Moonsorrow – Jumalten Aika

[schema type=”review” name=”Moonsorrow – Jumalten Aika” description=”Label: Century Media” author=”Basak Günel” pubdate=”01-04-2016″ ]

The mighty Moonsorrow needs no introduction. Finnish pagan metallers have kept us waiting for 5 years and this wait has finally come to an end with the brand new record “Jumalten Aika”, which means “The Age of Gods” in English.

As with all Moonsorrow records, “Jumalten Aika” also has stories and concepts within. This time we get to hear the stories of gods, men and their fates as well as creation and the runes. Months before the album release, the band members already gave hints that this album was gonna be quite different and even folk-ish than the previous ones.

First things first, “Jumalten Aika” is quite different indeed.Surely, it’s still Moonsorrow; it’s epic as hell but I gotta admit I raised my eyebrows a lot when I first gave the record a spin. Especially when I compared the record to the previous one, it would be fair to say that it’s not maybe so ‘dark’ and ‘atmospheric’ but there’s that darkness and atmosphere in the sense that there’s this shamanic and spiritual vibe to it. Especially this shamanic atmosphere is introduced right in the beginning and it evolves into many dimensions, which create the epic Moonsorrow sound that we know. So don’t give up if you get disappointed when you listen to it the first time; the songs will evolve and they will sound different in the next spins…

Soundwise, “Jumalten Aika” shows us the different dimensions and colours of the amazing Moonsorrow sound that we know. The record is quite folk-ish indeed but also dark and there is lots and lots of tribute to the old BM era and some classic names. That is definitely one of the highlights of the album. The listener will experience those ‘calm’ and ‘atmospheric’ moments with clean vocals – choirs!- at times and then the full-on aggressive black metallish riffs and blasting drums all of a sudden! One interesting song is definitely “Suden Tunti”, which is the shortest song in the record and also the shortest song the band has composed after 10 years! It can be thought of as a transition song, linking the first and the second ‘half’. It’s quite straightforward and it has a more of a ‘punch-in-the-face’ attitude whereas the other 4 songs need more patience and more time to get assimilated. Another highlight for me was hearing Korpiklaani’s Jonne Järvelä’s vocals (I think?!) in a certain part in the album but I leave that to the listener to find out! I think they chose the perfect person to create that shamanic atmosphere after all!

Full of surprises and the harmony between the old folk-ish Moonsorrow and the pagan metal Moonsorrow, “Jumalten Aika” definitely marks the evolution of the band… Kudos to the guys for staying true to their roots and evolving and experimenting at the same time!

Line-up:

Ville Sorvali – vocals, bass
Henri Sorvali – guitars, keyboards [studio]
Marko Tarvonen – drums
Mitja Harvilahti – guitars
Markus Eurén – keyboards [live]
Janne Perttilä – guitars

Tracklist: 01. Jumalten Aika 02. Ruttolehto incl. Päivättömän Päivän Kansa 03. Suden Tunti 04. Mimisbrunn 05. Ihmisen Aika (Kumarrus Pimeyteen)

Links:
Moonsorrow Facebook
Moonsorrow Official