Hellä jättiläinen (Finnish for "Gentle Giant") was commissioned by the kantele player Eija Kankaanranta. Räihälä wrote the composition in early days of 2004, and the première performance was heard within six weeks. As the title of the work gives out, Räihälä was heavily influenced by the 1970's prog rock group Gentle Giant and their music. Instead of trying to compose in their style, Räihälä deciced to use their melodies as basic material for this piece. There are a few recognizeable tunes included, starting from Pantagruel's Nativity and ending with The Advent of Panurge. In between Räihälä uses rhythmic and melodic ideas from a half a dozen other Gentle Giant songs. In the original program note, Räihälä emphasized that in this work he is not trying to arrange Gentle Giant's music for kantele and vibraphone, and even less is he trying to write progressive rock. Not trying to promote the picture of an ancient "prog dinosaur", Räihälä's tribute to Gentle Giant is a light and airy piece of music.

Eija Kankaanranta has performed Hellä jättiläinen with both acoustic and electric kantele, and together with the composer, is convinced that the piece works better with an electric kantele.