VUOLLA are from Finland and play a kind of heavily atmospheric depressive Metal, slow and very melodic, at times minimalistic, to the point of just a guitar or bass being heard, and beautiful innocent sounding female vocals alternating with Death / Doom guttural vocals (a "beauty and the beast" mixture we can say almost traditional in their homeland). Rarely, they go into heavier and more usual melodic Death / Doom territory, such as in ‘Emperor’, but halfway through the song they return to the prevalent ambient minimalism of slow music with depressive keyboards and that nice female vocalist singing about emotions and stuff. I am reminded of stuff like TIAMAT, AMORPHIS, ANATHEMA, I’m sure you get the picture. In ‘Rain Garden’, a track heavily reliant in the slower, more emotional side, the female vocals and the keyboards even bring to mind some 70s Rock bands, but with the instruments slowed down and tuned down to the extreme. They are good performers within their very particular style, with some standout tunes such as ‘Rivers In Me’, a track with more than 11 minutes released as a single back in 2012. Very often, though, I feel astounded at how slow they manage to go, and how long they keep at it. If you like your listening moments to feel like a kind of dreamlike journey with weeping instruments and often very bare and simple melodies, this will be your thing. If you are looking for heavy, aggressive Metal on the other hand, this may prove to be a large chunk to swallow, with its lengthy torpid songs topping one hour of music. The heavier and faster moments are few are far between, and the majority of the music is really extremely calm and lethargic. Check them out at: www.facebook.com/vuolla, www.schwarzdorn.de