This week, the playlist is taking a slightly different route – at the time of this being posted, I will be in Finland on an adventure to see Moonsorrow in Kuopio and Turku! So instead of revisiting the past week’s content, for this playlist, I made the decision to pay homage to both this trip and my past trip in December when I travelled there to see Vorna. Get involved with the tracks below, or listen to the playlist in full on our last.fm page here.
Moonsorrow – Tulimyrsky
There’s no doubt in my mind about what song I needed to choose in order to do justice to this incredible band. YES, it’s just under thirty minutes long in duration, but just push that thought to the back of your head for a while, sit down and just take in this utter masterpiece because there are very few songs that can top this one. It’s just an adventure from start to finish and despite the overall length of the song, it’s just one of those tracks that begs you to listen to it over and over. In particular, keep an eye out for the guitar line at around the 8:18 mark – perfection.
Red Moon Architect – Cradle
One of my followers on twitter recommended I checked this band out when they released the video for Cradle, so I duly listened and subsequently rather enjoyed what I heard. Then to my surprise, about a week later, it was announced that they were going to be supporting Moonsorrow in Kuopio – talk about luck! This is a rather stunning song; nice, dark and doomy with just the right amount of melody, and the video itself is a great watch – like the song, it’s rather dark and mysterious and adds a lot of atmosphere to the already-great song. Taken from their upcoming album Fall, it is surely a sign of great things to come for this band.
Oceanwake – Nadir
Oceanwake is (or rather, at the time of posting, was) the support for Moonsorrow in Turku. Like Red Moon Architect, their music leans more towards the doom genre, yet there’s also a nice amount of experimentation within the song, which is good to witness because it shows they aren’t afraid to shy away from trying out different approaches and ideas. One of the best things about Nadir is the vocals, particularly when performed in a clean style because they’re so elegant, controlled and well-articulated, and helps the band to stand out from the crowd.
Vorna – Ukkonen
In 2013, I came across this band via an advance review copy of their debut album and Ukkonen really blew me away, especially because of the Moonsorrow vibes that are particularly evident at about 1:30 in the track – it’s just a magical song and indeed, by the time I’d listened to it for the first time I’d come to the conclusion about what a special release Ajastaika truly was. It has now subsequently become one of my most listened-to albums of all time and I even made the trip to Finland to see them at the tail end of 2014, which was an experience I will never forget. This band is amazing and deserves to be a big name in the metal scene, there’s no mistaking that, especially since they’re capable of creating songs like this one.
Medicated – Scream For God
Medicated is, sadly, the only band on this list that I have yet to witness in person. My trip to Finland was originally going to involve attending the Medicated show in Helsinki on February 13 before travelling to Turku for Moonsorrow on February 14 – but my situation changed and I altered my plans to go to Kuopio instead. I still feel guilty about ditching my original plans, so I thought it was only fair I include them in this playlist because seriously, this is a band going places. Scream For God is a massively catchy song with a chorus begging to be sung along to, and it’s one of those tracks you’ll want to listen to over and over again. I can only imagine how great their debut album will sound.
