The Hayleys – Raato
(Gorba Records)
Reviewed by Emma Hughes.
Pressing play on Raato by The Hayleys, I knew I was going to be in for something different. A Finnish band, The Hayleys have previously released English language albums under a different name, but Raato marks their first in Finnish. Upon learning this I was immediately reminded of my own month-long stay in Helsinki and regretted learning no more of the language than the word for garlic (I don’t expect they will be singing about that). So with no prior experience of the band under my belt, but well aware of Finland being a prime exporter of high quality metal music, I decided to go into this one clean – I think I came out a little dirty.
After an interesting 35 second long introduction which sounds like a children’s song played backwards over the top of a man eating backwards, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised, however, as track 2, ‘Mä Aion Vetää Viivat’, delivers an immediately driving beat which sent my head banging while sitting at my desk, although I will admit to being a little bewildered while doing so. This album is incredibly short, at only 18 minutes for a full listen, but it is only diminutive in length. Each of the 9 tracks brings something different to the table, and though I can’t say that I am a huge fan of this type of music, even I was able to find a few listens which reminded me of things that I do like. Title track ‘Raato’, for example, brings a slower and heavier introduction which conjures Black Sabbath to mind, and following up is ‘Kuollut Turre Ei Murise’, which seems like it would be extremely good for some enthusiastic headbanging.
Coming in at number 6, the only English lyric on the album, ‘I like Brazil’ is a fervent interlude to tracks which are otherwise sadly unintelligible to my monolingual ears. Unfortunately I was no more able to understand this one than the rest of the tracks, as it really is pure mayhem. Track 7, ‘Kyykäärme’, I enjoyed the most on the album, with the vocals reminiscent of Rammstein at times and the introduction of an almost calm interlude with classical guitar provides great contrast to the rest of the track, and indeed the entire album.
I’m sure that Raato as a whole would all have much more meaning if i knew what the band were saying through their art, though I will comment that the album came across to this listener as a bit more typical and less aurally dark and scary than I expected from looking at the album’s cover and reading The Hayley’s bio. I’m not a fan of said cover art, which depicts a fairly gruesome image, but perhaps that’s the point. All in all, this album was not for me. However, there were parts that I did enjoy and I can see how it would appeal to fans of the genre. I cannot fault the skill of the musicians themselves, so if strident, intense punk spitting a darker edge is what you like, or perhaps you are someone who is into energetic hardcore and metal, then definitely give The Hayleys a listen.
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