EP: “No. 2” by Sammal

You could be forgiven, on first listening of this EP, that is an old record that someone has found residing in an old box marked 60’s & 70’s Prog dusted it down and re-released it in 2014, but that is not the case. It’s fairly obvious that the band members enjoy listening the fuck out of such prog rock luminaries like Atomic Rooster, Camel and E.L.P but in this (their second release, hence No2) they have managed to put their own stamp on the music. Not only because they sing in Finnish, their native tongue, but also by the quality of musicianship. Let’s face it, if you decide to start up a prog band you have to be a fairly competent player, and these guys play with a looseness that makes to music an absolute joy to listen to.

Having a Hammond organ as a predominant instrument is inspired as it lends to feel good factor of the tunes and complements the guitars in much the same way Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore did in Deep Purples heyday. Although I couldn’t understand or sing along to the songs (I did try!) the vocals across the EP are fantastic. At around twenty one minutes it’s a little light in length for your average prog album with Tuuli Kuljettaa being the longest track clocking in at under six minutes. It may be a short EP but it’s packed full of tasty musical titbits that make you want the full course soon.

Recommended!

Links
http://www.svartrecords.com/”
https://soundcloud.com/svart-records/tahdelle-kuolemaan-3

Words: Dan O’Gara