KARI (RUESLATTEN) Pilot CD (2002)

Before she went solo, Kari Rueslatten was the voice behind The 3rd and the Mortal, one of the most quietly devastating bands to come out of the Norwegian doom and gothic metal scene in the early nineties. Pilot, released in 2002, sits in a softer register, folk-inflected and introspective, but her voice carries the same weight it always has.

This is the kind of record that occupies a specific, uncrowded space between atmospheric folk rock and the darker edges of female-fronted Nordic music. It doesn't chase the drama of symphonic metal or the bleakness of her earlier work, but there's a melancholy running through it that fans of The Gathering, Ambeon, or early Nightwish will recognise immediately. An underappreciated corner of the dark alternative catalogue, and a genuinely hard copy to track down.

Full length album on CD. Folk rock. Released 2002.

Fans of: The 3rd and the Mortal, Ambeon, The Gathering, Nightwish