Angry Metal Guy

Crimfall – As the Path Unfolds…
Rating: 3.5/5.0 – Very good (Not groundbreaking, but seriously enjoyable)
Label: Napalm Records
Band Websites: crimfall.com | myspace.com/crimfall

“For fans of Turisas, Finntroll and Nightwish,” the advertisement read.  How could I possibly pass that up?  I’m definitely a fan of Turisas and Finntroll, though, Nightwish I can pretty much do without–sans diva or not.  But for me it was more a matter of how one could actually blend and compare these three bands into one cohesive whole.  “No,” I thought, “it’s really not possible to do in a convincing manner.”

Apparently, to my great dissatisfaction, I was wrong.

Crimfall was not convincing at first.  I listened to it up close and I laughed a lot, it felt like a charicature of all modern Finnish metal–extraordinarily produced with tons of big orchestrations, operatic vocals and chuggy guitars like Nightwish and Turisas mixed together with the folky feeling of Finntroll records, particularly in the vein of Nattfödd, with the misty feelings and interludes/segues from Visor om Slutet.  These things are blended together into powerful songs that burst out of your speakers like an angry Finnish viking¹, the strong, addictive melodies worming their way into your brain and setting root.

The song writing on this album is both interesting and fun.  The classic folk metal instrumentations are, of course, ubiquitous throughout every song.  The big orchestrations as well as the accordian, the mouth harp and other things of that nature punctuate the songs with their unique (but now familiar) sounds.  Helena Haaparanta, the female vocalist who does operatic vocals for the project is stellar.  Her voice ranges between (sorry) Tarja from Nightwish to a smoother, poppy vocal style which shows that she has some variability and, frankly, talent.  She even hits some very ethereal sounding vocals in the track “Hundred Shores Different,” and is all around impressive and talented.  In addition to that, the black metal vocals are also quite good–roughly peppering the tracks with their power and intertwining with the clean vocals in a fluid way (sort of like a modern incarnation of Theatre of Tragedy, but way more black metal).  Really, what the advertisement claims is true: if you’re a fan of any three of those aforementioned bands, particularly Nightwish or Turisas this record will probably totally float your boat.  It has all of the good things about Nightwish without the cheese or glam aspects, for example.  And it has the sheer, immense power that makes Turisas such a convincing and excellent band.

In the finest tradition of power metal, which is in essence “feel good” heavy metal these days, Crimfall have crafted a record that is a pleasure to listen to.  It doesn’t really offer anything particularly new and/or innovative, despite having a sound that is recognizable as their own.  But in spite of that fact, it continuously draws the listener back for one more listen over and over again.

Stratovarius – Polaris
Rating: 2.0/5.0 – Me boooored.. and aaaangry…
Label: Sanctuary
Websites: stratovarius.com | myspace.com/stratovarius | listen to the whole album @ iLike

Stratovarius are serious veterans of good ol’ fashioned Euro Power Metal and despite the never-ending rush of silliness that surrounded this band for roughly the last three years–they have still managed to put out an album of middling quality in time.  A record of middling quality, you say?  Why yes, says I.  All Stratovarius records are of middling quality, some are just more middling than others.  Some say that this band is the pinnacle of all Finnish power metal bands–but if one listens to Polaris they’d never know that.

For those who are not familiar with Euro Power, think “natural extension of 80s glam rock.”  Add double bass, irritating vocalists who wish, wish, WISH they were David Coverdale, mix in English as a Second Language lyrics and blend together a little bit of German 80s thrash (like Helloween), and ta-dah!  You’ve created an abomination!  Now that we have that out of the way I can proceed to the critiques.

First, let’s start with Timo Kotipelto–aside from being a midget, this man is actually “classically trained,” if you believe his bio (and trust me, I believe bios!).  Not only is he classically trained, but he famously put the band on hold at one point so he could go get more training.  What I’m confused about is who exactly trained him to sound like a mouse caught in a door?  This guy can’t sing, he sounds like ass.  So even when the band is doing awesome, interesting things, there’s this seriously annoying squeeking over every song which just destroys the moment. He has his moments, but aside from sounding like he’s going flat sometimes and having what I do consider to be some of the most annoying power metal vocal tone I’ve ever heard, he just doesn’t have the kind of command that one would expect from such a lauded vocalist.

But vocals aside, the music on Polaris is mediocre, lacking the kind of power one would expect it to have and is just generally boring.  I know that these guys had their sound stolen from them by Sonata Arctica and I’m aware that the mastermind behind the band also left in a huff after the silly drama that swirled around them for the last few years, but I don’t think that these things are excuses.  Koltipelto and Jens Johansson at least have consistently put out music in other venues, how is it that musicians of this professional calibre who have been at this for so long can’t write more than three or four moments throughout the whole record that jump out at you?   That is, in essence, the fundamental problem with this record.  It’s not bad.  The musicianship is good, the production is good, but the song-writing is lackluster, the feel isn’t there and just all in all I want to shut it off.

There are some higher points, to be Generous Metal Guy for the moment; for example, the opening to the track Emancipation Suite Pt. 1 is an absolutely killer groove that had me rockin’ out.  Earlier on in the album there were other sort of German Hockey Metal moments that I enjoyed–but for the most part the passionless music, silly lyrics and squeeking Finnish mouse made me decide that four listens was probably enough.  It really is beyond me that these guys ever became anything more than just a no-name power metal band that faded into the obscurity of the million bands that sound just like them.

Amorphis - Skyforger (2009)
Rating: 5.0/5.0 – Perfect
Label: Nuclear Blast
Band Website: amorphis.net | myspace.com/amorphis

Amorphis is easily one of my favorite bands producing metal in the 2000s.  Over the last few years I’ve seen a lot of the bands that I really got into when I was a young, impressionable metal guy start to get more and more popular as they got picked up by bigger labels, got put out on the market, and as metal got cool again (who’da thunk it?)–bands like Opeth, Enslaved, Amon Amarth and others.  Amorphis, however, had fallen off my radar, and I think a lot of people’s radars, before they got themselves a new vocalist.  A man of small stature, and huge personality and voice: Tomi Joutsen.  For whatever reason, this breathed life into the venerable, and quite excellent, band taking them out of their temporary lull and pushing them to the forefront with the bands putting out the best modern metal has to offer.

I managed to listen to this record about 6 times on the day they finally took it down from their MySpace and, while I was disappointed that they took it down, I was incredibly stoked to get to hear the thing in full.  And damn, how impressed I was.  First, let me say that I think Amorphis is performing like a lot of bands perform in their earliest days.  They’ve put out three records since 2006, and each one has been has fantastic.  Eclipse, their output from 2006, blew me away because I wasn’t at all expecting it at all, and it has stayed on my playlist pretty much constantly since then.  I had very high expectations for Silent Waters from 2007 and it didn’t let me down, and I think that Skyforger is even better than the other two–and quite possibly the finest record they have ever put out.

The production, of course, is pristine.  And the song writing has developed to the point where, while maintaining some of their more traditional and progressive roots, these guys have managed to start writing really fantastic “pop form” type songs.  But that doesn’t mean that they’re imitating H.I.M. or Sentenced, but instead they have managed to blend a lot of the more mainstream elements into a heavily melodic, and thoroughly enjoyable format.

Another great aspect is the fact that death metal vocals, which had sort of disappeared on the “in between” records (that is, between the Tales era and the current era), have come back with massive power.  The track “Majestic Beast” illustrates with, quite possibly the heaviest song that the band has put out in a very, very long time.  It’s on par with “Perkele” and “Weaving the Incantation” from their previous two records, and illustrates the power that still exists in the band.  But the variation of great instrumentation, the excellent choices of vocal styling and the heavy melody that define this album just impress me.

Unfortunately, something that I didn’t get from this record is the backstory.  I read somewhere that this is a concept album, and I would love to know more about the background information so I can judge it.  The lyrics are apparently based on a section of the Kalevala (the Finnish national folklore), and the album flows like a story.  But I haven’t been able to piece together exactly what’s going on.  However, the performance and writing are so strong that even if the lyrics are uninteresting and droll, the album itself is so musically killer that for me it doesn’t matter at all.

It is obvious to me that Finland’s greatest relic after the Kalevala is Amorphis right now.  There is a huge scene in Finland right now with some amazing bands, but one band that is absolutely at the top of it’s game right now is Amorphis.  I have trouble imagining that these guys can keep it up–but let’s hope that they can.  For those traditional fans who couldn’t get enough of Tales From the Thousand Lakes and The Karelian Isthmus and Elegy, I can’t promise that you will fall in love with this record.  This is definitely not the same band that was putting out those earliest records, but for those who are willing to give these guys a fresh listen, I strongly suggest it.  This is definitely looking like it will fit into the Top 10 of 2009 for this Angry Metal Guy.

Edit: According to Amorphis’ very helpful webmaster: “As for the background story; unlike the two previous albums it’s not based on a single Kalevala episode, instead its different parts of the epos from one character’s point of view (Ilmarinen the blacksmith; an exception is “From Earth I rose”, which is the song of iron itself). The cycle of poems the lyrics are based on (http://www.amorphis.net/?page_id=230) goes a good deal beyond the actual Kalevala text, which names Ilmarinen as the forger of the sky in various places but never goes into details about this role of his.” – Oh, the wonders of editing and e-mail.  Go and read those poems, they’re quite fascinating.

Also, buyer beware!  Since you WILL be going out and BUYING this album for sure! ;) Apparently there is “a little warning before you enter the record shop – of the album’s two current editions, the digipak batch has turned out to contain a glitch, so at the moment I’d rather recommend the jewel case version. I hope the corrected digi version will be available soon though, it’s very nicely done and contains a bonus track.“

OK, so I literally just made a post about MySpace having the whole Amorphis record up, but now apparently it’s gone, which is totally lame.   And when I say totally lame, I mean, totally lame.

On the other hand, I got to listen to the whole damn thing about 6 times before hand, so it wasn’t the end of the world.  I was just a little peeved.  Anyway, I got to hear it enough time to get a good review of it up, so that should be pretty cool.  I’ve also updated the website so that one can go directly to the Reviews and/or Interviews if one would like to.

Yay for the world of the internet, and boo for the short attention span of the average MySpace visitor!!

First, it has come to my attention that Amorphis, the venerable and excellent Finnish band that is madly in love with the Kalevale have, in fact, uploaded their entire new album to their MySpace.   I just want to say for the record that I think this is totally cool of them as I have been craaaaving a new Amorphis record since the last one came out.  These guys are so good, and so much better than they have been arguably since their creation back in the olden days.  This is not to say that their old stuff wasn’t good, but they’ve really gotten into their style and they’re kicking major ass up-and-down throughout Europe and the USA.  I hope that they continue kicking this much ass, because it’s like watching a new band with a ton of energy pumping out amazing records.  Think: Maiden in the early days, or Amon Amarth.. just pumping out excellent record after excellent record with practically no break.  That’s when you see a band at their stride: and wow, is Amorphis ever hitting their stride.

That said, the album sounds pretty awesome and I’ll post a more official review later, but I just want to point out that I’m so incredibly disappointed by the average myspace user.  Seriously, give a damn band a chance.  As of this instant (9:58 AM, GMT +1), 40,962 people have listened to the first track, whereas only 25,705 have listened to the next track.  By the time you get to what I think is easily the best track, those numbers fall off.  Now granted, the band still has over 15,000 people listening to the whole album, but that’s pretty fucking weak.  Since when do metalheads have the attention-span of small children?  I thought people who dug metal had gotten there through being willing to give things that other people automatically turn off a chance.  Is it that Amorphis isn’t EXTREEEEEME!!!!!!! enough anymore?  Or, what the shit?

Anyway, total props to Amorphis for the third totally kick ass record in a row.  Also, for the kick ass cover art. That said, kiddies, Skyforger is out on the 27th (i.e., today) in Finland (lucky bastards), the 29th (i.e., Friday–woo hoo!) in the rest of Europe and you suckers in the States have to suffer through to the 16th of June to appreciate the glories of Skyforger.  Poor guys.

Shade Empire – Sinthentic (Magick Records, 2005)

Rating: 4.0/5

There’s an old adage that you might know that says, so eloquently, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” While this may be applicable to books, it often isn’t applicable to music. I can generally look at the cover of a band’s record and be able to tell what kind of metal it is, who they sound like, and whether or not they suck. I’ll always give stuff a chance to not suck, but it’s usually a pretty fair bet that my initial impression will be correct. So I looked at the SHADE EMPIRE cover, saw the devil face with a little ’666′ neatly tucked into the corner behind the eye, and more importantly the sticker that says ‘For fans of DIMMU BORGIR.’ Immediately I was struck by that panic that happens when you know that you’re going to have to sit through 60 minutes of shitty rip-off artists trying to sound like DIMMU.

Shade Empire Pose it Up

I was absolutely wrong.  This is one of those few cases where that doesn’t upset me.

In fact, I was blown away by this release. SHADE EMPIRE have managed to bring together all the best qualities of melodic, symphonic black metal and Swedish death into a cohesive, melodic onslaught of extreme metal that anyone with an ear for talent will be impressed with. Like some unholy union of (yes) DIMMU BORGIR, AT THE GATES and DARK TRANQUILLITY, this band deftly put forth melancholy melodies, backed up with a stunning drum assault and a heavy rhythm that keeps you rocking for the whole record. Spiced up with guest vocal appearances by Marco Hietala (NIGHTWISH and TAROT), and Spellgoth (TROLLHEIMS GRÅTT), Sinthetic (ok, the cheesy name didn’t help the initial impressions, either) offers a dynamic, exciting aural assault that actually left me wanting more!

While this band is tight, what I noticed most was the keyboards and the vocals really carry this record. The guitar work, while good, isn’t stand out, and the guitars play more of a support role.  But the awesome melody and (brace yourself) all the hooks came through the keyboards, which border on the gothic side sometimes, and at other times almost having a THE KOVENANT feel (though only for a short time).  The vocals are pretty standard, but there are glimpses of deep, baritone/bass clean parts that really add a dynamic to otherwise good vocals.

Dynamics, as I’ve said before, play such a huge part in metal records. The clincher here is that they work their way deftly through the record never getting boring, while never changing the dynamics so much that they sound like a different band.  There is not a weak moment on this album. The whole while there is a distinctive feel, a distinctive sound and a sonic barrage that leave you with one of those shit-eating grins on your face. Mark down an incredible debut for these Finns.

This interview written originally for Unchain the Underground by me.