They’ve gone through a few phases since then while keeping basically the same sound. Their last outing, 2008’s excellent New Dark Age focused more on the heavier end of their sound. The newest, Lustdriven, trends more toward the power and thrash end of what they do.

Things start a little shaky on “Kiuassault,” which as the name suggests is more of a chest-thumping salute to their manliness than a well-thought out song, but after that bit of indulgence things settle down.

More than anything, Lustdriven provides a showcase for the guitar work of Mikko Salovaara. Nowhere is it more felt than on “Heart and Will,” which opens in a thrash mode and has Salovaara shredding all over the place. He turns in some impressive work on the track, which is one of my favorite on the record. He shows a softer side of his work with the crystal clear guitar opening of “Lights Are Many,” which is a bit disappointing overall as it’s a little more conventional than the band’s past ballads. “Summer’s End” gives him a chance to show off his acoustic skills, which are just as solid as the blazing leads. Ilja Jalkanen offers an interesting vocal delivery on the track that’s somewhere between chanting and singing.

The best moment for Salovaara, in my mind, comes on the final track, “Winter’s Sting.” Brief acoustic moments tie it in with “Summer’s End” at the beginning, though it’s a much heavier song. But the highlight of the album for me are the interludes in the tune that offer a great blend of groove and acoustic folk guitar. I really wish they would have used that a little more on the track, as it’s outstanding.

Jalkanen, who has always grabbed me with his vocals, opts for a more straight-forward approach on many of the songs here. I would have liked to hear more of the growls that he used on New Dark Age, but he does mix it up a little. There’s the aforementioned “Summer’s End,” and the mechanical delivery on the verse of thrasher “Aftermath” that reminds me a little bit of Fear Factory.

Keyboard player Atte Tanskanen gets his moments as well. There’s some nice atmospheric piano work on “Of Love and Human Nature” that I really enjoy. “The Visionary” brings a heavy symphonic element blended with a guitar-driven march, and “The Quickening” opens with a dark piano and some soaring guitar work from Salovaara before taking on a bit of an old school hard rock feel.

As usual with Kiuas, the musicianship on Lustdriven is outstanding, and the record sounds great. Ultimately, Lustdriven doesn’t match the intensity of New Dark Age or the power of Spirit of Ukko and isn’t quite as memorable as either of those. That said, it’s still a solid addition to the Kiuas catalog.

The heart and soul of this album is a trio of songs, appropriately, in the middle of the record. It starts with the title track, opening with an old school death metal stomp riff opens the track followed by a soaring series of sweeps by guitarist Mikko Salovaara. It settles firmly into thrash territory after that with one of those big chorus melodies that gets the blood pumping. Throw in a couple of brief blasts of the original deathish riff and a growl or two scattered throughout the song, and it may be the strongest effort here, but it’s got competition. Next up is “To Excel and Ascend,” opening with a slightly exotic classical guitar lick and some folky, almost tribal drums. A thrash-power hybrid riff follows with the first real deathly vocal growls on the record that lead into certainly the most memorable chorus melody on the record. It brings a little groove to the record. The third song in this triumvirate, also starts with a surprising classical piano run. “Black Rose Withered” is a straight-up galloping thrasher that, lyrically, revisits The Spirit of Ukko tune “Thorns of a Black Rose.”

While those three songs are definitely the strong points of the record, The New Dark Age doesn’t really have a weak point. All of the songs are incredibly solid. They deliver up some folky leanings with the acoustic track “After the Storm,” which features a female vocalist (unidentified in any information on the record that I could find.) It has a heavy Fleetwood Mac feel with the harmonized male and female vocals, but that’s not a bad thing at all. “The Wanderer’s Lamentation” follows that same track with some nice acoustic guitar work under the verse before a big power metal crescendo kicks in. “Conqueror” has a soaring chorus that the power metal fans will appreciate. “Of Sacrifice, Loss and Reward” should appeal to melodic death fans. You get the picture. There really is something that most metal fans can appreciate here.

The band features a group of versatile musicians and everything is solidly played here. Salovaara provides great riffs and leads, Markku Naraneva pounds the skins with a vengeance and Atte Tanskanen provides some tasteful atmospheric keyboards that are never overbearing. Without a doubt, though, one of the biggest strengths, if not the biggest, of Kiuas is vocalist Ilja Jalkanen. He’s got a powerful, versatile voice with force and balls. No wimpy power metal vocals here. Of course, if their Web site is to be believed he’s got a powerful ego to go with it, but the dude can sing.

I’ve only got one question about this record. Why am I still having to order these guys as an import? Someone please get them a U.S. release.