Arska & Hakkapeliitat - S/T 7" (This Means WAR/Hakkapeliitta Records - 2014)

And once again we're back in Scandinavia... Seems like I'm only reviewing bands from Northern Europe and America here (hopefully soon I will have some more "exotic" things for you), well, it must means that that's where the music is good (in my opinion at least). So, let's head once again to the cold but welcoming shores of Finland.
Today we'll be talking about the band Arska & Hakkapeliitat, which is the last of the many bands of Arska (who is/was involved in Skinboiss, Kalevalan Viikingit, Kareliaani, Ironbird and a bunch of metal bands -yep, the guy is pretty active). He (because I think that's actually a one-man band) described the music played by his band (and not only this one, but a bunch of his other groups) as "Hakkapeliitta rock" (the hakkapeliitta being a finnish light cavalry used by the swedish army during the 17th century, back when the two countries were one), a form of viking rock influenced-Oi!, which would be, I guess, the finnish equivalent of the swedish vikingarock, and when vikingarock is evoked, you know that it's gonna involve epic tunes, patriotic/historical/mythological-based lyrics and melodic music (and that you are going to offend pretty much any average swedish person). No exception with Arska & Hakkapeliitat, both songs on the present 7" are extremly melodical, in the music (even including keyboard I think) as in the way Arska sings, and actually sound pretty light compared to his other musical projects (which sound more Oi! and more "straight in your face", I'm especially thinking about Kareliaani and Kalevalan Viikingit, given that they are, in my opinion, the closest musicaly speaking to this band)., and it makes it even more epic if you want my point of view !

Epic as fuck is what you get with this record

So, two songs on that record, both are patriotic anthems. The first one, "White and Blue Thunder" is sung in english and is and ode to Finland, its beauty and its greatness. The second one, "Fenno Viikingit" is in finnish, deals also with Finland but in a darker perspective, begging the country to remember its roots and its past (note that you have an allusion to the swedish past of Finland and to Kalle Dussin, a.k.a. Karl XII a former king of Sweden extremly popular among the local skinheads - Agent Bulldogg, Midgårds Söner or Ultima Thule, to name a few, made songs about him - and his karoliner). To be honest, that second song is far better than the first one (even if the first one is still a pretty good song), the use of finnish language gives more power to it and makes it even more melodical and epic.
The artwork of the single fits pretty good to the music, because it's once again all about nordic and finnish mythology, with symbols, weapons and even an Ukonvasara, the finnish equivalent of Thor's hammer. The lyrics for both songs are on the backcover, so for once I'm not gonna complain about the lack of insert. 300 hand-numbered copies + 10 test pressings with a different cover.
Well, what can I say to end this review ? That's probably, alongside with Kareliaani, my favorite band featuring Arska, and if you liked his other bands, you won't be disappointed by this one. I will probably be reviewing more of thatt Hakkapeliitta rock in the near future, given that I have a few more records of that genre. Once again a good production by This Mean WAR, these guys seems to be releasing only brilliant stuffs !

Stone Dagger - The Siege of Jerusalem (Electric Assault Records - 2014)

Remember that time when I said that I would not be talking only about Oi! or punk here, but probably about a bunch of other stuff that I like ? Well, the time is now. With Stone Dagger. You'd better get that old leather jacket of your, the one covered with heavy metal band patches, from your closet (you're not fooling anyone here, you have one like this somewhere), 'cause these guys are gonna rock the shit out of you.
Even if musically, there's no Oi!/punk or whatever in this records, it is linked to it in a way, because it actually involves guys from Battle Ruins (yep, them again), who seem to have more or less a million different bands (I'm not gonna complain about it, they're all on a scale from very good to awesome), and that's not their first "heavy metal attempt" (because yes, Stone Dagger is pretty much as NWOBHM as you can get), if you consider bands like Magic Circle or even a song like "Cold Iron Death" from Battle Ruins (which had a strong Black Sabbath feeling, according to me).
Now I must say that I actually don't know much about heavy metal/hard rock (even if, don't get me wrong on that one, I can enjoy myself a nice Motorhead, AC/DC or Rose Tattoo from times to times), it's not even one of my so-called "guilty pleasure". I would probably not have given a fuck about that record if I didn't knew that the guys from Battle Ruins were involved in it. And I would have been wrong. Because that's actually a fucking awesome record.
The band members describe themselves this record as "for fans of Manilla Road, Dio, Cirith Ungol" (I actually don't know these bands, appart from Dio) and as "working class power metal". Once again, my knowledge about metal is poor, so I don't know if these references are accurate or not, but what I know is that you get, in that 7", two mid-paced to fast-tempo songs, with tons of awesome guitar riffs and over-the-top heavy metal solos, going-up vocals and all. It litteraly brings back that old school heavy metal (think early Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden I guess), when it was all about knights, witches and sorcery. That's just so fucking epic. I like that. And you should to. Because once again, this is just to good to be ignored (if you are open minded to that kind of music of course, 'cause if you're not you probably just think that I just spent too much time talking about a shitty 80's metal single).

Here you go with more than 10 minutes of studs and leather heavy metal

I would without a problem recommand anybody to buy that record, but I think it's tottaly sold out (it was first released in cassette and then in this format, got sold out and repressed but I guess that second press is gone as well). Anyway, if you have the occasion, buy that stuff. I definitely want to hear more of that. I will anyway get back to these guys soon with Battle Ruins and their first LP, which will be reviewed here as soon as the postman gives it to me.