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The Fërtility Cült — A Song of Anger
(Bandcamp no#, 2025, DL)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2025-05-28

A Song of Anger Cover art

A fertility cult is a group of people practicing religious rituals aimed at stimulating reproduction in humans or the natural world. These rituals, known as fertility rites, often involve symbolic acts or sacrifices believed to ensure human welfare and prosperity, especially regarding harvests and offspring. In the present case, The Fërtility Cült is a Finnish band founded in 2008 which has been compared to Black Sabbath, King Crimson, Wishbone Ash, and Electric Wizard.  Now six years after their fourth album, they have released their fifth, A Song of Anger, and the first on Black Widow Records. The Fërtility Cült has a reputation as an intense live act and they’ve appeared twice at the Fruits de Mer sponsored Dream of Dr. Sardonicus Festivals in Cardigan, Wales, most recently in August 2024. At these festivals they met Sendelica and enlisted Pete Bingham as a guest on the album’s title track as a narrator instead of guitarist. A Song of Anger is my first encounter with The Fërtility Cült, but apparently A Song of Anger is the thematic prequel to Kosmodysseia, which critics dubbed as “close to perfection.” The group is labeled as a prog doom band, but what I hear on A Song of Anger is far more progressive rock than doom. If Kosmodysseia was close to perfection, then they’ve achieved full perfection with A Song of Anger. The band members are Eero Johannes Heinonen (guitar), Ville Kaila (bass, lead vocals), Artturi Mäkinen (drums and percussion), Ilari Ryhänen (saxophone and backing vocals), and Anssi Solismaa (keyboards). Many of the band’s old friends feature as guests on the album: their original guitarist Arttu Kimmel (lead guitar on “The Curse of the Atreides”); Antti Loponen (lead guitar on “Fame Everlasting”); Minttu Tervaharju (lead vocals on “Briseis” and backup vocals on “A Song of Anger”); Markus Pajakkala (soprano saxophone on “A Song of Anger”); and of course Pete Bingham (narration on “A Song of Anger”). What make The Fërtility Cült stand out from the rest is Ilari Ryhänen’s outstanding sax riffing that seamlessly weaves in and out of Heinonen’s lead guitar for some extremely powerful music. Taken as a whole, A Song of Anger is the ultimate sci-fi prog extravaganza. The orchestration of each track is meticulously crafted with shifting emotions, textures, and tempo. You cannot get much better than A Song of Anger. Highly recommended!  And if you are curious, all four of their earlier albums are available as free downloads on Bandcamp.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): The Fërtility Cült

More info
http://thefertilitycult.bandcamp.com/album/a-song-of-anger

 

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