Rotör-Musta käsi

Svart Records
2016

"Look at that cover" the e-mail from Metal Mark read. Having already received the word about Finland's Rotör earlier that day I knew what my friend (and Heavy Metal Time Machine founder) was excited about. The wicked cool artwork for "Musta käsi" was most certainly a thing of beauty. No doubt inspired by early-mid eighties heavy metal artwork (as well as a few ones from the N.W.O.B.H.M scene I  suspect!), Rotör's fabulous choice of artwork for their full-length debut just about screamed "Turn me on and crank up the volume!". Giving in to that temptation (or if you will that odd voice or two in my head that really wanted to rock out!) I hit play on album opener "Avattu hauta". With a vintage metal sound that seemed as if it was pulled straight out of the past (!) this three minute plus tune hinted at good things to come. Did I say good things? I must have meant great things as sure enough this album SLAYS THE DRAGON kids! Sung in the band's native tongue, "Musta käsis" is a (true blue/raw & real) rustic metal album that throws caution to the wind in favor of a D.I.Y. approach. It's a recording that pays tribute to the (sadly long-gone) tape trading days of metal with not just it's music, but the way in which it was produced. With nine tracks in all, "Musta käsis" is what you get when you mix early-mid eighties heavy metal, (early) eighties punk rock, Motörhead, and late seventies to early eighties N.W.O.B.H.M* all together and then finish it off with  the timeless appeal that is riff-driven garage metal. Yes, it is every bit as good as that sounds (and then some!) and it's all courtesy of an anonymous five-piece band that may include bits of Speedtrap, Hard Action, Vino Siitin, Tremor, Arkhamin Kirjasto, Seremonia or Steel Mammoth.With all of that said and done I'd just like to add one final thought to the equation. And that is I really hope this doesn't end up being a one and done moment! 






*More to the point we are talking about Iron Maiden's first two (punk-infused) studio albums, Demon Pact, and the self-titled debut of Angel Witch.