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31 окт 2011

METSATÖLL
 Metsatöll is a band from Estonia who released their first demo in 1999. Four albums plus assorted splits, EPs, and singles have followed that first effort, and the fifth album — Ulg — is due for release via Spinefarm Records on November 1. Until today, I had never heard their music. I’m not even positive I had heard their name. Just to display my ignorance even further, I wasn’t even sure where Estonia was, other than having a vague recollection of a Central European location (which turns out to be wrong)..
And then today I saw the album cover for Ulg, which is above, in conjunction with a notice that the album is streaming in full on yet another Finnish web site, Imperiumi (that Lantlôs album we discussed earlier today is streaming on Finland-based Inferno). There’s something about that cover that really hooked me, even though it’s not as “metal” as most cover art for the albums we feature around here. So, I decided this would be a fitting test subject for our continuing investigation of the hypothesis that cool album art correlates with cool music.
So, I cranked up that full album stream and started listening. Now, I warn you that because of interference from my fucking day job, I haven’t yet finished listening, which of course hasn’t stopped me from posting about this anyway. (more after the jump . . .)
The opening track “Agu” is a relatively brief folk instrumental played on what sounds like some kind of traditional stringed instruments, including a harp. The first true metal song comes next — “Sõjasüda”. It’s a kind of folk metal (which is loosely this band’s genre label), but in this song the “folk” part comes largely from the vocal style — relatively clean singing in Estonian, often by a chorus of male vocals, with much of it verging on chant. But the music is a black/pagan style of minor-key hammering and martial drumming that’s quite nice.
The third song, “Küü”, mixes flute, bagpipes, and chug-heavy bass-riffing in the verse. More virile folk vocals, voicing a catchy melody. I have a weakness for bagpipes and chug-heavy riffing, so I thought this song was cool. (and wait ’til you see the video for this one)
I listened to one more track before stopping — “Muhu õud”. In this one, bass vocals take the lead (with the rest of the dudes providing backing vocal support). This song may be the folkiest sounding of the three I heard; there’s more of a traditional swing to the rhythms and music and it includes several flute solos.
I’m not a big fan of folk metal, and consequently I’m not very knowledgeable about how this music stacks up within the genre. I know some of you are much more informed listeners and better critics, so let us know what you think in the comments. Here’s the full album stream:
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