VIIDES LUKU - HÄVITETTY

Moonsorrow must be right now one, if not THE, most respected, critical aclaimed and probably succesful band in the Viking metal scene. Yes, the fisrt thing I thought too is "Viking metal? That can´t sound good!", well, I have to hand it to you, just as about anyhting in metal, the majority of bands in the genre actually quite... suck. But there are two or three bands that actually sound quite good and one that sounds like a mountain, and that´s Moonsorrow.

If you aren´t familiar with Moonsorrow and/or the Viking metal scene and want to get an idea of how it must sound... well, take Opeth´s long compositions, add the epicness of ...In the Woods, pour some Braveheard (yes, the movie) into the mix and you´ll have a pretty good idea of how it sounds. Ah, and put a lot of testosterone and stinking sweat... yes, Viking stinks! If there ever was a manly metal, this is it!

Now, of course this all sounds pretty stupid and not many progheads will find this interesting and (sadly?) it´s not that far away from the truth. Still, in Moonsorrow´s case, even though it all fits the description, it´s just a part of what they are, for, even if there is stinking sweat, the band, and specially in this case, sound extremly polished and refined. It is really surprising how they can pull off all that rawness and make it sound sophisticated. And, again, never have they achieved that better than in V: Hävitetty.

The album starts with Jäästä Syntynyt/ Varjojen Virta, a 30:10 min piece of metal music. From the soft and Pink Floyd inspired keys and arpegios guitars and the grandiloquent and slightly pompous choruses we are sumerged into the cold woods of Finland. This intro (Jäästä Syntynyt) lasts seven and a half minutes, but it´s impressive how this guys arrange to make time past bye so fast you actually get surprised the intro didn´t last 3 minutes, and that´s the secret of Moonsoroow in this album, they make time pass by as if it were air. Of course the song starts to get even better when the distorted guitars kick in, but it´s not until Ville Sorvali´s cry of war that the adrenaline pumps in and we are taken to the middle of the march of ferocious horses and their knights ready to kick some scandinavians butts. From this point on the song only get´s better and better, progresing, almost unnoticed, with riffs coming in and out, but never relying too much on repetitions, the key here is to march forward! Even though, as said before, the song just keeps getting better and better, nothing tops the monster guitar riff around the 12 th min. The first time it´s presented, for it will come up two more times, I literally get goosebumps every single time I hear it, it´s in my opinion one of metal´s best riffs ever, yet it´s quite simple, don´t expect much technicallity here, it´s simple, but ever so effective. The end (or near the end) melody, the climax sort to speak, around the 24th min is another highpoint, I don´t think we can go any more epic than that melody, really well crafted, and, again, the progression until this point in the song is remarkable, it really feels like the 24 min of music before were a way to get to this point, and not one second is wasted, a really perfect epic if there is such thing, I hold it just as high as Meshuggah´s I, which many times I have said is the best epic in metal ever... well, this is number two by a very, very slim margin.

The second, and last, song, Tuleen Ajettu Maa, although more varied and just as brutal and sophisticated at the same time, is not up par with Jäästä Syntynyt/ Varjojen Virta, but it´s by no means a weak track. Again we are presented with some excellent build ups, the progression of the song through out it´s 26:19 min feels natural as well, even though some parts might be too long, played (maybe) a few times too much, and some of the choruses might be a bit too pompous for their own sake, but more than that I have no reproach. Some parts of the song, specially Sorvali´s voice remainds me of some of Devin Townsend best moments, due also to the atmospheric feel the guitars have.

All in all this album is excellent, but as there are only two song, one of which is superb and one of which is just very good, I can´t give it 5 stars. If it would be possible I would rate it 4.5/5, but I can´t, and I think this time the rating must go to 4 more than to 5. Now, before I finish my review, I will let you in a little secret. You know what makes Moonsorrow, and specially this album, so good, whats the secret for their 30 min epics were every second is incredible? The rythmical section! The bass/drums work, it might not be virtuoso, they might not leave 4/4 for too long, but they work wonders, almost unnoticed, I have come to this conclusion very recently after having heard this album a 100 times already, and I think I´m on to something. Even Sorvali´s vocals, which are far more rythmical than melodic add up to make that progression and that going somewhere seem so natural and right. And if you lay on top some atmospheric distorted guitars and some sweat, you have the perfect metal band.

I was walking through the burned out terrain; no one in sight, only scavenging birds picking at the remains of bodies from the last battle that went on here. The fire is seen from afar; the heat from it reaching despite the distance; its sound carried on the mild wind. All starts slowly and calmly. Then start the beating of the drums, the guitar gently playing. As if to lure me into their midst, promising nothing will harm me now after the storm. The chanting vocals of the choir speak of coldness and despair (with a possibility of hope that would later turn out futile); now we realize the storm shall start yet again with a big bang. The electro-acoustic guitar prepares us, giving the intro, joined by the bass. Then it starts. slowly bursting powerfully from its shell the riffs sear through the landscape. All of a sudden it accelerates and the main theme starts. This theme will lead the first part and will reappear in the later parts of this thirty minute track. We are now soaring through the darkened battle-field, overhead. The music, as mentioned, is curled around the main theme, developed and deconstructed through it, brought around and about it, always returning, and constantly bumping away from it. One would think that half an hour of one track is too much for this sort of music; but it's not. The musical ideas are well exploited, well developed and well played. It is intense, powerful and even mesmerizing. Dark and foreboding, the music is mysterious and the art-work fits it perfectly. There is a sense of doom in the air, as if we are about to lose our souls. The music portrays this very well. At about the half point of the track, comes the complementing second theme, which is a swirling riff with a climatic alternate end point. Moonsorrow manages to pull me through this journey, hypnotizing me, making me follow them on those sound-wings, looking beneath me at the scorched ground. It is extreme metal befitting extreme situation. The music seems to fit glacial scenery, a stormy winter night; however, I am filled with great warmth as I listen to their music.

Though the band has shifted in their direction, there are all the recognizable elements of their black metal and Viking metal roots. Though it is less melodic and accessible than prior efforts, it is much more experimental, explorative and progressive. They develop less musical ideas but to a greater extent. Here they show how far they have gone from the days of Suden Uni. This album represents a superb progression of the band from albums which are good example of having progressive tendencies themselves. They have toned down some of their viking metal characteristics (though not completely but relatively) and have emphasized the aggressive and extreme metal side. It would seem that the band is now interested in focusing on creating metallic sceneries, focusing more on development and exploration of distinct and few musical schemes; they seem to like creating a flowing and coherent wall of riffs and blasts. I can only imagine how their next album will sound if I judge by what has been done here.

I won't go into the second track, as there is a similar pattern there as well with regards to developing and exploring a musical theme. All that was said about the first track applies here as well. I'll only say that it is even more extreme and aggressive, while also having somewhat more melodic touches to it. This album has a big scope; not only in the sense that that tracks are so long, but also in that the sound of the album sounds big; it conjures up in my mind images of a huge landscape; the music itself has a big volume if that makes sense. All of these make this album become a life-size experience, a voyage to a place far away from my everyday life. This is exactly what I want from the music I listen to; to carry me away.

Being a longtime fan of the band, I wasn't sure at first what they were aiming at; it took several listens to realize all that I wrote above. Now after many listens, I'm so happy with this album, that I like it as much as my other favourite album by them, Voimasta Ja Kunniasta. If you liked Moonsorrow's previous efforts, then you should get this as well! For fans of extreme metal, black metal, Viking metal etc. this is highly recommended.

This is the way folk metal is meant to be done. Most styles of music are lucky to have one or two true masterpieces that stick with me forever. As far as the oft-maligned world of folk metal is concerned, Moonsorrow's Viides Luku Hävitetty is that album. Considering my love for folk music and all it represents, I'm disappointed that so much folk metal rubs me the wrong way-- I think John Haughm (of Agalloch) said it best when he described most folk metal as "pagan-themed party music." Moonsorrow include many of the trappings of European folk metal, but their work rarely falls short of awe in my eyes. What makes them so different, then? Is it the melancholic edge they imbue their music with? Or, more likely, is it the fact that they blow up their compositions to previously untold heights of ambition? With two gorgeous half-hour epics to offer, V: Hävitetty is ravishing proof of just how ambitious, just how goddamned [%*!#]ing awe-inspiring Moonsorrow can be.

There have been times where I'd point the finger towards Verisakeet, the one they did immediately before Hävitetty, as the 'best' Moonsorrow record. That too is a masterpiece, and as a 70+ minute epic drawn out over five tracks, it's not exactly a slouch in the ambition department. If I've ever had doubts that V: Hävitetty wasn't the best folk metal record ever made, it'd only be because I had listened to it so much that the awe had become overly familiar. Every time I hear it though, the same feelings come rushing back. Regardless of the genre, I'm hard pressed to think of many bands that can make a half hour epic consistently engaging, nevermind the fact that most bands lack the spunk to attempt such a thing in the first place. A feat like that seems all the more miraculous when it's doubled. On the same album. I do feel that too much attention goes into the simple fact that Moonsorrow's songs tend to be long on average, but the bold lengths they go to on V: Hävitetty virtually demand attention on their own accord.

While the four titans (not including the "Kaiku" outro) on Verisakeet felt meticulously composed, something different is happening on Hävitetty. Stylewise, the same black/folk hybrid from the last album is explored again, but their sense of composition feels like it's coming from a very different place this time around. Both "Jäästä Syntynyt" and "Tuleen Ajettu Maa" lend the impression of having been structured organically, with intuition reigning over calculated thought. That's not to say that there's any less effort behind Hävitetty. On the contrary, I think Moonsorrow were finally at the point where they were comfortable enough with their songwriting to let their ideas take lives of their own. Very often, epics of this magnitude are broken into smaller movements, as if several songs were combined. There's no overt structure to the two epics here, at least in the sense that the ideas flow together seamlessly. I can't think of another band, be they in metal or progressive rock, that's relied on intuition so well for their epics. It makes V: Hävitetty feel all the more significant when I can't think of another album that offers an experience like this.

Although "Tuleen Ajettu Maa" is easily more upbeat than the tense "Jäästä Syntynyt" and takes le time to get itself going, it's hard to pick a winner between the two. The first side of this album offers up some of the best riffs Moonsorrow have ever penned, as well as one of the most perfectly orchestrated builds I've heard in music, manifest in the first five-odd minutes of the album. V: Hävitetty's first half is replete with lumbering folk riffs held up against crashing black metal segments. The tone on "Jäästä Syntynyt" is arguably the darkest Moonsorrow have ever gone. This makes the contrast towards a cheerier (but still dark) sound on "Tuleen Ajettu Maa" all the more refreshing. The folk instrumentation that was relatively downplayed in the first half is brought to the forefront come the second. The choral chants and screams are perfectly channelled here as well; so many extreme metal bands fall short of putting harsh vocals to the best use. Only allowing the most treacherous screams to sound in the tensest moments, the vocals always hit the emotional mark they were intended for.

V: Hävitetty also ends with one of the greatest closing sections I've heard in a metal song. After an album with more than a few harrowing sections, the triumphant procession in the final five minutes feel like a gorgeous revelation. There are few bands that convey the feeling of a heroic journey the way Moonsorrow does, so the atmosphere of victory can be felt deeply, as if you yourself have just survived your greatest challenge. Even having been listening to V: Hävitetty for years now, I'm still in awe of how far Moonsorrow managed to push their sound before they finally reached the peak of potential. Had I been writing about the band a decade ago, I would have swore that Verisakeet was the most elaborate they could ever go. V: Hävitetty proved me wrong in the best sort of way. Unfortunately, having reached the peak means there was nowhere left to go, save for a return to a safer sound. The full-lengths they've released since have been great, but I don't think anything can ever compare to the perfection they conjured with this one. V: Hävitetty is forever.

A world of pain and loss, but triumph will somehow take shape.

Moonsorrow's final, great album so far is 'V: Havitetty', the most ambitious, mature, and complex albums by the band, and that is to say a lot, being followed by a masterpiece of intricacy such as the epic 'Verisakeet': But the band push their boundaries even further, and create something that a listener would never forget.

This is an album of details. Details are the elements that build 'Havitetty'; it's like creating a castle not with immense milestones but with small pieces of rocks that together nevertheless make an incredibly solid effort. And it is a castle that is quite hard to destroy. It's a solid, almost hour long album, where ambition is the first word that comes to mind. More synthesizers, even more Folk elements incorporated; there is in the slower, quieter moments, even some Prog Rock sparks. But Black Metal is still the core of Moonsorrow's music: it's not a cerebral, polished BM like it was in 'Verisakeet', but it is a raw, abrasive one reminiscent of an earlier period for the band.

The element that attracted much more ambitious metalheads to this release (and perhaps distanced the ones who like their metal played safe) is the fact that this is a two song affair, both of them reaching nearly the half-hour length. The first one, 'Jaasta Syntynyt/ Varjojen Virta', more melancholic, sad, hopeless, but of an amazing beauty especially in the first seven minutes or so, where atmospheres a-la-Pink Floyd take place, before exploding into a bunch of different, unique, and carefully arranged Black Metal riffs (with shrieked vocals) that take turns in hopping up in front of the listener. With lyrics concerning the death of our world, due to stupidity of man ( immense frustration is felt in the poetry of lyricist), and the preparation to a war that will give nothing but further loss to us. But if the first track is resigned and helpless, 'Tuleen Ajettu Ma' is the revenge, the anger, the hope. Starting almost right off with heavy riffs, it has in the core of the song slower passages. The feeling here is more triumphant, more epic almost. The hooks thus are even more memorable, and often even hauntingly gorgeous, like in the last, final minutes of music. Both of the tracks wonderfully complement one another, and together create an album that couldn't have possibly felt more rounded and complete.

It won't be an easy listen for many people because of it's highly ambitious nature, in terms of structure but also of the music itself. Although not as seminal as previous Moonsorrow works, 'V: Havitetty' is an album that will always be regarded as one of the finest, most interesting and successful achievements of Folk Metal