Saimaata Ei Sanoilla Selitä by the Finnish one-man band HÄIVE, at least to me, is an utterly beautiful threepart ode to Finland's nature, more closely to the lakes of this country. While on the former full length Mieli Maasa from 2007 as well on the Split with Wyrd & Kehrä some Pagan Black elements, mostly in the form of blackish vocals and some fast paced BM parts, accompanied the Folk Metal sound, these harsher parts are nearly completely missing on Saimaata Ei Sanoilla Selitä. Instead of this Varjosielu, sole member and multi instrumentalist of HÄIVE, enriched his music by even more folk parts and traditional instruments like the kantele, flutes, a harmonium etc. and mixes different styles of music like classic heavy metal with sweeping melodies with Folk Rock (with a definite stress on rock), some rare doomy parts with heavy riffing and more calm, traditional Finnish sounds.
The created music then also switches between different moods und combines majestic, rapturous passages with really joyful, rocking parts, which come over especially fine when enhanced by double bass drum parts. On the first listen this surely sounds a bit odd but very soon one is grabbed tight by this unusual combination, which keeps the songs far away from cheesiness or silly tootlings.
By turning away from the earlier darker sound, on Saimaata Ei Sanoilla Selitä HÄIVE weave a nearly spring-like scenery and, in contrast with other formerly related Pagan or Folk bands, don't show the mysterious and eerie sides but the picturesque and beautiful forms of nature.
While on the first run of Saimaata Ei Sanoilla Selitä - a purely instrumental album - I somewhat missed the mix of harsh and clean vocals of Mieli Maasa, I have to say that with each further run, this decision approves as absolutely right and well chosen. Only in this way the many melodies fully grow and create wonderful pictures and images in front of the listener's mind's eye.
Truly an amazing yet terribly too short EP, which lets me wish for another full length, hopefully soon to come.