Moonsorrow - Jumalten aika
2016 / Pagan black metal
1. Jumalten aika
2. Ruttolehto Sis. Päivättömän päivän kansa
3. Suden Tunti
4. Mimisbrunn
5. Ihmisen aika (Kumarrus pimeyteen)
Kattroll: My only touch to this album before its album release gig was the less than a minute of the first track I listened to before deciding to hear the songs at the gig for the first time. The small bit of the intro I managed hear, convinced me instantly: this was going to be as epic as Moonsorrow has always been.
It might have been a bit risky to the concert without knowing what to expect, because I hadn't even listened to any of the teasers, watched the brand new music video or even read the album's reviews. Praises were all I had read about the album, but what if the album wasn't as magnificent as I had imagined? What if I, for some reason, wouldn't have liked it or if it hadn't opened to me at all during the first spin? The thrill was immense, for the previous album was released five years ago and I can admit that there isn't a single band or album release that has been this big to me.
When Moonsorrow finally step on the stage and 'Jumalten aika' started accompanied with applauds, my first touch only grew stronger. Even though I hadn't heard the song before, it felt like a familiar song I had heard before. It was the same safe Moonsorrow as before, but it wasn't repetitive at all. I was enthralled. Some album release parties' crowds feel a bit lost among the new songs, but at Moonsorrow's album release party, this wasn't the deal: everyone, including yours truly, were partying full force almost as if the songs were already old hits. The concert was over in a flash. I first feared they'd play 'Jumalten aika' from the beginning to the end, but the setlist was built with quite a nice old song, new song ratio. A set with only 'Jumalten aika', would've been amazing too.
At the moment my favourite song is the beginning track, 'Jumalten aika.' It's versatile and pompous entirety. I especially dig it's catchy melody, which reminds me of a polka beat in the end. It asks for the listener to ask the pagan gods to the summer meadow, being the most joyous track on the album, if that can even be said.
'Ruttolehto' begins with pompous male choir part and after that the melody that carries throughout the whole song begins. The track also includes a shaman influenced sacrificial song, 'Päivättömän päivän kansa', which, despite its barrenness, also has a glimpse of the Tolkien's Middle-Earth. After the calmer middle part the tempo increases for a moment, until it returns to the chant like ritual calls, which are performed by Jonne Järvelä himself.
The third song on the album is 'Suden tunti, the music video song. A seven-minute song is a bit short song in the case of Moonsorrow, but for a music video song it's a lengthy one. The video wasn't boring at all. Instead, the story actually opened up the track and because of the amazing animation it was over in a flash. The song is a bit oppressing, one could almost say it's a stunning one, and it brings out some new sides of Ville's voice.
'Mimersbrunn' opens up the artwork, for in the Scandinavian mythology the title means Yggdrasil, the mythical tree connecting the worlds. The beautiful ring of the song momentarily reminds me of their past album 'V: Hävitetty', but the waltz and the atmosphere almost remind me of one of my favourite songs, 'Pimeä.'
The last track of the album, 'Ihmisen aika (Kumarrus pimeyteen), feels like the biggest stumbling block of the album for the 16-minute song sounds a bit monotonous to me. It could be that it just didn't open up to me yet though, you can never know. The last few minutes are the best part of the song and offer a great ending to the album.
The album's special edition also includes two bonus tracks: the surprisingly well performed Grave cover 'Soulless', which has been transformed into a really personal cover, and a Rotting Christ cover 'Non Serviam', which didn't really work as well as the former of the covers.
All in all I'm pretty satisfied with the album and I really do understand the praises it received, although you can't really expect less from Moonsorrow, because, quoting my own word, it is the best band in the whole world.
Orostider: Five years definitely isn't the usual time it takes to release a new album, but Moonsorrow are known for their high quality releases, so they could've taken all the time in the world if needed and I, among others, would've just waited. Albums like this aren't released every two years or so. Refining an album to its maximum takes an undefined amount of time.
'Jumalten aika' is a humongous sounding album straight from the beginning. After the shaman influenced intro, the album just rolls over the listener. It's not just the production, which is superior, but the songs and their structures create an earth trembling atmosphere which varies from heroic chants to fierce battles and to plaguelike death. What a lot of people may notice, is the grown presence of folk elements on the album, whereas the album before 'Jumalten aika', 'Varjoina kuljemme kuolleiden maassa', was more black and doom influenced. This isn't a bad thing at all, because Moonsorrow has been following the more black metal influenced path for some years now. They still have a lot of black metal going on, but the focus has been shifted more towards folkiness.
Moonsorrow didn't let me down and I'm fairly certain they won't do so in the future. 'Jumalten aika' is a magnificent addition to Moonsorrow's discography and doesn't fall behind in comparison to their earlier albums. These days it's pretty rare for a +20-year-old band to release such an album. Waiting another five years will be easy, because 'Jumalten aika' will spent some quality time on my playlists from now on.
tp5170: Even though I have never listened to Moonsorrow that
actively, I acknowledge them as an important band in the field of folk (black)
metal as well as a highly entertaining band to see play live. I have been
slightly more enthusiastic about the band’s releases ever since they stated to
lean again more towards the direction of black metal, and their now second
latest release, “Varjoina kuljemme
kuolleiden maassa”, was actually one of my favorite releases of that
year. So naturally I was somewhat interested when I realized that the band was
coming up with a new album.
Now that I have gone through this new album a couple of times,
I think that “Jumalten Aika” is now my favorite release of the band. Everything
that was great on the previous album seems to present here and sound wise I
think they used even more black metal influences this time, which I like a lot.
I also love the fact that even when they change / evolve their sound a bit,
they still keep clinging to their own little trademark twists and the music is
still instantly recognizable as theirs. But definitely the biggest improvement
from the previous album in my opinion is the pacing which was the biggest
problem for me with “Varjoina
kuljemme kuolleiden maassa”.
At the moment I don’t think that I have anything negative to
say about “Jumalten Aika” as it pretty much exceeded my expectations in every
respect. So if folk black metal is your thing, there is simply no reason to
skip this one without giving it a try.
btcarey: Moonsorrow
has done it again. The renowned Finnish folk/pagan metal band released their
new album “Jumalten Aika” earlier this month, and it is a crowd-pleaser. Hitting
the number one spot in the Finnish carts is a formidable task for any extreme
metal band, yet has proven effortless for Moonsorrow. This is no
coincidence, “Jumalten Aika” is a solid release (some would even say it’s their
best) and the album is much more “listener-friendly” then some of their previous
records. The slight shift in style has allowed them to push their way into more
mainstream music while maintaining their integrity. I know a lot of extreme
metal listeners turn their noses up at the first mention of “mainstream”, but
personally I’m fine with the band cutting out the 10 minute passages of just
hearing the wind blow for a more straight forward album.
Now, on to
the music! I won’t dig into too much detail in regards to each song because “Jumalten
Aika” is one of those “you get what you pay for” kind of albums. If you know Moonsorrow,
you know what to expect. There are five songs (and two bonus tracks) three of
which clock in at over 12 minutes. For me a general rule for Moonsorrow is: the
longer the song, the better it is. This guideline pretty accurately reflects
the tracks on “Jumalten Aika”, with “Mimisbrunn” (15:55) being the best
and “Suden Tunti” (7:06) clearly the weakest. All the songs on the album,
besides “Suden Tunti”, are very strong and probably represent some of
Moonsorrow’s best guitar riffs since “Kivenkantaja”. The black sheep of the
album is “Suden Tunti”, and while not a necessarily bad song, the level of
songwriting is waaaaaaay below the bar set by the rest of the album. There's
something about “Suden Tunti” that I just can’t take seriously, every time the
vocalist yells “VOI EI” or the backing vocals chime in (which remind me of the
Beastie Boys for some reason) I find myself laughing hysterically.
Overall the
album is a solid release and a formidable addition to the Moonsorrow
discography. Any fan of folk/pagan metal or Moonsorrow should definitely check
this out. It’s an easy listen and showcases top notch song writing (…. besides “Suden
Tunti”).
Favorite
Songs: “Mimisbrunn”, “Jumalten Aika”
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