Tuesday 5 July 2011

Turisas takes the day! - A review for Turisas' Stand Up and Fight

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the best album released so far during 2011, Turisas' "Stand Up and Fight"! Having slowly acquired fame in the folk metal-scene over the years, Turisas is now among the most renowned bands in the genre and not the least because of their concerts. Their energetic live-shows have forced many people who haven't liked their studio-offerings to at least acknowledge their talent in rich and entertaining performance. After the absolutely glorious debut "Battle Metal", they have released one album before Stand Up and Fight. "The Varangian Way" took the symphonic nature of the debut further with orchestral samples and told us a tale of Vikings travelling to Constantinople. Both of those albums are magnificent masterpieces that beat almost any album but the debut is a bit better in all its honesty and young fury. However, with Stand Up and Fight, Turisas learned how to fully master their new, matured sound and produced a spectacle beyond amazing and their best work to date.

On Stand Up and Fight, Turisas have finally got the chance to add something to their music they have probably dreamed of since the beginning of their career: a full-blown orchestra. This new feature enchances Stand Up and Fight's atmosphere to even more gigantic proportions than what it was on the previous albums. Flashy, triumphant symphonics give the album a strongly cinematic feel of adventure and glory. It matches perfectly with the themes of the songs and really makes the band blossom and bathe in divine epicness. The orchestra is the all-embracing core of Stand Up and Fight and Turisas have actually stepped quite a bit away from their folk metal-roots. Besides the symphonic side and folk-elements, the music is characterized by some progressive features, a slight 80's AOR-vibe and power metal-esque feeling. In a way, the lyrics follow the concept of The Varangian Way with focus on Constantinople but this time they also deal with general issues of rise and fall of an empire, heroic acts and such.

Turisas leaves no doubts of what is their aim on Stand Up and Fight: it kicks off with a bombastic tune "The March of the Varangian Guard" which overshadows even "To Holmgard and Beyond" from The Varangian Way. Warlord's voice sounds better than ever as he builds up the intensity before the chorus is unleashed. He has always been one of my favourite vocalists but now his deep, impressive baritone seems to be forged of pure gold. Olli's electric violin is another trademark of Turisas and once again it creates blissful melodies that lift my heart somewhere near my throat. "Take the Day!" is an equal masterpiece that builds steadily into a stadiumrock-influenced anthem. Among the highlights in this song are the breathtaking choir vocal-melodies of the chorus. Awesome stuff to sing along to, which can be said for the whole album though.

The next track, "Hunting Pirates", is the most folkish one on Stand Up and Fight. Musically it's quite close to something you might find on an Alestorm-album but transferred to fit Turisas' style. It's catchy as hell, funny and positive! Strange is the person who doesn't go along with the vibe and start to smile and dance. "Venetoi! - Prasinoi!" follows and behold the glory and majesty! It's near impossible to put into words how triumphant this song is. Imagine the most awaited festival of the olden days with chariot-races, gladiator combats etc. and all that organized to please the most powerful emperor mankind has ever seen. Hundreds of men blasting fanfares and anthems from horns and trumpets, massive crowd cheering wild for the competitors. That is the essence of Venetoi! - Prasinoi!

Faithful to Turisas' new style, the title-track continues mixing calm, atmospheric parts to intense passages fitting to tell about great deeds. It has a darker undertone than most of the songs on the album but it's still uplifting and pompous and definitely of superb quality. Then comes "The Great Escape". The song starts with a tasty, groovy guitar-riff and continues with progressive touches, evolving into a journey through the most fascinating story on Stand Up and Fight. Following a Viking's quest of escaping from the emperor's service to return to his homeland, it includes a variety of ingenious elements. No matter how surprising it might sound after the descriptions of the majesty of the previous songs, The Great Escape explodes to the most epic passage on the album after the first half of the song. Soaring like best soundtracks from the elite of adventure-movies, it sends chills down my body every time I listen to it. And there's just no way I could do that without turning the volume really loud. After this eargasm-producer, the song fades beautifully and leaves the listener to want more.

The next two songs are, however, the ones that aren't perfect. "Fear the Fear" deals with heroism using modern imagery along with the usual medieval approach. First it was a bit hard to digest this song and it's relationship to Turisas' traditional style to handle themes but then I realized that I was being narrow-minded and that Turisas had broken the chains of predictability while still managing to hold the entirety together. For the most part. I still found myself rating Fear the Fear lower than all the other songs. It is well written, epic and doesn't slip from the mood of the album but it also doesn't have the kind of hooks I was waiting for. It has some changes that don't seem to work so flawlessly and I kinda get the feeling of a song not fully complete. I have to make it clear though that it is only bad compared to most of the songs but it's still kick-ass and certainly nothing to skip over. "End of an Empire" is another song that doesn't quite live up to the standard quality of Stand Up and Fight. It is somewhat long and progressive track that winds up and down presenting us a selection of features. From less over-the-top, though definitely glorious, choirs to fast and badass metalfest, End of an Empire is of quality most symphonic metal-bands can only hope to reach at their best but in comparison to Turisas' works, it lacks some of the top-notch catchyness and consistency they usually master. Great song but, alongside Fear the Fear, one of the two slightly flawed tracks here.

"The Bosphorus Freezes Over" closes the album and returns the level of quality of the six first songs. This wistful song functions as perfect end credits to the album, beginning with Warlord's emotional story-telling, going through a wonderful chorus of Finnish hymn-like singing and ending with mighty symphonic part, a farewell to this adamantium album. The bonus-tracks need to be mentioned here as well. Both "Supernaut" and "Broadsword" are amazing covers of songs made by Black Sabbath and Jethro Tull, respectively. Turisas has stayed faithful to the originals and just morphed the songs to fit their style. As much as I love the original Supernaut and Broadsword, I'm a big enough fan of Turisas to claim that they've surpassed Black Sabbath and Jethro Tull and created something truly memorable in their own class.

All in all, Stand Up and Fight didn't let me down a single bit. On the contrary, it has become one of my favourite albums of all time. It accomplishes numerous feats, not the least being the fact that it contains one of the strongest row of songs I have ever come across with its six first tunes. If you want some triumph and triumph and some more triumph, all of that constructed with admirable skill, grab Stand Up and Fight. As for myself, I'll be ready to jump to the next Viking ship that sails by the coast of Finland and travel to Constantinople to conquer it. Cheers!

Monday 4 July 2011

At the Twilight Tavern - A review for Ensiferum's From Afar

Like a river originating in the form of a small stream from a glacier and rushing forward growing more and more powerful as it flows towards its destination, the same way has Ensiferum’s might gotten more impressive as we follow their career from the sparkling originality of their self-titled to the bombastic nature of Victory Songs. When I got familiar with this famous folk metal-band, I instantly learned to love their s/t a great deal, was totally hooked into Iron and completely blown away by Victory Songs. Against this background, From Afar faced a challenge no less than the highest standard I had set for any album thus far. On the other hand, I held Ensiferum as perhaps the only band that could meet my extremely demanding expectations. I wondered whether Ensiferum could still take their perfection a little further. Then came the moment when I first kicked in the title track on Youtube and holy fucking shit, it almost maimed me with its sky-cracking epicness and superb songwriting. After that there was no doubt: Ensiferum were back and better than ever.

The first major thing I noticed when giving From Afar a number of careful listens was the added symphonic elements. While Victory Songs already had a touch of symphonies in the mix, it never crossed my mind to call it symphonic metal by any standard. It was soon revealed to me that From Afar could be called that anytime. Straight from the beginning of the title-track, it was clear that the guys had really found out how to unleash an overwhelmingly wonderful symphonic assault upon the listener. Still, this new feature is brilliantly woven around the traditional core of Ensiferum and not used continuosly. Combined with eargasmic guitar riffs and melodies that burn as fiercely as ever, the listener is drawn to a maelstrom of vivid images of distant lands where the sun visits the horizon only briefly during the deepest winter and where the light of the Midsummer sets nights ablaze. The atmosphere is enriched with flute, kantele, mandolin etc. with all the instruments giving their own share in creating the folkish atmosphere and Petri's harsh vocals, supported by clean choirs, seal the astonishing work with glory, melancholy and hatred.

On From Afar, Ensiferum offer us a selection of songs that each differ from the rest in their own, spectacular way. We are introduced to two longest Ensiferum-songs of their career, Heathen Throne Part 1 & 2 which clock at 11:09 and 12:49, respectively. With all my heart I can say that Ensiferum have truly mastered the art of making long songs. These songs are thoroughly interesting, coherent and flow intensely, never escaping from the band's grasp. The first part concentrates more on the blasting metal-attack with brain-melting guitar harmonies and solos, epic arrays of symphonic keyboard-arrangements and a strong, if a bit clichéic, message. The chorus makes every proper folk-metaller rapidly grow half a meter in height and stand tall while the waves of heathenry crash on the shores of Christianity like a tsunami. The second part takes one to a great journey through planes of existence with every single second filled with adventurous vibe and monumental songwriting. Clean vocals are used a lot which fits perfectly into the atmosphere. I must admit that the majestic fading in the end doesn't really add more substance to the song than if it was a couple of minutes shorter but it also doesn't lessen the song's value in my eyes.

A capella-track Tumman Virran Taa is something that might come as a surprise. This minute-long piece of choir-singing in Finnish is, in any case, another proof that these guys can come up with something quite different that still doesn't make a tiniest crack in the spine of the album. Stone Cold Metal is also a unique piece of art that mixes bombastic folk metal with Western-themes. It is a tribute to the likes of Ennio Morricone with its long, winding, breathtaking Western-interlude. It even has a banjo-solo! All of the songs mentioned so far are something that make From Afar different from the previous Ensiferum-albums. They have experimented with a bunch of new things and incorporated them ingeniously to their traditional sound. From Afar is a flawless example of an album that has brought fresh new ideas onto the table but that has still remained true to the band's roots.

Even though aforementioned songs deserve all the praise I gave to them, the ones left are as good or even better. Elusive Reaches is a fast, blazing track that has some of the most amazing guitarwork on the album and that, my friends, is really something! Smoking Ruins is a kind of equivalent to Wanderer on Victory Songs with its almost 100% clean vocal-approach, lighter songwriting and story of a man's hardships. By the Dividing Stream is an enchanting build-up to the whole album, like a calm before the storm. Two tracks following this magical intro are perhaps the pinnacle of the album, if there can be a pinnacle in perfection. The title-track is a majestic offering that sends waves of stunning epicness from the speakers, knocking down everyone who is not prepared. Everything is executed with accuracy: mindblowing symphonic-arrangements, furious guitar, bass and drums, breathtaking vocals, both harsh and clean, and all this finished with an impressive spoken part, an excerpt from Kalevala. No less than one of the best songs of all time. Twilight Tavern is virtually of equal quality. It uses the common folk metal-formula (for example: harsh vocals in verses and clean choirs in choruses) but every detail is carefully planned and with added uniqueness that comes mainly from female vocals and the superfast ending, it reaches a level of catchyness and general awesomeness possibly only surpassed by the title-track. The bonus track Vandraren also deserves praise. It is a cover of a song by Swedish folk/pop-duo Nordman. I heard the original for the first time in my early childhood while traveling in the epic landscapes of Lapland with my family. As soon as I learned that one of my all-time favourite bands is going to cover it, I got extremely excited. And the cover didn't disappoint me. Crowned with guest vocalist no other than Heri Joensen of Týr himself, it is a rocking tune with strongly folkish vibe; a great tribute to the original song.

I'm fully aware of all the fanboyism going on in this review but oh well, deal with it. *puts sunglasses on* From Afar is honestly one of the best albums I have ever heard in my life, if not the best of all. There's basically no flaws to be found on the album. I recommend this to all fans of folk metal, symphonic metal and epic metal in general. See you at the Twilight Tavern!

Np: Jex Thoth - The Banishment