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Timo Tolkki - Saana-Warrior of the Light, Part 1: Journey to Crystal Mountain Review

by Matt Hensch

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My daily listening routine usually consists of heavy music from the dawn's opening to its eventual end, so having the occasional anomaly is certainly a healthy experience I enjoy. Something like "Saana-Warrior of the Light, Part 1: Journey to Crystal Island," however, turned this little vacation of mine into a solid waste of time that quickly repelled me back to my riff-driven basin, with all my little blast beats and guitars happy to see me. I didn't loathe "Saana" because it's not a metal record; that's something a moron would say. "Saana" is simply a vapid exploration of Timo Tolkki's inability to write solid, enjoyable music along with a number of silly ideas and banal performances colorlessly adopted by Tolkki's wrecked experiment. I honestly like the idea, but the execution is so poor even my Paxil can't stop me from sulking and asking, "Why?"

Most of "Saana" revolves around short tracks covered in sublime keyboards and other calm instrumentals plodding on to create a chilled atmosphere, as most ambient music is supposed to. While Tolkki did a decent job making the record accessible at hindsight, everything slowly dissolves, because there's nothing else. Several of the sixteen tracks slither at the same pace, using the same functionalities and ideas as the song before, and eventually collapsing altogether. Different approaches like narration or electronic drums appear here and there, but it's completely lifeless and results in no zest at all.

"Saana" also has an ensemble of singers to go along with the atmosphere, but once again, the over-the-top charade shines solely on pure mediocrity. The various vocal performers are much like the remaining album: powerless, daft, and boring. If Tolkki tried to keep his listeners uninterested, then he flawlessly succeeded. And that's probably the album's biggest problem: it's
just not memorable at all. Tolkki whips out his guitar toward the end of the album, but don't believe his finger-flexing greatness shows up for even a second; instead, he sluggishly adds a few notes here and there, seemingly just because. None of it properly equates with the inadequate atmosphere anyway, so why bother? We didn't forget you play guitar, but thanks for the
reminder.

Timo Tolkki has been responsible for some of the greatest power metal this universe will ever know, not to mention his guitar playing is idiosyncratic and of a glorious foundation that has and will encourage generations of future guitar players; he's an important figure whether you'd like to admit it or not. "Saana," being his estranged dive into the unknown, deserves credit at its appropriate moments and overall theme, but something like this still pushes all the wrong buttons; something like this will never become remotely memorable; something like this is just a pursuit into redundancy. "Saana" will do wonders at putting you to sleep if insomnia invites itself in, or maybe driving a girl on a first date so you don't freak her out with Morbid Angel CDs; its serious uses are sadly limited to such trivialities.


Timo Tolkki - Saana-Warrior of the Light, Part 1: Journey to Crystal Mountain

Rating:2.8

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