VIIDES LUKU - HÄVITETTY

This may be one of the grandest metal albums in the last decade, and certainly one of the most epic in the folk/viking metal genre. With two lengthy compositions on this album, Viides Luku - Hävitetty, Moonsorrow creates a doomy metal atmosphere giving the impression of a vast expansive landscape full of foreboding elements and harsh textures.

Beginning the album is a moody synth chord in the background, with a large cracking sound groaning across the soundscape, perhaps a melting glacier or shifting earth adding to the doomy texture of the album. Clean, melancholy guitar begins a solemn intro, and the journey begins. The build up is almost post-rock like, with things really finally picking up to speed about ten minutes into the composition. At this point there is heavy metal guitar assaulting the listener with crushing riffs, along with driving drums and a longing synthesized choir in the background. The vocals, like in many folk-metal albums, are very black metal-esque and add enormous amounts to the bleakness of the record. By the end of the first piece, one will be taken aback at the spectacle they have witnessed, but certainly won't be worn out for the second half of the journey.

The second song, "Tuleen Ajettu Maa", is distinctly more folk-oriented. As the tectonic cracking returns, a faint drum crescendoes into the piece in a driving 5/4 rhythm. Folky acoustic guitar drops in with a mouth harp, showcasing the traditional roots of the band. A couple minutes in and the epic metal instrumentation makes a second appearance, and in contrast with the lighter instruments sounds far more agressive and emotional than the first time around. As the composition builds in intensity, the genres switch from the metal sound back and forth to folk music several times, before the band continues in the more straightforward doom metal vein for the rest of the song. The epic nature of the rest of the composition is excellent as well, and the music fades away, back into the sounds of the harsh landscape from which the album came.

A great album, especially for fans of doom, viking, and folk metal.