Starting 2025 with a bang was always important, and I elected the “being 26 days late with your Record o’ the Year post” as the best possible way to give everyone that patented Angry Metal Guy feeling of waiting and waiting only to be smacked in the face with 5000 words that you disagree with entirely. Welcome to the Wonderful World of Executive Dysfunction™! Let’s make a list!
I once wrote that Verikalpa bears “the accordion of tradition to the sauna of the metal gods, so that we might have something new to listen to while we drink.” But, let’s be honest, “competent but derivative” is not the praise anyone is looking for when they create music. And so one wonders, four years after my initial exposure, is that the only contribution Verikalpa had to make?
“It’s March, so, naturally, the time has come to reveal what precious ore hath been harvested from our ever-filthy filtration system… in January. Now backed by the full might of the Big Guy Himself (patent pending), the workforce maintaining this system of gunk upheaval and refuse retrieval grows, and deep intimidation and torture tactics lift heavy to get butts moving and fingers typing.” Teamwork builds the dream… works.
![Verikalpa – Tuoppitanssi [Things You Might Have Missed 2020]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/verikalpa_tuoppitanssi_01-768x768.jpg)
“Verikalpa at its core is akin to a blend of melodic death and black metal. Laden with keys that sound like accordions and a logo that looks straight off of Ensiferum’s merch table, Tuoppitanssi could have fallen with ease into the ‘been done before’ bin without much effort from the listener.” And yet, I’m reviewing it 10 months late.
