Moonsorrow - V: Havitetty (2007)

This year is looking extremely bright for metal, folk metal especially. In 2007, several pivotal folk metal bands have already released new albums or will be releasing them. The notable ones are Equilibrium, Ensiferum, Eluveitie, Korplikaani, Finntroll, Vintersorg, and Moonsorrow. There are so many more, but those are the ones I really care about.

This brings us to Moonsorrow, an already extremely established folk / viking metal band based out of Helsinki, Finland. They're just another testament to the dominance of Finland in modern metal. This is their newest album, entitled V: Havitetty.

To start this off, this album only has two songs on it. The first, entitled Jäästä Syntynyt / Varjojen Virta, comes in at 30:10. I'm not going to pretend I know what that means. All I know is that there are no vowels in the second word, and that is both frightening and confusing. The second song, Tuleen Ajettu Maa, is a lowly 26:19. Each of these songs is utterly mind blowing. Because of their extremely long length, they make for some of the most epic pieces of music I've ever listened to.

Jäästä Syntynyt / Varjojen Virta starts off with the faint sounds of wind blowing through a forest. This, while cool, is not very original in the case of folk metal. Anyway, it still sounds badass. About four minutes in, a solitary bass line comes in, which is then accompanied by an orchestral keyboard background. Eventually, this is joined by a light electric guitar lead, which is then accompanied by acoustic guitar. After a while, this is accompanied by Finnish chanting. If I were to dissect the direction this song takes entirely, it would undoubtedly take up several paragraphs. There are so many tempo changes and shifts in vocal patterns and variable distortion. It goes from light acoustic folk music to an onslaught of aggression with blast beats and gritty, foreboding vocals. Just as it seems to pick up, it comes into a single bass line, which then goes back into an emotionally charged distorted buildup. There's not much else to say about this song than that it's epic.

Tuleen Ajettu Maa is the stronger of the two songs, I believe. It starts out with the sound of a burning fire and comes into a Celtic style folk song predominantly chanting. Just as with the other song, it builds into an epic piece of mind-blowing intensity. By the last eight minutes of this song, it even comes into an orchestral piece. It's simply stunning.

When it comes to growls, I can only enjoy ones that are done tastefully and masterfully. When they're done poorly, I will completely abandon a band and most probably delete their album. As a fan of clean falsettos, I do not tolerate crap when it comes to coarse, guttural vocals. Ville Sorvali knows what he's doing. These are some of the most tastefully done coarse vocals I've ever heard. They also don't appear to be heavily enhanced, which is the only downfall of bands like Equilibrium. I was very impressed.

The guitar tone is very crisp and refined. This album is extremely well produced. I think the idea of having two very long, very epic songs on one album is very original. In fact, I think they should have just combined the two songs into one and attempted to put Sleep's Dopesmoker to shame. While we're on the subject, I would like to express my utter confusion as to why people enjoy Sleep. They do what their band name suggests; put me to sleep. Bah.

Anyway, this album rules. If you're impatient, go download some Excrementory Grindfuckers. Their mindless 20 second songs will be sure to give you the quick thrills you're looking for. If you want to sit down for a while and really take the time to enjoy some the most epic music ever, get V: Havitetty.


7/10