Many fans of heavy metal may not know it but the latest wave of heavy metal bands is not from New York or Los Angeles. It isn't even from England or Germany. Nope, many of the newest most interesting heavy metal bands hail from a land far north, Finland. As someone who grew up going to sauna, I am enjoying these interesting bands.
One such band is Finntroll. They are a folk metal band (as opposed to symphonic metal like the Finnish band Nightwish) with lyrics sung in Swedish. Finntroll literally means a troll from Finland. Ur Jordens Djup (From the Depths of the Earth) is their fifth album and fifth line up due to various line up changes (retirements, deaths, firings) and continues the band's unique sound.
The Band
Mathias "Vreth" Lillmåns – vocals
Samuli "Skrymer" Ponsimaa – guitar
Mikael "Routa" Karlbom – guitar
Sami "Tundra" Uusitalo – bass guitar
Samu "Beast Dominator" Ruotsalainen – drums
Henri "Trollhorn" Sorvali – keyboards
* - basic information from Wikipedia.com
The Music
How exactly does one describe music that is Finnish Folk Metal sung in Swedish? Obviously, there will be no discussion of the lyrics here, I do not speak Swedish nor can I understand it, so I frankly have no idea whether they are singing about death and destruction or the effect of a single currency in the European Economic Union. The lyrics are sung with a raspy growl by Mathias, and are well matched to heavy metal. The closest singer in metal that comes to mind would be Lemmy of Motorhead. In my mind, I picture angry trolls in full Viking armor preparing for an invasion of the Anglo Saxon territories.
The guitars are driving but not monotonous. The rhythms and melodies although presented with full "sturm and drang" of power chords delivered at maximum gain through stacks of Marshall amps, have plenty of a folksy sort of melody that would sound more at home, but not as interesting performed on acoustic guitars, lutes and mandolins. The keyboards on this album are more prevalent than on early albums and round out the bands melodic sounds, at times giving the bands sound an almost carnival like effect. At times the keyboards sound like an amped up merry go round melody. Bass and drums provide a solid heavy metal beat.
The Lyrics
As I said earlier, I don't speak Swedish, but I did find some translations of earlier songs. This is one verse of a song translated into English
The Icecold Trollblood
The battle against the human.
Raged until the horn's call.
The sun brightens, now everything is silent.
The blood runs down the mountain.
The most fearless ones, will now be risen to eternal life.
It is not from this album, I could only find earlier songs translated. However, this is a good representative sample. Many songs are of mythical creatures and mythical battles that one might find in a Frank Frazetta painting or a book of Norse myths.
The Songs
I don't want to go into a song by song description here, but I wanted to attempt to describe a couple songs in detail so you would get a feel for the album. Besides, all the song titles are in Finnish. so most of you won't understand them anyway.
En Mastig Har begins with acoustic guitars sounding like the beginning of a square dance except with foreign sounding lyrics. Soon this is joined in by the crash of electric guitars, yet the ho-down from hell melody remains prevalent. I can picture a square dance from hell with demons dancing about. The bridge in the song is again acoustic sounding like an early folk song, then into the next verse with aggressive metal guitars then a repeat of the gentle acoustic melody, except with aggressive guitars.
Gryning sounds like the beginning of a horror movie featuring some gruesome frightening beast. Atmospheric sounds, grunts, and orchestral music sound. Strains of music that reminded me of Holst the Planets crash in loud and ominous. Quiet piano music and strings play again and we can hear what sound like footsteps on snow and animal noises. The full symphonic sound rises again. Soon it segues right into
Korpens saga which picks up the melody from the last song with a full vocal chorus that sounds like a bar room victory chant. Now the orchesteral sound has been replaced with full blown electric guitars and bass and a screaming vocal lead. The drums beat frantically backing the vocals. I really wish I knew what he was singing, but from the sound of it, it is a song of some glorious and very bloody victory.
The music of Finntroll is not what I would call typical heavy metal music, it really is unique and has very interesting and entertaining sound. I will be picking up some more Finntroll albums.
Summary
If you like Heavy Metal, but are looking for something completely different from the cookie cutter death metal and speed metal bands look to Finland and pick up some Finntroll. You might just like it! I also give thanks to my Finnish friend Mikko for loaning me his Nightwish albums and his Finntroll albums.
Great Music to Play While Pillaging and Plundering the neighboring town
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