HUONO PARTURI

It pains me to give any album five stars because that means I obviously think there are no better albums. However, to give anything less than five stars to Höyry-kone's second and last album Huono parturi would do great injustice to the finest prog-band that ever has come from Finland.

To begin with, the 11 tracks on this album form a fantastic unit because of their stylistic cohesion. Not only that, the songs (and instrumentals) are extremely well-written. There are two exceptions from the all-around dark and powerful style of the record, namely the opener "Beata viscera", which is in fact a melody by the ars nova composer Perotinus, brilliantly sang by Topi Lehtipuu, and "Baksteri", which really is an odd affair: no regular members of the group play in this all-acoustic, hilarious wind instrument rally that lasts under two minutes.

The musicianship of the band is really convincing. It is a shame that the band broke up as Topi Lehtipuu went to pursue a career in classical music (and really managed, as he is now a regular in the Opera de Paris and one of the most sought-after lyrical tenors in the world), but from the ashes of Höyry-kone later rose another fine group, Alamaailman vasarat.

If there is one slight concern with Huono parturi, then it is that in some places the band sound a bit too much like early rocking King Crimson, but then that's good news to many people. Unfortunately this record is no longer available and no re-issues are on cards, as the record company that released Huono parturi has ceased to exist.