Whereas my other review this week was about punk tinged roughened gothic metal, Finnish Kuudes Silma reverses the script on Pelko and delivers punk rock with a good helping of gothic in it.

I often promise myself to listen to hardcore punk more, for the infusion of spirit, but probably don't do it frequently enough. Finnish Svart label covers a lot of ground and genres, so it is not surprising they get to punk as well, but Kuudes Silma is not raw, edgy, hardcore, grinding variety. Still full of attitude, songs like Muistot palaa have definitive dreamy and spacey feeling about them, and display a desperate and dejected side. Probably a Finnish trait, no matter the genre of music. There are a few aggressive tunes here, title track or 16 huhtikuuta, with more confidence and power in them, but somehow these songs seem less soulful. Kuudes Silma does better when they add melodic hook to a chorus (Sina ja mina) and exploit such hooks for all their worth (Sivustakatsojat). Hiljaisuus is where desperation reaches its apogee, after bass and piano make stealthy inroads. There is unexpected atmosphere here (Pois suljettu), or even something loopy and psychedelic with a nonlinear percussion pattern (Aistiharhoja). The vocals for Kuudes Silma are often echoing one-note shouts, but there is also female backing (Aistiharhoja), and the duet plus gothic melodicism make Sivustakatsojat sound close to Norwegian Crest at times.

At some point I stopped taking notes on the album because songs started becoming familiar, even before they unfolded, but the word "kuolema" = Finnish for “death” repeats itself pretty often, turning into a whole song title eventually. Pelko closes with a tragic and repetitive Viimeinen ilta, and the feeling of loss and disorientation continues to hang in the air.