Ah, Finland! A land of great woodlands and snow-covered... ok, I am not going to recycle my review for ADRAMELECH for this review of SAMMAL's "No. 2". SAMMAL, as exuberantly Finnish as they may be, should never be mentioned in the same breath as a band like ADRAMELECH. SAMMAL is neither better nor worse than a Technical Death Metal band but they do possess the advantage of being catchier and more palatable than those Finnish Death Metal bands from the 90's.

SAMMAL is just a straightforward Rock N' Roll band. As young as these guys appear to be, their sound is actually very mature. The record sounds clean and calculated, just as anyone should expect an album released in 2014 to sound, but there are boatloads of 60's Psychedelic Rock and 70's Progressive Rock that really define the characteristics of SAMMAL.

SAMMAL choose to sacrifice the option of sounding contemporary in order to produce music that fits more along the lines of the Classic Rock bands they pay homage to on "No. 2". Listening to this EP should throw you back to bands like early BLACK SABBATH, THE DOORS, CREAM and IRON BUTTERFLY. The guitar tones and the organ keyboards should be a dead giveaway that the music of SAMMAL isn't something you'd expect to hear in the year 2014.

The only criticism I have about SAMMAL is that since I do not know how to speak Finnish, I cannot really interpret this band accurately. This isn't so much of a criticism of SAMMAL as a shortcoming on my behalf. SAMMAL has every right to sing and write lyrics in their native tongue and the cultural and language barriers set by this talented group really have no consequence on me other than making it nearly impossible to sing along.

The vocal styling provided by bearded front man Janu Kiviniemi are superb and memorable, even if I have no idea what he's singing about. His vocal hook on "Tähdelle Kuolemaan" is so uplifting and easy on the ears and helps this EP conclude very smoothly. Janu's voice is a huge part of the reason why I really liked 'No. 2' and hasn't forced me a crude poop joke in relation to the album title yet!

"Neito Maan" is probably my most beloved track off of this whole thing. It becomes extremely playful a little over halfway through the song. The inclusion of the strings and horns really brings this song over the top and adds to the infectious groove of the song. It mixes some Proto-Doom Metal riffs with parts that I can only compare to Gypsy music. There are some dark undertones in the musicianship but overall, the song is bravely upbeat and bright. The impossible to ignore church organ keyboards are so amazing too!

"No. 2" came out in a year like 1971 and I was a music critic at that time, I would proudly state that SAMMAL were way ahead of their time and would only be fully appreciated by music fans in the future. But seeing how SAMMAL and I are grounded in the 21^st Century, I praise SAMMAL for taking me back to a time where character and energy were essential characteristics for Classic Rock music. "No. 2" should be a great little time capsule everybody should jump inside of to experience the majesty of Classic Rock before it became homogenized.