Moonsorrow Finland

"Moonsorrow are a respected and much loved folk metal band, and I totally understand why people like them. They manage to generate a dark and almost oppressive atmosphere with their viking/black metal derived folk music, which also contains just the right amount of elements from gothic doom metal.

For some reason, the metallic elements on this album do not really rock my world. I think that the tracks are well performed, and I can hear that they are sincerely expressive, although I am put off by the way that most of the songs are smothered with epic keyboards, but they strike me as sounding kind of generic - not in relation to folk metal as such, but in relation to the context of each other and the album as a whole. Also, the atonally screamed black metal styled vocals on this release tend to annoy me, and I think that they add to my experience of monotony (more tonal vocals could add some melodic variation).

While I find the metallic side to this album a bit uninteresting, I really enjoy the folk music bits and the folk music instrumentation and melodies, which I think save this album from, in me experience, being a completely monotonous and uninspiring listen.

My own sour-ass opinions aside, I think that fans of viking metal and more extreme folk metal will enjoy this album immensely - and that such fans will be able to enjoy all the folk metal gems and qualities to this release that I have obviously failed to identify.

(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"

"Nice! Just two epic tracks clocking in at approx. 30 minutes each, and it makes sense musically. It's a bit repetitive here and there, but it goes with the style (Doom Metal). What's progressive about it is how the folk elements are combined seamlessly with the rest, and how they manage to do some pretty impressive layering - there's so much going on simultaneously, it reminds me much of Devin Townsend's Terria. It's not at all weird though, it's rather traditional and "old school", just with more epic proportion and very disciplined composition and execution."