Primitive Reaction has announced October 11th as the international release date for The Mist From the Mountains’ second album, Portal – The Gathering Of Storms, on CD, vinyl LP and cassette.
It was only early 2022 when The Mist From The Mountains released their debut album Monumental – The Temple Of Twilight via Primitive Reaction. The title of the record was also prescient: Hailing from the ever-fertile Finnish scene, The Mist From The Mountains were a brand new formation with a very old heart, whose eerie yet stunning contemplations recalled the golden days of melodic, nature-inspired black metal in the mid-90s. Names mentioned included old Borknagar, Kvist, Old Man’s Child, Norway’s Gehenna and even the first Dimmu Borgir, but with their songwriting strength on Monumental, these still-young Finns were well on their way to forging their very own odyssey.
Two years later, The Mist From The Mountains return to deliver the next impressive chapter in this saga. The band’s second album, entitled Portal – The Gathering Of Storms, is indeed the next part of a trilogy, but while the not inconsiderable debut was only 38 minutes long, this second full-length album is an epic hour of mesmerizing majesty, its golden rays stretching infinitely across the horizon – streaked with black, of course. The textures of Portal are in fact summery and autumnal in equal measure: the warm embrace of the sun, with the stern suggestion (or at least stern awareness) of the eventual cold, and of course those mossy, brown-turning sensations of autumn’s inexorable transition to darker, colder days.
But that’s only a superficial look at The Mist From The Mountains’ ever-expanding sonic palette, because thematically, Portal is a whole different caliber. The sea-themed album finds the band exploring their status as an untamed, dynamic force of nature that cannot be negotiated: equally wild, calm, and beautiful in all its despair. So the Finns expand their songwriting to more varied lengths; the melancholy and yearning typical of Finnish music is fully embraced, but there’s a pronounced emphasis on immediate (and hummable) melodies, cleaner vocals, and more engaging downtempos. You could call it more accessible, and you’d be right about that, but Portal instead reveals The Mist From The Mountains as weavers of absolutely cinematic soundscapes, of magic and wonder that reach fuller heights (and reach waterier depths), putting the band in a league with the likes of Moonsorrow and Borknagar. But lest anyone think that this is a more “mainstream” step: The album is not without its share of explosive fighting rage and reveals a truly vast canvas that can now only be clearly “The Mist From The Mountains”.
The sea is a portal to new worlds – and in mythology, to the afterlife. With Portal – The Gathering Of Storms, The Mist From The Mountains once again paint an absolutely moving picture, cementing their status as Finnish folklore masters.
Hear for yourself with the brand new track “The Seer Of Ages” below. Cover and tracklist are as follows:
“And so flew the death crow”
“The Seer of the Ages”
“At the roots of evil”
“Under the black waves”
“In longing times”
“Saiva”
For more details visit The Mist From The Mountains Facebook page.
