Intohimo is Finnish for passion or ardor and the band Intohimo certainly carries that through in their music. From a style perspective, the sound falls into the somewhat nebulous category of post-hardcore, which can really mean a lot of different things to different people. With Intohimo on this ep, expect to hear vocals covering everything from soaring clean choruses to shouted and screaming verses, driving guitars and drums, breakdowns and melodic sections, and even some parts best described as ambient.
Intohimo is one of those bands who have seemed to hit the music scene at just the right time, winning the best unsigned act award at the Swedish National Indie Awards in 2006 and then being able to partner with a member of Blindside for an album and opening for Underoath in 2008-2009. From there, Intohimo have played at several big festivals including the prestigious SXSW festival in Austin, TX and toured with Write this Down and Blindside in 2011.
Being new to Intohimo, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first hit play on the album. “Tale of a Seeker” starts out with a brief violin/viola section then the guitars and drums kick in and the song takes off. Overall, I hear an influence from the band Blindside in both overall sound and in some of the vocal stylings, most similar to their Silence album. That being said, Intohimo has a sound that is more leaning toward metalcore than Blindside, complete with breakdowns.
“Colours Did Not Exist in 1817” was a bit of a surprise as it is short instrumental starting out with a church organ-like sound that slowly builds into some soaring guitar before transitioning into the next song, “I am Doubt Defined”. Again, more Blindside influence can be heard in the vocals in “I am Doubt Defined” in some sections, while other sections musically and vocally are similar to Switchfoot. “Endeavour” starts out with some solitary piano before some metal riffing kicks in and the song goes into the verses alternating between screaming, gang vocals, and melodic clean singing sections separated at times by breakdowns and ambient sections with soft-spoken vocals and coming full circle at the end with more solitary piano.
Overall, the music and production is well done on the album, but as happens within this genre, I can’t help but feel that I’ve heard this before or that it could be from any number of bands. What I hear as the influence of Blindside into the sound of Intohimo does add some differentiation from others in the genre and that does serve to somewhat elevate Intohimo above other, similar bands.
Rating: 6/10
Written by John Jackson
Tracklist:
1) Tale Of A Seeker
2) Colours Did Not Exist In 1817
3) I Am Doubt Defined
4) Endeavour
Band Members:
Johan Lindblom – vocals
Albin Blomqvist – guitars, backup vocals
Joakim Bergquist – guitars
Christofer “Poffe” Andersson – bass
Joakim Moeller – drums, backup vocals
Record Label: Snapping Fingers Snapping Necks, May 2012
Discography:
In the deepest of mind (demo) [2004]
PastPresentAndNeverAgain (demo) [2005]
Failures, Failures, Failures & Hope [2007]
Us; The Hollows [2009]
Winter Sun (EP) [2012]
Northern Lights [2012]
Weblinks: Facebook / Myspace / Twitter
Buy the album here:
Holland: First Paradox
Norway: Nordic Mission