What is Moonsorrow? Moonsorrow is a Finnish metal band. Their sound is very difficult to define, because it varies a lot from one album to another, and we better not talk of categorising under one of the common labels – thrash, black, power, whatever. But some things stay: the epic feeling in most of their compositions, the beauty of their melodies, the complexity of their music and the depth of their sound. They define themselves as epic heathen metal. If you feel curious, the best you can do is to listen to it yourself, but I recommend you to listen to stuff from different periods, as they changed so much that they don’t even seem the same band. The lyrics are written completely in Finnish, except in their first demo, in which they used English. They prefer to write in their language because, logically, they can use it more naturally and fluently.
Another characteristic is that they sound quite differently in studio and live, for the simple reason that in studio they use a lot of arrangements and instruments, and they refuse to take pre-recorded stuff to concerts, so they manage with a keyboard. This doesn’t mean their gigs sound poor, but just more metal, with a less polished music but more direct. Imagery-wise, they usually stain their faces and torsoes with cow blood. (No, they don't kill cows - they just go to the closest butchery.)
The band’s biography can be summarized saying that it was formed by cousins Henri and Ville Sorvali in 1995, but didn’t become something serious until 1997; since then, they released two demos, five full.length albums and one EP, in this order, and currently the band is composed by five musicians: two guitarists, a drummer, a keyboardist and a bass guitarist, who also sings. The choirs are performed by all of them. Generally, when playing outside Finland, a live session guitarist replaces Henri.
They never had any political position as a band, but their ideology is openly pagan and romantic, which means, among other things, admiration and respect towards nature, ancient traditions and folk culture in general; their lyrics usuallydeal with this kind of topics, and their compositions often have folkloric influences.
Moonsorrow - Sankarihauta (2001)
Another characteristic is that they sound quite differently in studio and live, for the simple reason that in studio they use a lot of arrangements and instruments, and they refuse to take pre-recorded stuff to concerts, so they manage with a keyboard. This doesn’t mean their gigs sound poor, but just more metal, with a less polished music but more direct. Imagery-wise, they usually stain their faces and torsoes with cow blood. (No, they don't kill cows - they just go to the closest butchery.)
The band’s biography can be summarized saying that it was formed by cousins Henri and Ville Sorvali in 1995, but didn’t become something serious until 1997; since then, they released two demos, five full.length albums and one EP, in this order, and currently the band is composed by five musicians: two guitarists, a drummer, a keyboardist and a bass guitarist, who also sings. The choirs are performed by all of them. Generally, when playing outside Finland, a live session guitarist replaces Henri.
They never had any political position as a band, but their ideology is openly pagan and romantic, which means, among other things, admiration and respect towards nature, ancient traditions and folk culture in general; their lyrics usuallydeal with this kind of topics, and their compositions often have folkloric influences.
Moonsorrow - Sankarihauta (2001)
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