Happy Little Boozer
Väkirauta
Midsummer Night
Tulikokko (Instrumental)
Spring Dance
Under The Sun
Korpiklaani
Rise
Kirki
Hide Your Richess
Jonne Järvelä
- Vocals, Guitar
Cane - Guitar
Jarkko - Bass
Matti "Matson" Johansson - Drums
Hittavainen - Violin, Jouhikko, Flute
Juho Kauppinen - Accordion
 " |
| Voice of Wilderness |
review by Boris "Azrael"
Witta ___ 
| If you stand still while listening to these hymns, you are dead or deaf or both. |
The trend is
over. Definitely.
Only the best bands in the genre of Finnish Folk Metal have survived. Of
course Korpiklaani belong to the chosen ones, and their third opus
“Along This Road” is the logical next step in their evolution. By
the way, if you once are in a bad mood, open a can of beer and throw
this album into your CD-player. Just a hint.
In
contrary to many other bands in the same style, Korpiklaani have many
“folk-instrumental-only-parts”, which imparts their music a very
special and a very natural touch, too. Just listen to “Tulikokko” to
understand what I mean. And instruments like flutes (again and again
appearing), the violin or some kind of mouth-drum (doiiiiiiiing!
doiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!) are the point on the I, as we Swiss would say.
To go deeper in the music of Korpiklaani, we have to divide their songs in two categories: The funny, happy drinksongs, which turn every party into a real celebration, and on the other side, the serious, sometimes melancholic, sometimes poetic, sometimes dreamy hymns with fantastic melodies. With “Under The Sun”, there’s even some kind of love-song on “Tales Along This Road” (“When my whole world is turning, you are the one who holds the strings, your strength gets me back on my feet, when my powers are falling – you are the one” Jonne sings with deep, catching voice).
“Happy
Little Boozer” is the beer-song of the album, a perfect, powerful,
strong begin, while songs like the bandhymn “Korpiklaani” with his
goose-skin-refrain, the great accordion moves and the special, Finnish
feeling (it’s without doubt the most melancholic song on “Tales
Along This Road”) show the other side of this extraordinary band. I
think it’s this fact which makes Korpiklaani so individual, although
their sound brings nothing really new – a paradoxon, but a good one.
“Midsummer Night” shows the feelings of the bands towards mother
earth (“Growing up with the wild bears, breathing the smell of burning
wood, rain and clouds my only friends, sun and moon and stars my
light…”), while “Rise” shows the roots of the band: Old-school
Power Metal, even with some thrashy influences.
Last but not least: The music of this sextet is very bangy, most of all the one with the funny title “Kirki” and the closing (extreme hard) “Hide Your Richess”, again with more humorous lyrics. If you stand still while listening to these hymns, you are dead or deaf or both. Korpiklaani are the burning light in a stagnating genre, a band with spirit, with enthusiasm, full of life and most of all, with a lot of good, creative ideas.
It’s time
now that the band goes on a real tour to promote their sound also in
countries like Germany, Switzerland or France. This band could be the
next “big thing” (of course meant in the obverse relation), when
Korpiklaani just continue their way with dourness and determination.
rating: 8,6/10
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