More often than not, metal has an image of being a naturally unsightly beast filled with all sorts of blasphemies and rotting corpses strewn about the place given the reputation that it has garnered over the years thanks to the underground scenes and much of the publicity that it has achieved over the decades. However, there is a change occurring that I’ve been seeing come about increasingly more often even if only slightly in comparison. Over time, we’ve been witnessing the rise of bands that really channel a special kind of beauty and awe into their music such that we’re able to see all new sides of what metal is capable of, and even though it’s far from a new concept in certain circles, it’s with bands like Viita that we’re able to see other boundaries pushed in such a direction.

While we’re seeing the undeniable rise of bands like Countless Skies in such an avenue of intense metal that’s as vicious as it is amazingly beautiful in many instances, you still have to be lucky, do a lot of digging, or both to be able to find such bands that are able to check off all the right boxes with this particular sound that can truly go in any direction despite the frontier that is to be explored by those who dare to do so. Given the exemplary work that the man behind Viita has accomplished in Crimfall, he took the leap upon himself to explore those reaches with Viita’s first creation, simply titled “I”, which manages to tap into those reaches of how gorgeous metal can still become without ever sticking in one particular style while still leaving more than enough room to improve upon in the future. It would be easy to call this a shaky first step for Viita, but this effort is anything but shaky. At its core, “I” is an exploration of a musician seeking new horizons with the drive to take himself there with his vast capability across multiple instruments the driving force in what will deliver him to his ultimate goal with the first stop upon that journey that is this effort a real sight to behold. While half the tracklist isn’t much more than synthy interludes, they still manage to build upon the wider performance of “I” to make it not just a jumble of songs by some guy hoping to show his way around some instruments, but a personal performance that achieves so much in the 47-minute runtime that is fascinating to witness whilst still leaving us knowing that there is surely greater glory beyond that golden horizon.

This is the kind of the first step that many can only hope for when venturing out on their own solo ventures no matter how many bands they’ve been part of or what their intended goal happens to be. Refusing to sit still with plenty of elements from the world of death metal that manages to worm itself into this gorgeous picture, Viita’s debut is nothing to scoff at by any means whatsoever with the very prospect of further excellence all but guaranteed by what we’ve been gifted here.

LISTEN to “I” on Spotify here.

LIKE Viita on Facebook here.