If I was writing that this is another Finish Melodic Black Metal band, many wouldn’t read further, so I try to circumscribe it… Shit, I did it again. Okay, everybody who’s still reading may wonder that I put them in the Dark Metal corner. The simple reason for this is that the band describes themselves as Dark Metal and furthermore, MIRZADEH have not much in common with Black Metal apart from the vocals. So, we finally have two reasons.

Compared with other key-based Black Metal bands like CATAMENIA or GRAVEWORM, MIRZADEH don’t have such a cold atmosphere. Just watch the band picture on the starting page of their website… no comment necessary, I just ask myself who was the one with the skull when he was still alive. The lyrics of the band are also Black Metal-like; they write stuff about ancient Finland.

To explain the album title: Loviatar, also known as Louhi, was the goddess of Pohjola, a place in Finish mythology, which is better known as Northland. But many people claim that Pohjola is only imaginary and it’s a source of evil. I’m sure that MIRZADEH don’t belong to these people because they don’t sound that “evil”.

But now away from Finish mythology, let’s come to “The Creaturea Of Loviatar”. Already the first notes after the intro remind of FINTROLL without Folk music, which they replaced with keys. Of course, the band also uses some speed outbursts but they are sparsely used. MIRZADEH play rather slow and mid paced Metal and to set themselves apart from other similar bands, they have integrated some traditional Finish elements.

The problem on “The Creatures Of Loviatar” is that the band doesn’t manage it to transform their individual style into decent music. The keys are colourless and the guitars could be more powerful. The entire album is a bit stale; it works better as simple background music.

I also want to mention that “Tuonelan Lasten Tanssi” is a very poppy song but it contains also Black Metal vocals and if you like fast Black Metal, “The Creatures Of Loviatar” is surely nothing for you but if you dig on melodic Black Metal (I say Black Metal because the vocals are just Black Metal), it’s worth a listen. (Online October 5, 2006)