Moonsorrow
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Moonsorrow | |
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Moonsorrow performing live at the Atarfe Vega Rock festival, 2006
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Background information | |
Origin | Helsinki, Finland |
Genre(s) | Folk metal Melodic black metal Pagan metal |
Years active | 1995-present |
Label(s) | Spinefarm Sagittarius Productions Plasmatica Records |
Associated acts | Amoral Ensiferum Barathrum Finntroll |
Website | www.moonsorrow.com |
Members | |
Ville Sorvali Henri Sorvali Markus Eurén Mitja Harvilahti Marko Tarvonen Janne Perttilä (in live) |
Moonsorrow are a folk/pagan metal band formed in Helsinki, Finland in 1995. They are known for their extremely long songs, and for their epic, organic composition. The band call their sound "Epic heathen metal"[1] and try to distance themselves from the term "Viking metal" as much as possible, due to their lyrics not concerning Vikings. Their lyrics are heavily based on Finnish and Scandinavian traditions, legends and poetry, even though they are written in Finnish. A good example is the song Sankaritarina from the Voimasta Ja Kunniasta album, which features lyrics directly translated from Hávamál.[2]
Contents[hide] |
[edit] History
The group's earliest formation consisted of cousins Ville Sorvali (vocals and bass) and Henri Sorvali (guitar and keyboards) who released various demos that were much more characteristic of melodic black metal than future releases.
Their debut album, Suden Uni, recorded in early 2000, was released in 2001, along with Tämä Ikuinen Talvi (This Everlasting Winter), a re-release of a 1999 demo. Suden Uni (A Wolf's Dream) was acclaimed by fans and reviews with its epic combination of Finnish paganism and folk elements. After recruiting Mitja Harvilahti and Markus Eurén, Moonsorrow started their first shows, releasing Voimasta Ja Kunniasta (Of Strength and Honour) in late 2001. But the real takeoff for the band was the 2003 release Kivenkantaja (Stonebearer). In 2005 the band released their fourth full-length album, Verisäkeet (Blood Verses).
In January 2006 the band played their first US show at the Heathen Crusade metalfest in Columbia Heights, MN.
Henri is also the keyboardist for Finntroll, former keyboardist for Barathrum and a former session member of Ensiferum.
On March 7, 2006, Moonsorrow announced on their official website that they had signed a 2-album contract with Spinefarm Records, and that their next album was slated for release in late 2006. On June 19 it was revealed that the upcoming album would feature guest vocals by Thomas Väänänen, the former vocalist of Thyrfing. Sometime afterward there was an announcement that the release of the album, titled Viides Luku - Hävitetty (Chapter five - Ravaged), was scheduled for January 10, 2007.
On January 14th, 2008, Moonsorrow announced that they were working on a new EP called Tulimyrsky. The release date was April 30th. The EP is over one hour long and contains one new song (the title song Tulimyrsky, two rereleases of old songs and two cover songs.[3] It was released worldwide by Moonsorrows label Spinefarm Records and on May 9th in Germany, Austria and Switzerland by the German label Drakkar Entertainment.[4]
[edit] Members
- Henri Sorvali - guitars, keyboards, vocals, clean vocals, backing vocals
- Ville Sorvali - bass, vocals
- Mitja Harvilahti - guitars, backing vocals
- Markus Eurén - keyboards
- Marko Tarvonen - drums, backing vocals
[edit] Guests
- Tomas Väänänen (Thyrfing) - guest vocals in Hävitetty album
- Hittavainen (Korpiklaani) - fiddle, jouhikko, recorder
- Janne Perttilä (Rytmihäiriö) - live guitars, backing vocals
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums and EPs
- Suden Uni - 2001 (re-released in 2003 with a bonus track and a DVD)
- Voimasta Ja Kunniasta - 2001
- Kivenkantaja - 2003
- Verisäkeet - 2005
- Viides Luku - Hävitetty - 2007
- Tulimyrsky - 2008
[edit] Demos
- Metsä - 1997
- Tämä Ikuinen Talvi - 1999 (Also released as a CD in 2001)
[edit] Other
- Thorns of Ice - 1996 (never released demo)
[edit] Promo
Promo is a demo by the Finnish folk metal band Moonsorrow, recorded in June of 1997. Intended for promotional use, it was never released due to a major flaw in the recording process; the flaw caused terrible distortion to the sound on the tape. The demo was recorded and mixed by Henri Sorvali.
[edit] Track listing
- "Battlehymn"
- "Outro"
[edit] Lakupaavi
Lakupaavi (Liquorice Pope in Finnish) is a Grindcore sideproject of the band.[5] The project started as a joke: when Moonsorrow were recording their 2005 album Verisäkeet, they said in an interview that the album would be named Raah Raah Blääh and it would be very different stylistically than their previous releases. Although this was just a joke, many people took it to heart. Later they stated that it had been a joke, but they then decided to actually record one of the songs, called "Kuolema Taidehomoille... Ja Muille" (or "Death To Art Faggots... And Others"). It didn't end there, however: the band ended up actually recording the whole Raah Raah Blääh album and released it on the internet under the new moniker Lakupaavi. They have a new album coming in 2008 under the workname Homosika! (or Gaypig!).
[edit] Trivia
In April 2008, Moonsorrow and other performers on the folk metal festival Paganfest were subject to accusations of being Nazis, racists and fascists from the German Antifa. Ville Sorvali of Moonsorrow and Heri Joensen of Týr issued a joint video statement to refute these accusations, noting that the bands are in no way connected to far-right groups and actually are against fascism. [6] In another interview with Moonsorrow, guitarist Mitja Harvilahti told the Feindesland webzine, that the band has nothing to do with fascism, and Mitja personally "strongly despises racists and Nazis". [7]
[edit] References
- ^ Biography of the band. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
- ^ Moonsorrow.com: Lyrics for "Voimasta Ja Kunniasta". Retrieved 2008-04-29
- ^ Moonsorrow.com: Information to "Tulimyrsky EP". Retrieved on 2008-04-29.
- ^ Moonsorrow at Drakkar Entertainment. Retrieved on 2008-04-29.
- ^ Lakupaavi on Moonsorrow.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-29.
- ^ Ville Sorvali of Moonsorrow and Heri Joensen of Týr. (2008). Statement on behalf of Moonsorrow, Týr and Eluveitie. Youtube.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
- ^ http://www.feindesland.de/interviews/_17_Interview_Moonsorrow2005.html