The cover of Finnish band Tenhi’s third album depicts a sloughed-off snake skin, inviting the critical listener to look for signs of metamorphosis and change in their music, but Maaäet isn’t markedly different from their earlier work, and in fact a snake shedding its skin doesn’t go through dramatic changes, it merely emerges as a larger, fresher and more powerful version of itself, and in this regard the imagery is spot-on, as Maaäet is Tenhi’s best release to date. ‘Varpuspäivä’ opens the album with interwoven piano and violin, simply presented over sparse percussion, and joined after a lengthy introductory passage by Tyko Saarikko’s desolate, parched vocals, a voice reminiscent of Mark Lanegan’s (ex-Screaming Trees). I've read some reviews objecting to Saarikko’s voice, as well as to the exclusive use of the Finnish language, but I don’t have a problem with either. The rough edges of Saarikko’s vocals help to preserve a coarse, folksy, peasant feel to Tenhi’s sound and prevent it from becoming too precious and ethereal, and use of the band’s mother tongue is absolutely normal for this kind of back-to-the-land nature music. After ‘Varpuspäivä’ closes, the rest of the album ensues in a calmly meditative flow like the stately onward progress of a dark, wide river. It’s hard to pick out individual tracks, even though I've now heard Maaäet many times, although the album does reach a profoundly emotional and swellingly majestic conclusion in ‘Rannalta Haettu’. But if you can’t find an hour to sit quietly and listen to the whole of this beautiful album from start to finish, either you need to get your work / life balance sorted or you have an attention span too short to enjoy Tenhi’s music. Tenhi are often referred to as a neo-folk band, but this has never seemed accurate to me, and I suspect that their inclusion on the definitive neo-folk compilation Looking For Europe, just like the inclusion of Empyrium, has more to do with their being signed to Prophecy (whose imprint Auerbach Tonträger released Looking For Europe) than because they are really part of the neo-folk scene as such. Tenhi don’t play shows alongside neo-folk bands, they don’t appear to promote the kind of socio-cultural and political agendas associated with many, if not all, neo-folk acts, and above all, to the best of my knowledge the members of Tenhi neither appear on other neo-folk bands’ albums, nor do they have those musicians appearing on Tenhi releases – within the small and close-knit neo-folk scene, this kind of cross-fertilisation and collaboration is endemic. It would be more accurate to say that Tenhi have a melancholy, romantic, nature-worshipping sensibility very similar to that of many neo-folk bands, and neo-folk fans won’t have to try very hard to like them. But Tenhi (again, like Empyrium) are at heart a rock band – and none the worse for all that. If you doubt this, just run a quick Google check on ‘Tenhi Maaäet’ and see how many metal websites are reviewing this album, even though you need a pretty discerning ear to realise that Tenhi are really playing a kind of downbeat, acoustic metal – this isn’t for headbanging to!