Moonsorrow - Verisakeet

Moonsorrow's latest album Verisakeet is both an evolution and a departure from their previous work. Not since their early demos have they had such a black metal atmosphere, yet there is still just as much of an epic, near Viking metal atmosphere as always. What you will find on here is 5 songs which run for 70 minutes. One song, "Jotunheim" (the land of the dark elves in Norse mythology) is 19 minutes long. What is contained in these long songs is more musical ideas than many bands could have over an entire career. The first song alone contains everything from epic melodies to blistering Mayhem-like black metal, with some singing at the end much like Attila's vocals on the song "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" on the album of that name. With 5 songs one can only hope that each one is a winner, and indeed each one is. There is not a bad or uniteresting moment on any one of these songs. Listening I didn't ever notice how long the songs were. For example the song "Pimea" which is over 13 minutes long, kept me fully entraped in it's beauty, with amazingly emotional melodies and one of the most epic atmospheres I've ever had the pleasure to be lost in. Ville Sorvali's vocals on here are mostly blistering screams, sounding as if his throat were bleeding from his intesity. Sometimes he uses clean vocals as a texture to the songs, which helps to create that beautiful epic atmosphere. The keyboards are kept a little more to minimum, Henri is using more acoustic folk instruments on here, but there are also many uses of keyboards, which as always are perfect. The more stripped down production helps to display just how good the members are, as it is easier to hear the guitars, bass and drums on here, as they aren't lost in the background to the melodies of the keyboards and voices as often before.

On this album the band is aparently talking about more esoteric concepts about their forefathers pagan past, their blood roots to their land, sometimes fighting for their past and their land, etc. This approach is different from their last album, which was more of a concept album. On here the concept simply ties together various similar ideas. Something I've always respected about Moonsorrow, above bands like Thyrfing, is that Moonsorrow actually believe in their paganism, they don't use their subjects as just that, subjects, they write about things they believe in. This is above many of this style, and more in the realm of bands like Primordial and Burzum. One thing though, the lyrics aren't presented in both Finnish and English translations as before. To read the English translations you have to visit their website. Not a big problem, but I liked having translations. It does suits the mood of this album more, as it is much more difficult, more proud of being Finnish than ever before. Like Ulver on their first three albums or Burzum, the band has decided to not compromise or bow down to anyone. This album thereby, not only needs to be inspected and listened to closer, it acutely demands the extra attention.

Words can barely describe the emotions this band stir up within me. Being mostly of Finnish descent myself the band strikes a strong cord, which might not be felt totally by others, but, fans of Viking or Pagan metal have already expressed their love of this band, and this album should do no differently. It may take people more listens to totally get into it, but then again, Moonsorrow have always been a band that rewards more listens. To this listener, this is probably my favorite album of theirs. This is also on its way to being my best of 2005, as I have yet to hear anything as brilliant and epic as this album (though much has come close).

Strongly suggested to fans of epic styled metal, particularly if you are also a fan of bands who have combined black metal and viking metal, like Satyricon, Enslaved, Falkenbach, Behemoth, Abigor, Ulver, Borknagar and others along those lines.