Rifftera

19/12/2015

Rifftera is a band from Vaasa. The band was originally formed by Janne Hietala in 2010. Their music is influenced by melodic death metal (Soilwork, In Flames...) and thrash metal (Metallica, Megadeth...) among many other genres of metal music.

Janne Hietala asked  his friends and former band members Antti Pöntinen and Jupe Karhu  to join him in this new band, which was based on a clear basic idea:  releasing some kick ass songs with a good production and performances.

During a few years, the band only released demos helped with a drum machine.
The band's ability to produce the releases and perform, especially vocal-wise, did improve with huge steps from demo to demo.

Here is the line up of the band:

• Janne Hietala - guitar & harsh vocals

• Mikko Kuoppamaa - guitar & clean vocals

• Antti Pöntinen - keyboards

•  Jupe Karhu - bass

The band already released a few albums and demos:

• 2015 - Pitch Black (Album)

• 2014 - Open Wounds (Demo)

• 2013 - Back To Life (Demo)

• 2011 - Lightbringer (Demo)

Now, I'll talk about the "Pitch Black" album:

Pitch Black was released on the 28th of August 2015. It contains 8 songs and 54 minutes of " angry, tight, crushing and yet beautiful riff-oriented metal."
This album is completely homemade, excluding drum recordings and mastering done by a professional.

The drums on this album have been played by a session drummer, Thomas Tunkkari. Singer of Soilwork, Björn "Speed" Strid, is featured on a song called "Rotten To The Core".

A good atmosphere. Those big and clean voices who are perfectly mixed with the rhythm of the drums and the guitars. The keyboards to give more melodies to the songs .
The songs stays in the same atmosphere throughout the album. This is a good thing. This allows for not picking up between every song .

Even if this album is homemade, it's really good. This band has a talent and I think they deserve to have more notoriety.