Biography
The industrial area of Karhula, situated on the muddy banks of the river Kymi, has during the past few years witnessed a sudden rise of more and more intense bands, composed of bearded, lumberjack-like figures with broad shoulders. This bunch works like a Harvester machine fuelled by a keg of nitro, but instead of chainsaws their rugged hands are clutched around downtuned guitars. In the vein of the movie Deliverance these bellowing creatures from the river have often been conceived by this same bunch of people. The “Karhula-Scene” is now seen as a distinct underground phenomenon in certain circles.
One of these bands is Kaihoro, that released its debut in 2004. Recorded live at the studio in one day, the raw and heavy stoner rock of “Mainheadskull” received praising reviews. A handful of gigs played after the release showed that Kaihoro really can deliver their promises on stage.
Kaihoro was formed by Jaakko Heinonen and Lauri Pikka of Total Devastation. Neither one of them plays in Kaihoro, though. The band is composed of their friends, playing their favourite style of music: massive, epic and filthy metallic rock. Kaihoro is the house band of the Karhula scene, acting as a motor for their parties. Hidden from the eyes and ears of the larger public, Kaihoro is like an ugly hound locked in a backyard shed, unleashed only when proper racket is in order.
Some three years after the debuts release, Kaihoro is ready to set their second effort loose. Fittingly titled “Boulder”, it mostly deals with the forces of nature, before which man is completely humbled. When the last flaming boulder of doom falls from the sky, Kaihoro will be shifting their knobs in place and paying their respects to the might of nature. The current discussion of climate change had not yet started when the album was created, but the timeless theme of judgment day succeeds to be unwittingly topical, once again.
The identical Hakuli twins, Saku and Pasi, write most of Kaihoro’s music. The lyrics are worked on by the whole band together. Besides the Hakuli twins, the band contains familiar faces from the Karhula band-syndicate like guitarist Harri Pikka, drummer Kaarlo Kukkonen, and singer Markku Pihlaja.
Like its predecessor, Boulder is released by Sorbus Productions, the bands own label. Compared to the debut, this time a generous amount of time was used in recording, meaning several days. The band was not in a hurry, though. The tracks were already laid in the Manu Audio studio, Kouvola, during the spring 2006. The slowly boiled sludge soup has taken it’s time to brew, and now the taste is rich and pleasurable. The taster has to be used to rather stiff gravies, because this is no over-refined light-product we are talking about here! Take the sound of Entombed, mix it with 70’s rock inspired melodies and you get close to what Kaihoro is about. At times they race in the fumes Fu Manchu and Big Elf, and the next thing you know, they plunge into the devastating maelstrom reminiscent of Grand Magus and Electric Wizard. All the time their journey is guided by the bright stars of Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden.
Nowadays the stoner rock genre has got trapped inside its own formalism and is of interest only to those devoted to the cause. So, it is relevant to ask what exactly sets this Boulder apart from the other (stoner) rocks? Well, it’s simply that Kaihoro really makes it work. This seemingly simple truth is, finally, the biggest obstacle for many bands of this style: In theory everything is under control, but the spark just won’t flare. Kaihoro bases its thing on familiar elements, but apart from form, they also got the content under control. And they just plain rock.
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