Crimfall – As the Path Unfolds

Releasedate: 27-02-2009; Label: Nuclear Blast
By: Elvira Visser

In the year 2007 Jakke Vitala self-produced a promo containing 3 tracks, but he soon came to realise that he wanted to do more with this material. He felt is was unique and divers, ready for an audience. After searching for some good musicians he found Mikko Häkkinen and Helena Haaparanta for the vocal parts. These shared a nice contrast between their voices. Together they released the first Crimfall release “Burning Winds”

For their debut album they teamed up with Henri Sorvali on bass (who you might know from Finntroll and Moonsorrow) and Janne Jukarainen on drums to create “As the Path Unfolds”. But the question is, is there a path for them to be unfold? My personal opinion is that there are many folklore metal bands at the moment and it is hard to stay unique. Crimfall tries to separate themselves from others by using massive orchestrations to create an epic atmosphere which is not new, but does remind you of movie soundtracks.

To describe their music it is a bit difficult because they have a varied debut album. Not everything sounds the same and that is why it is hard to mention some bands. Their music reminds me a bit Moonsorrow, Turisas and Nightwish. All Finnish bands, but because they sound different on each track their debut album sounds promising. It has the sharp grunts, the fold melody lines from Turisas and Helena takes care of the female vocal lines. To create that folkloric melody they use violin, cello and hammond but it sounds nice, they have room for sedate/modest moments of pure melody to bust out in some sharp screams. “Non Serviam” is one of the tracks that flirt with black metal, the track “Aubade” shows a totally different way and reminds me of Epica.

Links:
Crimfall MySpace
Crimfall Official