Monday, March 28, 2011

Finntroll


Most elegantly described as "holy shit what was that," Finntroll combines elements of various subgenres of metal (most notably: black, death, extreme and folk) with a type of Finnish folk music called "humppa." Please finish giggling at the name before continuing. Humppa is a jazz-related, fast-paced traditional dance music that typically features a strong bass and is known to be similar to samba and waltz. With this unique sound, Finntroll is sure to be a new taste to all listener's ears.

The majority of the band's work revolves around a Finnish legend involving Troll-King Rivfader and his army of trolls fighting Christians who invade their lands, with a recurring theme of two priests named "Aamund" and "Kettil" who are constantly getting into trouble with the trolls and followers of Rivfader.

Curiously, despite being of Finnish origin, almost all of the bands songs are sung in Swedish. This was a tradition started by the band's first singer, Katla, who, being a part of the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland, thought the sound of the language better suited the trollish nature of the band's work. The tradition lives on, though there have been several changes in vocalist since Katla's departure.

Personally, I do not listen to much, if any at all, black metal. I find the singing harsh and often, the music indecipherable, with chaotic drum patterns and heavily distorted guitar. However, Finntroll, borrowing heavily from several other subgenres of metal, often breaks this stereotype. The singing, while very "troll" sounding, is not nearly as harsh as most extreme metal bands and they have a very clean sound, resonating the focal point of their folk label. Perhaps you will enjoy them too.

13 comments:

  1. wow. This is really weird music. It's cool though, the musicians are all really talented

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  2. very good. liked how it change in the beginning

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  3. Pretty wild, never heard of them before

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  4. Finntroll is amazing, I need more by them.

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  5. Finntroll are awesome, although I can see how they're not for everyone. I like 'em a lot though.

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  6. Finntroll is definitely good stuff. My favorite album is probably Jaktens Tid. Not as 'bouncy' as some of their other stuff but is still a quality album, in my opinion.

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  7. Even us Swedes are scared of our Finnish neighbours :o

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  8. Sounds really unique, dark!
    I like it, might check it out sometime.

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  9. Caught these guys about a month ago. Great show.

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