The beautiful thing about underground black metal is how quickly it can spread if it’s potent enough and reaches the correct ears. Last year, Iku-Turso made one hell of an impact with their debut album and many people were simply enamored with their brand of unadulterated black metal that truly left no room for survivors. Not a year later, Iku-Turso returns with the reputable Kalmankantaja for a fiery split the likes of which the world can never have enough of!

Right off the bat, you can tell from the scathing yet ordered cover art alone that these two bands truly came at the top of their game to deliver us something special. Diving into the 49-minute madness that is “Ikuinen Tuli”, Kalmankantaja are the ones to send us into a frenzy first as their three tracks make up a very dissonant yet very punishing soundscape that any atmospheric black metal fan has seen. But these guys bring a special ferocity and fiery emotion to the table that truly makes for a fantastic first impression if you’re someone like me who’s never listened to Kalmankantaja before, and this is a fantastic first taste! Kalmankantaja allows “Ikuinen Tuli” to start off magnificently, but it’s Iku-Turso that brings the raw power in way’s that fans of their debut had only hoped to see again. Their four tracks are the unholy flame manifested into a rhythm that’s not only ordered but also incredibly raw as Iku-Turso displays with tons of prowess that they’re far from a band that can only put out one good album. “Ikuinen Tuli” is given an incredibly ending with Iku-Turso acting as the perfect close for this grand split, and the sheer musicianship between Iku-Turso and Kalmankantaja is truly palpable as these guys sound like they’d make one massive show together! “Ikuinen Tuli” may be the closest we ever get to that, and it’s one fucking hell of a good time!

It’s often enough that we see splits from black metal given the massive amount of bands the genre has to call its own, but not often enough do we see terrific splits like “Ikuinen Tuli”. Both Kalmankantaja and Iku-Turso make marvelous performances here and go to show that Kalmankantaja is far from slowing things down after seven years of constantly pumping out material and that Iku-Turso is far from an act that will go out with a whimper.

“Ikuinen Tuli” releases on April 30th via Wolfspell Records!

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