review by: Roberto Martinellli

Avarus is a folk band from Finland that is basically like Kemialliset Ystävät (please check out the reviews about this band in issue #10, and the interview with Jan Anderzén - who not surprisingly plays in both bands - in this issue), but more dirge-like and lean. The instruments, while largely produced the same way as Kemialliset, have a tighter and darker energy in the way that they are played, and don't sound nearly as much like they're about to crumble into dust at any moment. Some of the guitar tracks at the beginning of Horuksen... have a strong Swans feel to them in their morbid, siren-like quality.

In all, while Avarus is slightly different, the project to check out first is definitely Kemialliset, as it has so much more to offer (at least compared to the stuff on Horuksen...); the two bands are so much alike that only if you like Kemialliset a bunch should you get this disk, which is quality in its own right.