Awake Again - river

It's no secret that Finland churns out some amazing metal bands, and has done pretty much since the birth of the genre. I had a Finnish friend once tell me that this is because it's "so cold and dark that the only way to keep our hands warm is to learn the guitar." I'm not sure how much proof there is in that statement, but their track record certainly seems to back it up, so I won't argue.

Over the years we've been treated to some greats - you've got your symphonic metal bands like Nightwish, high energy melodeath from the legendary Children of Bodom, moodier, more epic melodeath from the likes of Insomnium, heavy cry-along emo rock like HIM, Amorphis nailing whatever sound they feel like with each album, and so on. Point is, there's a venerable smorgasbord of truly fantastic music all coming from this one little northern corner of Europe, and they all take their craft very seriously.

Which brings us to this week's band, who are proudly carrying on that pedigree.

Awake Again are a band from the city of Turku, and they bring everything you'd expect from Finnish metal to the table... and I mean all of it. Mostly rooted in metalcore, there's a bit of everything on show here, from pop (including a particularly fantastic cover of Katy Perry's Dark Horse) and rap influences in their earlier stuff, to symphonic and electronic elements - but above all, it's catchy as hell. Sure, they absolutely bring the metal, but what really seems to set them apart is that they're genuinely having fun with their craft. Whether it's a serious track or a tongue-in-cheek one, there's a sense of joy and electricity infused into the music that's pretty hard to fake, and even harder to ignore.

Anyway, enough gushing. On to this week's song of the week. "river" is the closing track off their most recent EP, The Dream That Never Dies. It's a strong closer to a strong EP, and if it's your first taste of Awake Again, don't be surprised if you find yourself going back to the beginning and listening to the whole thing.