Fell Willow - Elsewhere (2012)

Fell Willow is an American boreal black metal band, i find it like black folk metal. Its got only two members and they started playing in 2011. This is their first album and it has released free at bandcamp.com. So you can download the entire album from there if you like. The band is pretty underground, and really hasnt gotten any popular attention, but i find it interesting and fresh in the style of folk metal. Which usually comes from scandinavia.. well this ones from USA so you should check it out because of that and becouse of the epic music they make... of course.. The band describes itself as "Epic Organic Boreal Black Metal", sounds kinda epic, right?

  To the album. It starts with aa orchestral intro, that kinda gets you on the right mood for this bit depressive styled folk metal. The ravensroad represent albums faster side which is done with nice touch to the folk style. Even though the melodies and riffs  are kinda simple, the riffs are very catchy, if your willing to listen more than 2 times. The studio quality is not the greatest, but this album has been done with the bands own money and mixings so dont give it too much attention, i really like it thought. I kinda hate the over over over mixed songs, which are kinda usual these days. Well I havent never been a pop metal fan, so its kinda logic.
  
  Anyway the albums sounds sound great for me. There is few songs, that i dont like so much, and i really havent paid much attention to them but they actually started sound better and better after few listening. I got this problem that i cant really listen album many times, but leaving some songs between and i never get really familiar with them, and this happened with this album also.

  "The Coldhands" and "elsewhere", are those songs, and they arent so catchy and mind touching than the others but great songs, maybe someday when i really would listen them over and over again, maybe. And then comes "Winter`s eye which is a slow song, and its really epic with Turisas style singing and slow but really intense riffs and, its just greatness. Like the other faster song in this album "Frost Fangs", its really great, its got some great piano and flute melodies, but still i like the slower songs of this song more like "The Larkspurs Crown" which is, no doubt one of the best songs in this album, great mix of this battle style orchestra clean singing and deep growls.

  The growls in this album are some pure perfection and really gives orgams to my ear. Combined with some epic slow riffs, this album gets me the goosepumps, with its greatest moments. Its shame that this album as usually albums lacks, of the decent line that would keep all of the albums song great. It`s just hard to make album full of hits but its been done, and i dont see the reason why shouldnt i expects those great performances from upcoming album.

Btw there was only one song in youtube, so this is really underground....  not the best but good song still.

Rating 3.5/5

Tracklist:
1. Sapling (1:22)
2. The Ravensroad (4:07)
3. Coldhands (2:51)
4. Elsewhere (4:27)
5. Winter's Eye (3:58)
6. Frost Fangs (4:53)
7. The Elk and the Elm (3:39)
8. Meltwater (2:16)
9. The Larkspur Crown (9:08)
10. Reflection Beneath the Elder Canopy (3:10)
11. I Riden Så (4:30)

Mokoma - Sydänjuuret (2010)

Mokoma is a finnish death/thrash metal band. It was formed in Lappeenranta in 1996. They have released eight albums but the newest one Varjopuoli includes only the acoustic versions of some old songs. So this review consentrates on the second new album Sydänjuuret. It was released in 2010.

Sydänjuuret includes 11 songs of pure melodic thrash metal with finnish lyrics. The first song is Sydänjuuret and it's a good start with an attitude. Next song is Vastavirtaan. It is nothing special but the original Mokoma song. Then comes Ei kahta sanaa (ilman kolmatta). There is no growls on this song and personally I don't really like much Marko Annala's clean vocals so this song presents the weaker part of the album. Vääräleuka starts with a nice guitar intro. then comes a brutal verse with deep crowls and chorus with a nice vocal melody. Next comes the second best song of this album Kristuksen ruumis ja pedon pää. Even there's no growls on this song I really like the vocal melodies there. Then comes Niin hyville kuin pahoille. There's nothing special. It's a good song but it doesn't show anything new. Rautaa Rinnoista is a bit different kind of song. It starts with a bit folkish guitar melody and then comes a brutal verse and chorus etc.. Älä anna sille nimeä is a slower song. Almost the whole song is played with clean guitars and there's no growls except some screams in the end. I don't like this song at all. Kalmannäkijä is an original thrash song. Then comes Hei hei heinäkuu, which i have heard millions times on the radio and it really annoys me nowadays. I don't know what's wrong with this song but i just don't like it.  The last song is Turhuuksien turhuus which is definetely the best song on this album. It's brutal, it's melodic, lots of growls and nice guitar solo.

Sydänjuuret is the only Mokoma album that I like. But still there's a bit too much of songs that I don't like. This is a good start for me and Mokoma and who knows if their up coming album 180 astetta would be even better than this. But in the end I want to say that Sydänjuuret is a good album and if you like the other Mokoma albums, I quess you like Sydänjuuret.

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Tracklist:

1. Sydänjuuret
2. Vastavirtaan
3. Ei kahta sanaa (ilman kolmatta)
4. Vääräleuka
5. Kristuksen ruumis ja pedon pää
6. Niin hyville kuin pahoille
7. Rautaa rinnoista
8. Älä anna sille nimeä
9. Kalmannäkijä
10. Hei hei heinäkuu
11. Turhuuksien Turhuus 

                                                                            

Korpiklaani - Manala (2012)

Korpiklaani is a finnish folk metal band, and it has been formed in 1993 under the name "Shaman". The name has been changed to "Korpiklaani" in 2003. Korpiklaani`s music is very catchy and the singing is really unique, like growls with melodies. You should hear it yourself though. The songs are usually pretty simple and the songs are really good to turn up the atmosphere. They are mostly happy songs, and especially the songs named after some drink like "Vodka" and "Tequila" are very popular songs. This is why the bands style is also generally called "drinking metal". The music is really good for evening get-togethers. Happy melodies and great riffs and the epic metallic touch cant ruin the night. Seriously.

Korpiklaani`s music consists of metal riffs mixed with accordion and violin, which kinda make them folk metal. I havent really listened much of Korpiklaani before this album but, after seeing them live second time, it just caught me. And thats why i cant much compare this album to the before realeased ones.

In additon, I`m gona use the finnish names for the songs in the review.

Manala has been relaseased in two albums. One in finnish lyrics and songs, and one with english versions of all songs and lyrics.They have released one musicvideo "Rauta/Iron" from the album, in english and in finnish. Rauta is a good song, not the best that this album offers though. Rauta is not an usual korpiklaani song, with happy metal riffs and middle tempo. Its a bass based song mostly with epic bass riff, but thats pretty much all. The album starts with the song "Kunnia", that is a solid Korpiklaani song, nothing very special but really good  background music for get-togethers. The song "Tuonelan tuvilla" sounds bit like fill up song and, it has some good parts but mostly i think its bit too simple. Third comes "Rauta". the fourth song "Ruumiinmultaa" is very much like the fist song and like that its usual Korpiklaani song. Its a good song, but still nothing very special.

  The best of this album, in my opinion is the slower songs, the "Synkkä" and "Metsälle", are very beautiful songs, with epic violin melodies, and some touching lyric. The slow songs are really different and  the song "Metsälle" is the best that this album offers. Its acoustic guitars and violin play grow into epicness with distortion guitars and rough singing. You should really listen this with a care, the usual Korpiklaani songs go into background and you can listen them a million times, but you dont catch the details from them, expect like some repeating lyric like "Vodka".

   "Sumussa Hämärän Aamun" is a different song that is a slow one but really like Metallica style metal music, whic is a new branching to Korpiklaani, i kinda like the new style and kinda not. It`s refreshing compared to other songs of the album but still, its not good. Maybe if they keep going more to this type of songs, it gets better. The folk style is really in a smaller part, than in usual Korpiklaani songs. I dont really care for the instumental songs in this album, if youre gona do a instrumental you should get something more than in normal songs, but this album instrumentals were the same as the normal songs, without anything special. Expect the singing missing.

  The whole album, is good in all. I really missed some really cathcy riffs. But its all good, I got what i wanted from this album, good atmospherical music and few special really good songs. But chechk it out yourself. Its worth listening!

Rating 3.5/5 Stars

Tracklist:

1	- Kunnia
2	- Tuonelan Tuvilla
3	- Rauta
4	- Ruuminmultaa
5	- Petoeläimen Kuola
6	- Synkkä
7	- Ievan Polkka
8	- Husky Sledge
9	- Dolorous
10	- Uni
11	- Metsälle
12	- Sumussa Hämärän Aamun

Turisas - Stand Up And Fight (2011)

Turisas is a finnish folk metal band formed in 1997. They have released 3 studio albums and the newest one is called Stand Up And Fight. Turisas' music is very unique over all albums. Some have called their genre as Battle metal which is understandable because of their massive cinematic orchestrations and viking related lyrics.

Stand Up And Fight consists of nine songs closing the three-albums-long story about the norwegian vikings travel to the byzantine. The first song is called The March of the Varagian Guard. It's Majestic intro immediately tells you what is coming. Pure and heavy viking/folk metal as you may expect from Turisas. The March of the Varangian Guard is a perfect start for this album. Next song is a little different Take the Day!. First i didn't like this song at all but after many listenings this song finally opened to me. Its chorus is a bit like influenced by 80's heavy metal? I don't know but it sounds really cool. Next we have this cheery Hunting Pirates. By this song Turisas shows how diverse band it really is. I have never heard this kind of metal whit all the accordion stuff and violin solos until know. Next song is Βένετοι! - Πράσινοι! I think this is the the worst song in this album. After so many listenings I still don't like this very much. Anyway, this song presents Turisas' versatile use of horns and trumpets and other classical instruments. Stand Up and Fight is a standard Turisas song. Theres's also a music video made of it. The video is kind of silly but the song is very good I think. Next song The Great Escape is very much different song as you may have used to hear by Turisas. As Take the Day, in some places this song also sounds like some older heavy metal. But in the end The Great Escape is a very good song. I especially liked the orchestrations in the latter part of it. Beautiful. Fear the Fear is one of the best songs in Stand Up And Fight. Nothing more to say, you just have to listen to it. Next song is clearly the best song Turisas have ever made. End Of an Empire, seven minutes and sixteen seconds of pure gold. I just can't come up with anything bad to say about this. Intro really reminds me about some movie scene. Verses are great, Bridges are epic with a fantastic choirs, choruses are perfect, growls sound awesome, interlude is very good and Iiro Rantalas piano playing fits there perfectly. And finally the choirs in the end. MAJESTIC. this song tells all what turisas is made of nowadays, in only seven minutes. The last song is The Bosphorus Freezes Over. Excellent ending for this epic album. It starts with an emotional and beatiful violin intro. And again this takes my mind into some scene in an old movie theatre. This is very good song and here's even finnish used in the lyrics which is always a good thing.

In this album there wasn't so much growls than in the others and I think it's kind of a good thing. Now the vocals has much variation keeping listeners interested. Other instruments does their job very good. All songs are good except Βένετοι! - Πράσινοι! But it just shows that Turisas still has something to do a little bit better.

Stand Up And Fight is clearly the best Turisas album. Album by album Turisas has grew its music so huge that I can't even imagine what's coming next. The Use of real classical instruments instead of some computer made stuff was a great choice from turisas. It makes the music feel much more realistic. I must say that Mathias Nygård has made incredible job. He has composed all the music, has made all the lyrics, and as the album info says: ''all the orchestral and classical choir arrangements are made by Perttu Vänskä under the iron fist of Nygård''. And the whole album is also produced by Nygård. In this album there wasn't so much growls than in the others and I think it's kind of a good thing. Now the vocals has much variation keeping listeners interested. I'll give the full 5 stars. Go, buy and listen to this album!

Rating: 5/5 Stars  

Tracklist:

1. "The March of the Varangian Guard" - 3:51
2. "Take the Day!" - 5:26
3. "Hunting Pirates" - 3:43
4. "Βένετοι! - Πράσινοι!" (Venetoi! - Prasinoi!) - 3:49
5. "Stand Up and Fight" - 5:27
6. "The Great Escape" - 4:51
7. "Fear the Fear" - 6:13
8. "End of an Empire" - 7:16
9. "The Bosphorus Freezes Over" - 5:37