On November 28th, Finnish black metal band Verilehto return with their second album ‘Aarnihauta’. As part of the early promotion, they’ve issued the title cut as a digital single.

The first new music from the band in two years, ‘Aarnihauta’ is surprisingly melodic. The opening riff doesn’t confront the listener with a typical sheet of abrasive black metal noise, but comes closer to a world of melodic thrash. By adopting more of a mid tempo, the riffs have room to breathe, and in places owe more to the likes of Testament and Soufly than Emperor.

The black metal influence is still present, of course, and this comes through in huge waves when a cold layer of shrill guitar work is left to coat the more jagged riffs. Vocally, Janne Partanen reaches for something abrasive, but his confident delivery still isn’t at the most extreme end of the black metal scale. Instead of cutting through with an ugly hiss or rasp, he chooses to share something a little closer to a hardcore shout fused with a melodic death metal growl, which suits the music perfectly. On the chorus sections, where the layered vocal sits against more of a classic metal riff, the band sounds superb in extreme metal terms, but this track’s crowning glory comes courtesy of some great twin lead/harmonic guitar, drawing more of an influence from a trad metal sound.

With a perfect balance between accessible riffs and a strong melodic core (at least in an extreme metal sense), this is a near perfect return, proving that extreme genres can also be inviting.

Check out the video below.