocal style isn't unlike something one would expect from that band. That isn't to say that Tartharia's members are actually going out of their way to emulate Cradle in particular — there are plenty of other bands that favor this style of black metal, and Tartharia's participants have no doubt been exposed to many of them. But whoever has influenced Tartharia, this EP won't win a lot of awards for originality; there isn't anything to set the band apart from the many similar bands that are playing black metal in the colder climates. Nonetheless, A Secret Device at least deserves credit for being competent. Nothing fantastic or exceptional occurs, but you can't accuse their writing or musicianship of being incompetent — certainly not if you have a taste for black metal.