Rain Paint
Disillusion Of Purity

The vast and icy landscapes of Finland have always been home to numerous metal bands, some adored by the vast majority of listeners such as Amorphis, Apocalyptica, or Sonata Arctica, while others are highly debated and capable of dividing audiences in two, like Nightwish, HIM, and Stratovarius.

In 2002, Rain Paint joined this well-populated roster of bands, a combo that at first listen might seem nothing more than yet another gothic product, with autumnal and sad musical tones that neither add nor take away from today's metal: nothing could be more wrong. Now, I don't want to sit here and tell you that these Finns will change the fate of music, but to label them solely as gothic metal would be extremely reductive and incorrect, since their music channels dark wave, progressive rock, death metal, and doom elements, ending up sounding like a less extreme version of a hybrid between Katatonia and Opeth, with some influences from HIM and The 69 Eyes.

After their somewhat muted debut in 2003, they reemerged in the market in 2006 with this “Disillusion Of Purity”, representing a significant leap forward for the band: first of all, their songwriting has matured significantly, compositions are more substantive, the lyrics are less juvenile and trivial, but also the technical skills of the group have significantly improved, with a commendable note going to Aleski Ahokas's voice, which proves perfectly comfortable both in growl parts, reminiscent of the much more renowned colleague Mike Akerfeldt, and in clean parts where he showcases a powerful and well-modulated voice.

The tracklist is extremely varied, featuring bursts of melodic death/doom metal like in the first “Year Or Two”, influenced by gothic metal, especially noted in the keyboard parts. Aleski does a truly commendable job on the microphone, performing convincingly both in guttural growl, which is never flat, and in the clean parts closer to gothic rock. Moonspell-like elements resurface in the second “Give Back My Heart”, especially in the finale where the more melodic parts, which had been at the forefront throughout the prior section, find themselves duetting with decidedly darker atmospheres.

Moving on to explore the album further, other very interesting moments are found for instance in the cover of The Cure's “Disintegration”, which is utterly revamped and does not lose its extreme allure even in this progressive gothic metal rendition, while the sad atmosphere permeates it throughout its duration. “Purity” and “Final Peace” stand out instead for their power, especially in the first case, resulting in death metal surges with the clean singing once again duetting with the growl.

The album continues with “Inside Me”, introduced by a drum setting rhythms in countertime with the melodic base, which perhaps turns out to be the piece closest to progressive metal, without ever putting aside the more aggressive vein that finds its place in the bridges which then introduce a decidedly airy chorus, giving a sensation of liberation. The work closes with the long instrumental “Disillusion (Outro)”, in which they indulge in some additional virtuosity, proving themselves more than capable of never losing sight of the melodic part, with a final result that is splendid.

The album is thus decidedly good in terms of quality, but also very well performed and gives us a compact and extremely tight-knit band, needing only a little more work to become one of the leading groups in melodic metal in Northern Europe.