  
Pagan/folk metal band Korpiklaani are about to release their eight album - Manala
Jonne Järvelä gives this summary of the storyline: “`Manala´ is the realm of the dead - the underworld in Finnish mythology. This place is best known for its appearance in the Finnish national epic Kalevala, on which many of our new songs are based. In the 16th poem of Kalevala, Väinämöinen, a shamanistic hero travels to Manala in search for knowledge about the dead. On his journey he meets the ferrywoman - a girl, Tuonen tytti, or Tuonen piika (Death's maid), who takes him across the river of Tuoni. However, on the isle of Tuoni he is not given the spells he was originally looking for and he barely manages to escape the place. After his return he curses anyone trying to enter the place alive.”
In the folk or pagan metal genres there is a very wide range of styles and differing levels of heaviness. Ensiferum for instance have a strong folk feel to their latest album with a bit of metal thrown in. Other bands are more metal with a bit of folk thrown in. Korpiklaani are more towards the middle of the spectrum - it's heavy, there's no doubt about that, but the folk/pagan feel is still strong.
If you've listened to Korpiklaani before then you'll have a fairly good idea what to expect - it's great folk metal with a fun party feel to it. If you haven't listened to Korpiklaani then it's about time you did - they are an excellent folk metal band and well worth listening to.
You can check out the video to one of the songs on Youtube - its available in Finnish (Rauta) and English (The Steel):
Follow this link to watch the video for “Rauta”: http://tinyurl.com/7589v5t
or click here to enjoy the clip for “The Steel”: http://tinyurl.com/8323rro
The album will be available as a 2CD edition. The first disc is the original album, recorded in Finnish. The second disc is an English version of the album.
This is a great folk metal album - its got a great blend of metal and folk, so it's heavy without losing that folk feel, and most of all it's just got a great fun feel to it - definitely music to get drunk and party to. Highly recommended.
Manala will be released on 3rd August 2012
Line up:
Jonne Järvelä - vocals, guitar, hurdy-gurdy & percussion
Tuomas Rounakari - fiddle
Juho Kauppinen - accordion
Jarkko Aaltonen - bass
Cane Savijärvi - guitar
Matson Johansson - drums
Track listing:
1. Kunnia
2. Tuonelan Tuvilla
3. Rauta
4. Ruumiinmultaa
5. Petoeläimen Kuola
6. Synkkä
7. Ievan Polkka
8. Husky Sledge
9. Dolorous
10. Uni
11. Metsälle
12. Sumussa Hämärän Aamun
13. Soil Of The Corpse (bonus track) |
