Moonsorrow
Jumalten Aika
(Century Media)
Jumalten Aika
(Century Media)
Moonsorrow’s music is just so wild, forlorn, and
free. They are one band I will always have a deeply emotional attachment to
from my pure metal days back in 2008. At that time I was 22, deeply depressed,
and going through all sorts of changes that a 22-year-old man thinks he is
prepared for but sometimes finds himself incredibly lost dealing with. Kivenkantaja, and Verisäkeet were two albums that
helped me through that transition. Anyway enough about me, the music is the
point here, and perhaps one thing that makes Moonsorrow such a strong band is
their ability to play songs that beautify tragedy and sadness. I think that is
a gift that a lot of people try to capture when they’re writing music, but it
often comes off as very cliché. Moonsorrow are able to do that, and through
experiencing it for me the music is kind of an esoteric mindfuck. Obviously I can’t understand a single thing
that vocalist Ville Sorvali is saying, but I can definitely feel it, and that
has just as much if not more meaning. One could almost call Moonsorrow
charming.
If you’re
familiar with Moonsorrow, then you know that their formula is to write each
track as an opus. I feel like I’m going on an adventure when I listen to Jumalten Aika. There’s certainly the
sense that each track is a different stage on this journey through peril. I can
imagine myself as a heathen on hill in the mist, or as a sailor on a boat off
of the coast of a Finnish isle. It’s really beautiful, and their music is very
organic. They’ve done it again. They’ve
raised the bar with Jumalten Aika. This is already going on my favorite albums
of 2016 list. How can I choose a favorite song on the album, when they’re each
an individually and carefully orchestrated piece to fulfill a part of the
experience? It’s like asking me which tale from the Silmarillion I enjoyed the
most. I couldn’t tell you. It’s all like one big long sad epic poem for a shelf
designated masterpieces.
After
several years bouncing around miserable in my post college daze, I’ve found
myself back in my roots as an avid metal listener, and I couldn’t be happier
that Moonsorrow have released this magical album at around the same time. Is there no triumph at the end of this sad,
long, and lonely road? Where are the gods to lift one up from the torment of
this trial? Alas, as I said earlier there’s a distinctive charm here, and you’ll
find it at certain points in each song just before the storm. Honestly, I think a track like “Mimisbruun,”
which is a 15:55 song that takes the listener all over the place, is as much of
an exegesis on northern European heritage and heathenry as anything a scholar
or historian could put out there.
How does
this heathen expedition end? By a crackling fire, and a blowing wind…
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