MOONSORROW - Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa CD review

MOONSORROW - Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa CD
Spinefarm Records
Genre: Folk/Black Metal
Rating: 4/5

Looking at the cover photo of this Finnish band's latest release you get the idea that MOONSORROW are in a league of their own. It's that whole top of the mountain thing. Well technically they are especially if you toss in words like epic, majestic and lets not forget grandiose when describing their audio output over the past ten years. We're talking about the band who a few years back put out an almost hour long release, V: Havitetty, which only contained two songs. They followed that up a year later with an EP which was longer and had METALLICA and MERCILESS covers. So now we have this their sixth full length with a title that translates to As Shadows We Walk Through The Land Of The Dead. It's basically a concept album dealing with humanity's demise and the survivor's struggle to keep going in the face of hopelessness. Kinda sounds like the plot to the comic book series/TV show, The Walking Dead, although there are no Finnish zombies in here. If you are wondering is this borders on the Doom side of things you would be correct. The tempo is very slow and the atmosphere as epic as ever. Although there's plenty of folk touches and progressiveness abound all surrounded by blackened vocals.

As far as the songs go there's four long over ten minute cuts with three short intro/sound bites intermixed. The opener "Tähdetön" (Starless) sounds like Viking Doom cometh early on then gradually sets a more melodic tone about midway through to the end. "Muinaiset" (The Ancient Ones) turns up the epic metal meter a few notches almost bordering on Power Metal. "Huuto" (The Scream) is my favorite song on here with a running time of around fifteen minutes. It combines much in that time slot, starting out as a folk melody than switching to some powerful BATHORY like sweeping arrangement. It's at this point where you just turn the volume up and let everything overwelm your senses. The final cut “Kuolleiden Maa" (The Land of the Dead) simply crushes. Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa is a good release but there is a slight draw back and that's the depressive mood which the music sets.

Label: http://www.spinefarm.fi/

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/moonsorrow

Official: http://www.moonsorrow.com/