Finnish band Rippikoulu was formed at the very end of the eighties, singing in their native tongue (now this isn’t that unusual anymore, but in the early years, most bands from all over the globe used the English language specifically). The band split up in 1995 after the death of guitarist Marko, and despite this tragic loss, their 1993-demo-tape Musta Seremonia was cool enough to be re-issued on both vinyl and CD via their current label, Svart Records. Main reason, of course, is the recent reformation of Rippikoulu. And for your information, check out the recent update on July 21st 2014 to read the review.
Anyway, the band reformed a couple of months ago, in very early 2014, and they recorded the three-tracker Ulvaja (length: seventeen minutes). This new material goes strongly on in the vein of the old material, being an extremely morbid and sinister form of funereal Doom-Death Metal with a mostly abyssal, obscure performance and a grim, raw sound. Not new either, but truly above superiority, are the haunting, hypnotic keyboard lines. But as a matter of fact almost every detail is great: monstrous riffs, deep-throated grunts, pounding rhythms, anti-modern song structures (this stuff could have been written two decades ago; think Phlegethon, Phlebotomized, Sinoath, Thergothon, Unholy etc.) and so on.
Besides the production, which is much better now, of course (didn’t we enter a new millennium in mean time), the main evolution in between Ulvaja and Musta Seremonia is the song writing. I did not dislike the band’s efforts done more than twenty years ago, but with these new compositions, Rippikoulu penetrate the top of the scene. It still sounds as if it were written and composed a long time ago, but then it must have been something like ‘record of the year’. Actually, in 2014 it might reach a comparable status. …because it goes further too. It’s even like a hybrid of Old School Doom-Death copulated with modern Funeral Doom, and the result might call Rippikoulu.