MOONSORROW — Verisäkeet (review)

Album · 2005 · Folk Metal

4.5/5 · 2024-08-11
siLLy puPPy

Triumphant, epic and celebratory are three words that come to mind when describing MOONSORROW’s fifth album VERISÄKEET even though the album’s title translates into English as “Blood Verses.” Considered the pinnacle of the band’s career by some and one of the best Finnish metal albums of all time by others, VERISÄKEET was no doubt a major evolutionary development in the band’s sound and one that primarily jettisoned the Viking metal sensibilities of the previous “Kivenkantaja” and zeroed in on the Finnish folk music that the band had been implementing since its early albums that started with “Suden Uni.”

Heavily steeped in Norwegian black metal, VERISÄKEET features four lengthy 14-minute plus slabs of MOONSORROW’s epic heathen metal plus a final closing track of unplugged Finnish folk music showcasing the band’s more intimate side replete with nature recordings offering lengthy moments of non-musical contemplation. The band specifically didn’t want to copy its approach on “Kivenkantaja” therefore it focused on darker and harsher mood settings while increasing the use of the traditional instruments that had already become the band’s hallmark signature sound. Likewise even though penned entirely in the Finnish language and incomprehensible to many, the lyrics are more abstract and evoke a touch of surrealism.

The album’s approach is quite simple actually. The tracks open with simple folk melodies or in the case of the album itself nature field recordings and then joined in by rampaging black metal guitar riffing, bantering bass dynamics and blastbeats. Through the lengthy processions the melodic groove of the folk music remains dominant as one motif after the next offers new variations of folk musical fills that include the very un-metal instrumentation of the accordion, Jew’s harp, tin whistle and indigenously grown kantele, a traditionally played Finnish zither-like instrument that gives a Baltic mystic to the musical flow. Likewise the band employs the use of intricate vocal harmonics throughout as well as moments of acoustic guitar driven cooling off periods that offer an escape from the incessant distorted grunge effect of the cascading twin guitar riffing stomps.

Amazingly even though the songs themselves are based around rather simple folk tunes that could probably be whittled down to a mere five minutes of playing time, MOONSORROW showcases its compositional prowess on VERISÄKEET with its uncanny ability to eke out every possible variation through a series of free flowing cadences that extend to the 14 minute playing time with the penultimate “Jotenheim (Giant-Home)” meandering to the near 20-minute mark although the track does feature an unnecessarily long non-musical ending of nothing but nature recordings that do wear out their welcome. The first four tracks are all executed in the same manner, each with intricately designed folk melodies and accompanying varying effects however the closing “Kaiku (Echo)” features an unadulterated unplugged folk song that offers a taste of what the Finns do around campfires i presume!

Unless you’re totally adverse to the idea of folk metal in general, you can’t go wrong with VERISÄKEET as it demonstrates one of the purest and most refined examples of how black metal and ethnic folk musical styles can seamlessly blend into one cohesive wholeness. MOONSORROW had already proved its ability to craft such music beyond the usual drinking song adolescence into a more sophisticated epic approach that offered sweepingly beautiful soundscapes fortified with instantly addictive melodies and crushing metal heft. A triumphant peak of the band’s sound and one that would cement their style as the dominant one. An almost flawless album marred only by the extremely long moments of nature recordings that diminish the impact of the overall experience slightly. Nevertheless one of MOONSORROW’s finest moments for sure.