UMUR "Harhakuvat" is the 5th full-length studio album by Finnish post hardcore/ crust act Unkind. The album was released in August 2011 by Relapse Records.

The music on the album is rooted in hardcore punk, but while especially the drums predominantly play hardcore punk rythms (in the faster paced parts of the tracks), "Harhakuvat" is by no means a "regular" hardcore punk album. Unkind has a keyboard player included in the lineup and his atmosphere enhancing layers give the music a strong melancholic touch. The keyboards also soften the otherwise aggressive sound a bit, and while I occasionally miss a bit more bite and rawness, I think this production choice generally works very fine. The vocals, which are shared by one of the guitarists and the bassist are aggressive, shouting and raw. They sound very convincing. It´s a nice touch that the band have chosen to perform in their native language.

"Harhakuvat" is for a large part an energetic and fast-paced affair, but Unkind seamlessly blend in mid-paced atmospheric parts too. The 7:31 minutes long "Johtajat Ja Uhrit" fully embrace a slow, atmospheric and melancholic post metal sound, which works very well for the band. The band also make use of a really interesting sample about the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict, that suits that track perfectly. A description could be a mix of the aggressive post hardcore sound of Converge and the crushingly heavy yet atmospheric post metal of Neurosis spiced up with the melancholic Scandinavian atmosphere I associate with acts like Katatonia and Ghost Brigade.

"Harhakuvat" has been a nice surprise to me, and all in all I think it´s a very good quality album. The songs are well written, the production is professional and the musicianship impeccable. A 3.5 - 4 star rating is warranted.