A Review of 'Duumipeikon paluu' by Arkadiusz Mlyniec of Nocturnal Battle of Chariots webzine

I didn't expect to come across the material of such an uncompromising young band with this record. Aarni comes from Finland and plays bare doom metal with no ornaments or other junk. Simply the old school, rough mood, and some hints of folk traces. 'Duumipeikon Paluu' consists of five long pieces, adding up to 42 minutes of primeval doom art. I actually do not know how to describe this sort of ambience, but if you know of those incredible sceneries created by such bands as Unholy, Evoken, Esoteric, Funeral, dISEMBOLWEMENT, Winter, Skepticism or Thergothon, Aarni seems to be a outcome of all these bands with some added value of their own imagery and motifs. There is also a hint of old ambient Mortiis or even 'Forest of Doom' by English Trollman av Ildtoppberg, the review of which you can read at NBC. If you add this sort of specific, rough, unpolished production, you'll get perfect, slow, primeval doom from the far, harsh North. This impression is intensified by the dramatic keyboards and fragile, ephemeral sounds of flute. The vocals are of course devastatingly heavy, sometimes changing into throaty incantation, sometimes overwhelming even the coarse guitar sounds. I, for my part, must pay tribute to the band for their radical approach to dignified doom metal in spite of being such a young group. I recommend it to all doomsters.

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