In Angel's Headphones / December 2011

Link

N.B. This interview was written from memory and a few scribbled notes. Apologies to either if I misquote something they said.

I checked in with Ville and Mitja from Moonsorrow, who are in the midst of the Dead Tyrants Tour with Tyr and Crimfall, supporting the latest album release, Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa (review here). They took some time out before preparing for the gig (drinking tea and vodka, in good Finnish fashion) to answer some questions about the tour, the album and a few surprises along the way…

How is the tour going? Any surprises planned for tonight that you can reveal?
Ville: The tour’s great fun so far, very good times.
Mitja: It’s been different to the previous ones, we’re playing 30 shows and 5 of them are in previously unexplored and sometimes smaller venues.
Like this one!
Yeah. So the older tours were more ‘rock n’ roll’, this is more ‘punk rock’ in feel. You can’t hide behind each other on such a small stage.
V: As for surprises…well I won’t be stage-diving, that’s for sure. I hurt my legs doing that.
So no epic poses on the monitors then?
V: No, probably not this time! *laugh*

Given your songs are significantly longer than the average pop hit, do you find your setlists are very restricted when you tour as support or play festivals?
V: It’s challenging, I mean we’re playing a 75-minute set so we have to be careful what we play. It’s a bit frustrating but you learn to work with it.
M: That and we have a new album out, so we have to play a couple of songs from that as a requirement.

I heard you guys got to play a couple of dates out in China! What kind of experience did you guys have there?
V: It was incredible, like a dream come true for us. To be one of the first foreign metal bands to play there, everyone was really enthusiastic.
M: Yeah, it was a real honor for us, the fans were crazy.
Were there many ex-pats there, or mostly local Asian fans?
V: There were some people who’d come from other countries, but mostly Chinese there from what we could see. There was so much energy at these shows, which we fed off and delivered back.
M: And some of them were singing along. Fuck knows what they were singing, if they were the words or something else, but that was kind of cool. Similar things happened in South America, actually, with fans singing along.

If you could take one thing each with you from Finland for when you’re on tour, something you miss from home, what and why? A bottle of salmiakki, perhaps?
V: Dark bread definitely. I really don’t like the white bread you find in other countries.
M: And Finnish showers. When you’re on tour with 18 people, the last ones don’t tend to get much in the way of hot water. So I’d take a Finnish shower with me.

Point made.

Now, coming to the album itself, what inspired the darker and doomier approach on VKKM? Was it an intended direction or just the way the songwriting came out?
V: We had a rough idea to start with, when we were writing, but it was a natural process.
M: In a lot of cases, the artist doesn’t write the music, but the music creates itself through the artist.

I had a read through the lyrics both in Finnish and in English. Where did the inspiration for the lyrics come from? Is it a story you created or an adaptation from a literary example?
V: I came up with the story myself, actually. I mean sure, I took some inspiration from different places and so on, but the main idea itself was mine.

The résumé of instruments used on VKKM is very impressive. How did it come about that most of you are multi-instrumentalists? Is it the nature of the music that requires it or is there another reason?
V: I’m not actually the guy to ask about this, I play bass but I wouldn’t say I’m a multi-instrumentalist. Henri is the one to ask, he can play anything.
M: The process itself is fairly simple, I mean you can figure most stringed instruments with a bit of practice. You know from you learnt already. If you want to play the bouzouki, you just need to know a bit about the mandolin, for example.
V: I can play guitar actually, and if you give me a bit of time the banjo. But yeah, Henri is the main guy for that.

The interludes between the tracks seem almost cinematic, maybe like Lord Of The Rings in a way. Was the intention to add a film score element to the concept album?
M: That was precisely the idea actually, to turn it into the soundtrack for a movie.
V: And the texts for the instrumental songs were pieces taken from this journal I imagined written by the narrator, who of course was Mitja, as he’s the last photo in the artwork. So the album’s about him really. *laughs*

Your previous albums seem to feature a more painting-based album cover, yet this time a photograph was used. Was there a reason behind the change in artwork?
V: We had this idea in mind of having a band picture as the album cover. Nobody really seemed to do that anymore, we hadn’t done it either. So we did the shot and it worked out really well in the end, very happy with the result.

Stretching back to 2008, where did the motivation for the Metallica cover of “For Whom The Bell Tolls” come from?
V: Oh, Henri did that years ago. The man had too much time on his hands, so he arranged a version of it, and played it for us. We really liked it so we recorded it for the EP.
A: And who sang the vocal section? Was it you?
V: No, he did.
M: He didn’t want to do it initially, but after we gave him a bottle of Captain Morgan’s (rum) he went in there and recorded them no problem. He even sounds like Captain Morgan! *laugh*

Henri Sorvali vs. Captain Morgan. Any similarity?

I’ve got a few more general questions to throw at you guys, just to prepare you. So this is a bit of a detour, going back a few years now, but do you have any more plans for another grindcore album? (for those not in the know, go here.
M: That was kind of a spontaneous first album. We had a lot of energy, and something to say. I think it’d be hard to recreate that atmosphere, really, to create something of a similar level. Maybe it’ll happen, maybe it won’t. Who knows?

Coming back to Moonsorrow, I’ve always admired you guys as one of the few major bands whose lyrics are your mother tongue. Do you think this has been a part of your success as well as your identity? And do you think the lyrics would work in English?
V: First question yes, second one no. Although it’s true that it’s easier for me to write lyrics in Finnish, that’s not the only reason. It also fits the music, I think, moreso than those who sing in English about these lyrical topics.
M: We’ve had fans tell us that they learnt Finnish because of us, they started because of the lyrics, and then just didn’t stop. Some of them ended up moving to Finland, and are fluent in the language. So that was kind of cool.

You’ve probably heard this question a lot, but do you think there is a “pagan metal” sound in your opinion? How would you define it if this is the case?
V: Yes and no to there being a pagan sound. I don’t know if there are particular things in the music, but most of the “real” pagan bands seem to have a similarity in atmosphere.
Like yourselves and Tyr for instance?
M: Exactly, yeah.

Do you have any dream collaborators with whom you’d love to work? Alive or dead, any genre.
V: Well…probably Quorthorn, because I’d be interested to see what would come out of it. Not something related to Bathory or to Moonsorrow, something independent. Would be really cool.
M: We never really thought of combining someone else with our sound, we don’t even use producers. Although recently we started using vocal producers.
V: Yeah, I was really happy with the work they did on my vocals for the last couple of albums.

What do you wish to have accomplished in the next 5 years?
M: I think…we’d like to be the first band to play on the moon. *laugh*
V: That’d be awesome, yeah…in terms of more realistic goals, we haven’t really started working on a new album. There’s been a DVD in the works, so it’d be nice to finish that some time, but aside from that no real plans.

I know this may be a tough question, but if you could name one album (or artist) that influenced you with your own sound, or your playing/singing style?
V: You’re right, that’s not easy…You may not necessarily hear this sound in our music, or in pagan metal in general but I think I’d select Amorphis’ “Tales From The Thousand Lakes”. That album had some strong influence on me, even if I can’t place it completely.
M: I reckon I’d choose Enslaved’s first album, “Vikingligr Veldi”. I was listening to a lot of black metal, but these guys were the first in the scene to kick off the tradition of singing stuff in your own language, even if they were singing in old Norwegian, which is closer to Icelandic.
Both very worthy albums!

So, any final parting words for the readers?
V: I never know what to say for this question…
M: Just that we hope to see you guys come to the shows if we’re in your area!

Well, thank you very much for the answers, they were very interesting to hear, and I wish you the best of luck with the tour and any future plans!

Musikreviews.de / April 2011

Link

Interview mit Moonsorrow (10.04.2011)

MOONSORROW sind ohne Zweifel die großartigsten Vertreter des epischen, dezent folkigen und herrlich intensiv düsteren Metals. Ihr neues Album trägt den nahezu unaussprechlichen Titel "Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa" und ist aus Sicht des Verfassers das beste Album des ersten Quartals 2011. Sänger und Bassist Ville Sorvali geht im langen Gespräch kurz vor der Veröffentlichung ausführlich - und somit fast schon untypisch für einen Finnen - auf alle wichtigen Aspekte rund um dieses tolle Album ein.

Hallo Ville. Schön, dass du anrufst. Wie geht's?

Gut, danke. Wir waren in letzter Zeit sehr beschäftigt, denn das Album war wirklich jede Menge Arbeit.

Du bist also froh, dass es endlich fertig ist?

Definitiv. Es ist das beste Album, das wir je gemacht haben und es hat wirklich Spaß gemacht, dieses Album aufzunehmen. Ich bin wirklich froh, dass wir es so hinbekommen haben, wie es ist und ich kann die Veröffentlichung kaum erwarten.

Wie lange dauerten denn die Aufnahmen?

Wir haben im späten August angefangen, haben den ganzen September aufgenommen und haben dann im Oktober den Mix gemacht. Der gesamte Aufnahmeprozess hat fünf, sechs Wochen gedauert und zwei Wochen gingen für den Mix drauf. Es hat insgesamt länger gedauert, als bei den vorherigen Alben.

Waren denn schon alle Songs fertig, als ihr ins Studio gegangen seid oder habt ihr dort noch an den Songs gearbeitet?

Wir haben immer alles fertig, wenn wir ins Studio gehen, da wird dann nur noch an kleineren Arrangements gearbeitet. Alle Songs sind immer komplett fertig gestellt, wir machen eigentlich immer Demos, die schon fast perfekt sind, auf denen alle Songs drauf sind, die aufgenommen werden sollen. Jeder weiß also genau, was er zu spielen hat.

Wo siehst du denn die Hauptunterschiede zum Vorgänger "V: Hävitetty" und der "Tulimyrsky"-EP neben der Tatsache, dass die Songs dieses mal wieder kürzer sind?

Ich denke, es ist in gewisser Weise das komplizierteste Album, das wir bisher gemacht haben. Die Songs sind wirklich eine Herausforderung, für uns jedenfalls. Ich kann mich nicht daran erinnern, dass das Erlernen unserer Songs je so schwierig war. Das ist aber eine gute Sache, weil unheimlich viel passiert, so dass die Leute auch interessiert bleiben. Am auffälligsten ist sicherlich, dass dieses Album definitiv das härteste ist, das wir je gemacht haben, der ganze Sound ist viel härter im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes, die Leute werden davon sicherlich überrascht sein. Egal ob sie es mögen oder nicht, überrascht werden sie auf jeden Fall sein.

Und warum sind die Songs jetzt wieder kürzer geworden?

Wir wussten von vorne herein, dass wir dieses Mal kürzere Songs machen würden. Wir haben uns natürlich keine Limits gesetzt, wenn ein Song nach 15 Minuten noch immer im Entstehungsprozess ist und nicht gerade nach 30 Minuten aussieht, machen wir ihn natürlich auch fertig. Dieses Mal haben wir es aber geschafft, die Songs kürzer zu halten. Wenn wir Musik schreiben, dann übernimmt der Song die Führung und zeigt uns, wo er hin will statt dass wir den Song machen. Der Song schreibt sich sozusagen selber.

Womit fängt der Song denn meist an, was sind die ersten Elemente, die entstehen?

Das hängt natürlich vom Song ab, aber meist ist es so, dass wir mit einem gewissen musikalischen Thema anfangen, das aus drei, vier Melodien besteht. Darauf baut der ganze Song dann auf. Das ist der übliche Weg bei uns, die ganze Sache entwickelt sich um eine gewisse Melodie herum.

Ihr habt ja immer sehr umfangreiche Arrangements, wie lange dauert es denn ungefähr, bis das Material dann auch steht?

Das hat jetzt ungefähr ein halbes Jahr gedauert, bis das ganze Material stand. Das kann aber jetzt auch totaler Unsinn sein und viel kürzer oder viel länger dauern, da bin ich gerade nicht so sicher. Normalerweise ist ja auch keiner von den anderen involviert, wenn Henri anfängt, wir springen immer erst dann ein, wenn er etwas konkretes hat, dass er uns zeigen kann. Wenn er ungefähr fünf Minuten Material hat, dann steigen wir in den Prozess mit ein, ganz am Anfang sind wir aber nicht dabei, außer wir haben selber interessante Ideen.

Was bedeutet denn der Titel "Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa"?

Die offizielle Übersetzung lautet "As shadows we walk in the land of the dead", wobei das bisher noch nirgends geschrieben steht und auch nicht so im Album abgedruckt wird.

Das spartanische Coverartwork und die Zwischenspiele lassen darauf schließen, dass wir es mit einem Konzeptalbum zu tun haben...

Ja, es ist sogar ein sehr starkes Konzept dahinter. Anfangs dachte ich noch darüber nach, ein loses Konzept über die Zeiten nach dem Ende der Welt zu benutzen, am Ende wurde aber eine komplette Geschichte mit einem Anfang und einem Ende daraus. Das letzte Album handelte vom Ende der Welt, jetzt geht es um die Zeit danach, nachdem für die Menschheit alles geendet hat. Eine kleine Gruppe von Menschen ist noch übrig, die ihren Weg suchen, aber am Ende sterben sie alle.

Ok, dann gehen wir doch mal tiefer ins Detail: der erste Song heißt übersetzt so viel wie "sternenlos", was bedeutet das?

Der Titel "sternenlos" soll das ganze Gefühl beschreiben, nicht nur die sternenlose Nacht, sondern die Tatsache, dass alles zerstört wurde und dass niemand auch nur einen Funken Hoffnung sehen kann, es geht einfach alles zum Teufel.

Im ersten Zwischenspiel hört man Menschen laufen, einer hustet und ein Kind weint...

Die Zwischenspiele sollen noch stärker die ganze Atmosphäre verdeutlichen. Als wir die Songs alle fertig hatten und merkten, dass wir eine komplette Geschichte hatten, wollten wir einen Schritt weiter gehen und sozusagen einen Film daraus machen, das sind also Ausschnitte aus einem imaginären Film. Im ersten Zwischenspiel leben die meisten Menschen der Gruppe noch und haben die zerstörte Stadt verlassen, um einen Platz zu finden, wo sie Essen und Wasser bekommen könnten. Sie sind ziemlich beeindruckt davon, dass sie überhaupt noch ein bisschen Hoffnung haben.

Der nächste Song "Muinaiset" dürfte der Übersetzung nach von Vorfahren handeln.

Er bezieht sich auf die Natur und ist ein bisschen außerhalb der Geschichte angesiedelt. Er beschreibt aber auch, wie die Leute versuchen, in der Wildniss zu überleben, aber am Ende ist er auch eine kleine Erinnerung daran, dass, wenn diese Leute tot sind und niemand übrig ist, die Natur wieder die Herrschaft übernimmt und alle Städte in ein paar tausend Jahren von der Natur zerstört sein werden. Dann wird nichts mehr darauf hinweisen, dass wir jemals hier waren.

Im zweiten Zwischenspiel hört man die Menschen durch Schnee stapfen.

An diesem Punkt der Geschichte hat die Jahrsezeit gewechselt und der Winter ist eingebrochen. Wenn man genau hinhört, stellt man fest, dass auch viel weniger Leute übrig sind, weil schon viele gestorben sind.

"Huuto" klingt etwas hoffnungsvoller und weniger dunkel als die anderen Songs.

Ja, die Musik ist etwas hoffnungsvoller, wobei die Geschichte an diesem Punkt wesentlich dunkler wird, da ist also ein gewisser Kontrast vorhanden, den wir auch mit voller Absicht hereingebracht haben. Das ist der Song, in dem letztlich jeder, außer dem einen Mann stirbt.

Im dritten Zwischenspiel ist also nur noch dieser Letzte übrig. Schreit er, weil er allein ist?

Er schreit, weil er als einziger übrig ist, aber nicht nur das. Im vorherigen Song sorgten der Winter und die Umstände dafür, dass sie alle verrückt wurden und sich letztlich gegenseitig umbringen. Und diese übrig gebliebene Person war ebenfalls dafür verantwortlich, dass viele seiner Leidensgenossen getötet wurden. Er schreit wegen der totalen Frustration und der Einsamkeit und der Tatsache, dass er selber daran schuld ist, allein zu sein. Er schreit und niemand antwortet. Was uns zum letzten Song bringt.

Der übersetzt Marsch der Toten heißt?

Nein, Land der Toten.

Und was passiert dort?

Es geht halt darum, dass der Protagonist ins Land der Toten geht. Das Land der Toten könnte auch die Welt sein, die er verlässt, weil dort keiner mehr lebt.

Das Albumcover mit der Gruppe passt also gut zur Geschichte. Warum habt ihr dieses Mal ein echtes Bild und kein gezeichnetes genommen?

Ich weiß nicht mehr genau, woher die Idee als erstes kam. Als wir aber diese Idee weiter verfolgten, fiel uns auf, dass wir die Charaktere dieser Geschichte auf dem Bandfoto darstellen. Somit haben wir auf der einen Seite sehr beeindruckende Promo-Bilder, auf der anderen Seite wird die Geschichte durch dieses Bild greifbarer, so dass wir auch keine andere Charakteren als uns selbst für die Geschichte erfinden mussten.

Eure Texte sind immer in Finnisch, weshalb die meisten Leute wohl nichts verstehen. Man könnte daraus schließen, dass die Texte an sich nicht so wichtig sind, das wiederum ist ein Widerspruch dazu, dass ihr immer sehr lange Texte habt und oft Geschichten erzählt.

Die Frage wird uns sehr oft gestellt. Der Grund, warum wir in Finnisch singen, ist der, dass es eben ein Teil ist, der die Band ausmacht. Als wir anfingen, hatten wir ja nicht mit internationalem Erfolg gerechnet. Und plötzlich fingen dann mehr und mehr Leute außerhalb von Finnland an, unsere Musik zu hören. Wir wollen das Konzept der Band aber auch nicht aus business-technischen Gründen ändern, nur um mehr Geld zu verdienen. Es ist ein zu starker und wichtiger Teil der Band selber, dass die Texte in Finnisch sind. Und was das verstehen angeht: ich denke, dass die Leute trotzdem in gewisser Weise verstehen, worum es geht, auch wenn sie die Texte selber nicht lesen können, sie werden verstehen, wofür wir stehen.

Im Internet findet man Übersetzungen eurer Texte, was hältst Du von denen?

Ich habe ein paar Übersetzungen unserer Texte gelesen und meist waren sie gut und interessant. Es gibt ja auch offizielle Übersetzungen aller unserer Alben auf unserer Webseite, wobei das nicht großartig beworben wird, weshalb viele Leute das gar nicht wissen. Ich hab die Übersetzungen von Anfang an bis zu unserer letzten EP alle selbst gemacht, dieses Mal habe ich jemand anders gebeten, das zu übernehmen, um einfach mal einen anderen Blickwinkel zu haben und das ist wirklich gut geworden.

Ein Freund von mir hat mal versucht Finnisch zu lernen, um eure Texte lesen zu können.

(lacht). Ja, ich habe schon von solchen Leuten gehört und das wundert mich schon sehr. Man kann natürlich sagen, dass diese Leute einfach verrückt sind, andererseits ist es schon fast erschreckend, dass wir so einen Einfluss auf die Leute haben, dass sie anfangen, Finnisch zu lernen, um unsere Texte zu verstehen. Das ist echt seltsam, aber auch ein Kompliment.

Er hat es aber nach sechs Monaten wieder aufgegeben, weil es einfach zu schwer war.

Das sage ich den Leuten auch immer, wenn sie ankommen und mir erzählen, dass sie Finnisch lernen wollen. Es ist ja mehr oder weniger nutzlos, Finnisch zu lernen, weil es vielleicht fünf Millionen Menschen auf der Welt gibt, die diese Sprache sprechen oder verstehen. Zudem ist es wirklich schwierig, es dauert Jahre intensiven Lernens, bis man Finnisch wie ein Finne sprechen kann, weil es so viele Schwierigkeiten mit sich bringt.

Hast du selber mal Deutsch gelernt? Da sagen die Leute auch immer, dass es sehr schwer sei.

Ja, ich habe an der Oberschule deutsche Sachen gelernt und habe auch ein wenig verstanden. Aber weil ich es nie benutzt habe, ist es doch sehr eingerostet. Ich kann geschriebenes Deutsch ganz gut verstehen. Wenn du mir die Ausgabe mit dem Interview hier schicken würdest, könnte ich sie schon durchlesen, es würde halt nur viele Stunden dauern, aber das meiste würde ich schon verstehen. Nur mit gesprochenem Deutsch wird es schwieriger, ich kann es auch selber nicht sprechen, außer vielleicht Bier bestellen. Aber das ist ja auch eines der wichtigsten Dinge.

Eure Musik ist nicht bloß Musik, sondern hat mitunter auch einen ganz eigenen Effekt, sie nimmt das Bewusstsein gefangen und lässt das Kopfkino aktiv werden. Dadurch ist es einfach, die Gefühle nachzuvollziehen, die transportiert werden sollen. Ist das das Ziel, das ihr verfolgt?

Ja, definitiv. Wir wollten schon immer etwas erschaffen, das mehr ist als nur die Musik in gewisser Weise, also visuelle Bilder im Bewusstsein des Hörer zu erschaffen. Es ist nicht die Absicht, die gleichen Visionen zu erschaffen, die wir selber haben, aber wenn es gelingt, überhaupt etwas auszulösen, wenn er sich Dinge vorstellen kann und vor seinen Augen sieht, indem er die Musik hört, dann haben wir erreicht, was wir wollten.

Kannst Du das selber erleben, wenn du eurer eigenen Musik zuhörst oder bist du dem eigenen Schaffen dann doch zu nahe?

Ich bin sicherlich ein bisschen zu nah an der Musik dran, aber wenn ich mich darauf konzentriere, bekomme ich auch diese bestimmten Gefühle, aus denen die Texte letztlich dann auch kommen. Auch wenn ich vielleicht schon im Vorfeld ein paar Ideen habe und ich die Henri manchmal mitteile, um ihm dabei zu helfen, die Musik zu schreiben, so beende ich nie einen Text bevor ich nicht die Musik gehört habe. Ich höre einen Song und konzentriere mich darauf, um herauszufinden, welche Gefühle er auslöst. Die Musik inspiriert mich und führt mich zu den Texten, die ich schreibe. Das geht Hand in Hand.

Macht ihr deiner Ansicht nach finnische Musik? Wieviel von eurem Ursprung fließt in die Musik ein?

Es ist ein wichtiger Aspekt unserer Musik. Die Gefühle in unserer Musik sind mehr oder weniger universell, jeder in der Welt kann die gleichen Empfindungen haben. Aber die Musik selber kommt natürlich aus Finnland. Die finnische Kultur und Natur wird sehr stark in der Musik portraitiert. Ich denke auch nicht, dass es auf eine andere Art und Weise funktionieren würde. Wir müssen ehrlich mit dem was wir machen umgehen und auf unserem eigenen Grund zu stehen ist das ehrlichste, was wir machen können.

Könntest du dir vorstellen, fröhlichere Musik mit MOONSORROW zu machen? So wie es zum Beispiel Korpiklaani machen?

Das ist schon sehr abwegig, ich kann mir nicht vorstellen, wirklich fröhliche Musik zu machen. Ich würde aber nicht sagen, dass unsere Musik zum Beispiel finnischer als, das, was Korpiklaani machen. Finnische Menschen werden oft als sehr melancholisch und nachdenklich beschrieben, was sie auch sind, aber sie haben auch ihre seltsame, wilde Seite, was eine Band wie Korpiklaani zeigt. Sie sind auch sehr stark in der finnischen Kultur verwurzelt.

Denkst du, dass es einfacher für einen Melancholiker ist, die Musik von MOONSORROW auf die Art und Weise zu erleben, wie es gedacht ist?

Ja, ganz sicher. Das ist auch mehr oder weniger die Gemütsverfassung, die jeder in der Band hat. Ich persönlich denke, dass melancholische Menschen eher Künstler werden können, als Menschen, die immer mit allem glücklich sind. Wobei es solche Menschen wahrscheinlich gar nicht gibt, die mit allem, was ihnen passiert, glücklich sind. Künstlerische Menschen sind oft melancholisch und tief denkend, sie lassen nichts einfach vorbeiziehen, sondern machen sich über alles Gedanken, manchmal sogar zu viel.

Eure Musik wirkt oft wie ein Soundtrack, könntest du dir vorstellen, mal wirklich einen zu schreiben?

Mit MOONSORROW würde das wohl nicht funktionieren, aber ich kann mir gut vorstellen, dass Henri so etwas auf eigene Faust machen könnte. Er hat auch schon einen Soundtrack für einen Untergrund-Film gemacht. MOONSORROW sind eher wie ein akustischer Film, der auf eine CD gepresst wird.

Ok, kommen wir langsam zum Ende. Welche finnische Bands war deiner Meinung nach bisher am wichtigsten, für dich persönlich und allgemeiner für den Metal?

Für mich und im Hinblick auf die Entwicklung der ganzen Pagan Metal-Szene muss man ganz klar Amorphis nennen. See waren sehr einflussreich für viele Musiker, auch für mich persönlich. "Tales From The Thousand Lakes" war einer der Haupteinflüsse für das, was ich jetzt mache.

Als war "Tales From The Thousand Lakes" ein wichtigter Schritt - oder vielleicht der wichtigste überhaupt - für die Integration von Folkelementen?

Sicherlich. Wenn man sich die Zeitachse dieser Art von Musik mal anschaut, dann gibt es vorher nichts, was international soviel Anerkennung bekommen hat. Das war ein Album, das von jedem gehört werden konnte und auch von jedem gehört wurde und es war zu dieser Zeit das einzige, das dieses Konzept von folkloristischem Metal zu einem eigenen Stil machte. Es gab viele Bands, die diesen Stil inspirierten und auslösten, aber keine von denen hatte einen solch starken individuellen Effekt.

Andreas Schulz (Info)

Lords of Metal / March 2011

Link

A few weeks ago ‘Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa’ was launched at the world, the brand new Moonsorrow album. ‘As Shadows We Walk In The Land Of The Dead’ is the English title. This intense scream out of infinity is a very captivating piece of art, taking you to a post-apocalyptic world after the end of that world. This gloomy atmosphere is caught perfectly in a new soundtrack by the Finnish masters of pagan. Fans of black/pagan metal will be enchanted! The description of ‘most majestic album of the year’ fits very well and is not exaggerated. We picked guitarist Mitja Harvilahti from an Italian terrace and the interview could start. As always it turned into a very debonair conversation.

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Text: Vera

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Interviewing a band on the road is not easy. Once again we have experienced it. Moonsorrow is travelling through Europe at this particular time, being part of the Paganfest tour with Korpiklaani, Eluveitie, Unleashed, Varg, Arafel and Kivimetsän Druidi. A few agreements were cancelled, but finally the day had arrived when we succeeded in talking. At that moment the band was in Bologna, Italy.

Hello Mitja. How are you? How is the tour going?
It is going very well. The weather is fine. Everybody’s out, drinking beer and having a good time. A very relaxed day.

Is Henri with you now or is it the usual live constellation doing this tour?
Well, Henri was with us for more than half of the tour, but he flew back home already, we have guitar player Janne Pertilä once again with us now, because many years ago Henri played in Finntroll as well and he quit touring with them as well. He doesn’t want to be on tour anymore, he doesn’t like playing live that much and he also has a family.

Which new songs do you play on this tour?
We play the last song ‘Kuoleidden Maa’ and we play ‘Muinaiset’.

The last song ‘Kuolleiden Maa’ would be my favourite if I had to choose one. Can you tell a bit more details about this huge epic composition?
It is the ending of the last chapter on the album. The final chapter when everything is dead and there is no hope for humanity anymore. That song is about it.

So we can see it as a concept album?
Oh yes, it is the strongest concept album we have ever made because everything goes hand in hand: the music and also the artwork and pictures are part of that concept.

But I think it is the first time that the band is pictured on the artwork…
Yes, indeed. We did not want to make an ordinary band photo on the last page of the booklet or something. We realized we should work with the band members in the pictures instead of a model or so.

There are many bands on this Paganfest tour and the next days even two more. Does it mean that Moonsorrow’s set is shorter?
It is a bit short, it is fifty minutes. It is alright, but with the length of our songs it would be better to play at least an hour or even more.

I remember when we did the previous interview, at the time of ‘V:Hävitetty’, that you said: people should listen many times to the album before judging. What are your feelings now about this album in that respect?
This one was different for me. I was there at the mixing and after it was done, I listened to it a couple of times. For the first time I think there was nothing to be changed. I liked every second. Usually we have very strong criticism on everything we do. Sometimes it is impossible to listen to the album, because some parts or vocals are not like we wanted them. That has been irritating me a lot, but this time everything fell in place and I am very satisfied with it. I haven’t listened to it for a couple of months now, but I will when I get home and see if it is changed. But we are all very satisfied with the result.

I think it is a little bit harsher and more direct, or am I wrong?
Yeah, it was meant to be very cold and in a way different from ‘V: Hävitetty’, because we wanted to add new elements, almost an industrial feeling to it, not so natural. I mean the drum are natural, but in the first song ‘Tähdeton’ you can hear some coldness that we never had before and the guitar sound is very harsh. It gives a contrast with the more folky stuff. Overall it is a more aggressive and colder album than we have done before.

I agree with that; only in the latest track I see a kind of resemblance with previous works, because it is more epic…
Yes, that’s true but when we starting working on the music, we realized that we wanted to have a mix between ‘Kivenkantaja’ and ‘Verisäkeet’: the symphonic and kind of progressive elements of ‘Kivenkantaja’ and then the harshness of ‘Verisäkeet’. We should have the little faster parts very much like heavy metal and then the very doomy parts.

Very typical are the short intermezzos on the album. Can we see this as moments of rest in between the chapters?
Yes, that is what it basically is and that has been written so that, when you look at the booklet, there are even lyrics for the soundcapes. These small lyrics take the story further. So this album shouldn’t be listened to as MP3, but as an entirety with artwork. Then you can actually understand what is going on in the story.



The artwork/cover of ‘V: Hävitetty’ has a kind of prophetic aura now: since then many volcano’s on earth started to become active again. Now you make an album about the end of the world and people in Japan almost experience that. Isn’t it getting scary?
Indeed, lots of the things that we have been singing about are actually happening right now, especially in Northern Africa as well. I think time is in a way crucial to people, because this album is about greed of humans. We all became so greedy that we decide over the world and nature and ourselves. That’s what we can see in North Africa, they rise against the power. The revolution is coming and I hope that the destruction of natural resources by humanity will stop before it is too late.

I remember ‘V:Hävitetty’ was mainly Henri’s composing work, but what about this one? Can you tell about your ideas that ended up on this album?
My personal ideas were mostly about the instrumental parts I did. Henri’s composing – even though it sometimes looks as if he is not so much present in the band, since he does not tour – has been stronger than ever on the last two albums. He has done really most of the stuff. The other members just came in with some parts, like melody lines or guitar solos. I create my own solos and I play them. Mainly the music was in the hands of Henri completely and that was even stronger than before. Ville has brought in a riff or so, the rest is Henri. The studio that we used for composing the album was Henri’s work studio. So we could not be there all the time, he was mostly alone and we checked out the process and added some things.

This time you used the Tico Tico studios only for the mix. Where did you recorded the album then?
We recorded in many studios. We did the drums and bass at Finnvox Studios, a very big and very good studio in Helsinki. Then we went to Sonic Pump Studios, also very good studio, and recorded all the rest of the instruments and did the choirs. Then we went to a cabin in the woods with a mobile studio. Ville did his vocals in the cabin in the middle of the forest late October. But when we went to Tico Tico it was already winter, way up there in the north. There’s nothing you can do in Kemi than sitting in the studio and drinking, that’s the problem of this town (laughs). People are moving out of there all the time, because it is so harsh. It looks like a ghost town, I shouldn’t be able to live there.

What were the instruments you used besides the regular rock instrumentation on this album?
We used plenty of stuff, like mandolin, bouzouki, the violin player of Turisas played violin, I played saw (when you cut wood, you play it with a violin bow – woodcutter saw, you can find the explanation [urlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_saw]here[/url]. A very nice instrument. And then of course loads of keyboards, some harp, vacuum cleaner pipes and a lot of percussions, key chains and also in the song ‘Huuto’ during that marching part, we use our shoes and key chains while tapping our bellies in front of the microphone (laughs). It is always interesting to experiment.

How did you come to the title ‘Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa’, because that’s a very long title?
Yeah, that was Ville’s decision. I wanted to have a very short title. I know it is hard to understand and pronounce for not Finnish speaking people. It summarizes the team very well though.

You have a long time contract with Spinefarm, that’s a positive thing, isn’t it?
Indeed, we have a long time tradition with Spinefarm Records, but now we do not have a deal at the moment. It was finished with this album and we will see what happens in the future. There are good and bad things about Spinefarm, but that is the case with every label. They are good friends of ours, that’s nice. We will see.

Now you are doing the Paganfest tour, but what are the plans for the rest of the year?
When we go home, we immediately start playing in Finland. We have many shows coming up. Then, after the Finnish shows, it is already festival time. We will release the list of the festivals after these Paganfest shows. There will be quite a few Central European festivals we play and we also are working on a tour for the fall where we will headline. Maybe with another co-headliner, but anyway, we will headline. We haven’t been headlining for many years in Europe, so that’s going to be quite interesting. It is about time for a proper headline club tour.

Well, I don’t think you will make video clips?
Not for this album, but we are planning a massive DVD or whatever it will be in the future. We have been shooting material for a long, long time. It will be a double DVD. We have to do this. Everybody just takes one show and some stupid extras, that does not give anything to somebody. We want to do better. You watch it once and forget about it. We want to make the biggest package we ever done. It is material from the road and the studios for many years. Now we are in the middle of editing the documentary about the new album. Very interesting stuff. Then we will take live clips of shows we will be shooting later on this year. I think it will be the best DVD I can think of if we succeed in our plans. There will even be an interview section. On our website people can interact with us and their names will be on the DVD. We would never ask somebody how our music should sound, that is our art, but DVD is a different media, something on which we can communicate with the people and ask what they want to see. That makes sense to decide that this kind of collection is something where fans can be part of it.

Metal Underground / October 2011

Link 1 | Link 2

Interview with Ville Sorvali of Moonsorrow

posted Nov 2 2011 at 8:47 AM by WandererOfKalevala.

Moonsorrow is very different then other Folk/Pagan metal bands in the genre, while they may not be giving us happy drinking songs, they have a strong and very distinct appeal that has made them a successful band. Following the release of their last album "Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa" Moonsorrow has been quite busy! I caught up with Ville Sorvali prior to the start of this years Metalheim Festival where we talked about their first Asian tour, the new album as well as some ideology and what the Moonsorrow concert experience should be.

So this is actually our first interview with Moonsorrow, so why don’t you introduce and tell our readers a bit about yourself, and the band?

I’m Ville with Moonsorrow, we play pagan metal and that’s about it!

Ok, great! So you just got back from a tour in Asia, where you were the first western metal band in Northern China, how did that go, any thoughts on that?

Hmm that particular show was very interesting because obviously they didn’t have any western bands, I don’t even know if they’d had Chinese bands. From the technical view it was very challenging, In the end everything worked well and the show was simply amaxing. Most of those people had never seen a band in their lives, at least if they didn’t travel outside their hometown. So they went absolutely nuts and managed to destroy the mixing desk as well.

Oi!

Yeah by spilling beer. It was a really cool party!

Well that’s got to be a pretty good feeling though! Did you find there was a language barrier there?

Yes.

Well they don’t speak much English and certainly not Finnish.

It was very hard to get anything done, in our Chinese crew there were two people that spoke English and that’s about it. All the locals only spoke Chinese, and we had to have everything translated when we wanted to speak with the locals.

O wow. It’s very complicated then. Well on the subject of language, since we are an American website, not too many Finnish speakers. Would you mind to tell our readers a bit about the concept of the last album “Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa”?

Yeah it’s a concept album about life after the end of the world. And it’s a survival story, or a non survival story, because actually at the end everyone dies. It’s a fictional thing I had in my mind, what would the world look like after most of the people are gone.

And it does evoke that imagery! If we were to go through a few of your favorite songs on the album, what would they be about? Metaphors, symbolism and whatnot.

Hm. Well my absolute favorite it the last song “Kuuolleiden Maa”, it’s somehow very personal and it’s the conclusion of the story there is only one person left and he realizes what he has done. In the previous song he has killed a lot of his own group because they all went insane and he is the only one left and he just wants to end his life as well because he realizes all the atrocities and he is the last surviving being of the whole mankind, so there is no future anyway.

It kind of brings to mind, the Donner party? Have you heard of that? The pioneers that got lost and resorted to-

O yeah! That one. I remember, and actually not the name, but that was also some inspiration for me to write the songs, I was also thinking about that. The people first start just eating the dead ones but soon after that they actually start killing eachother.

Panic and fear.

Yeah!

Well, there’s the songs, but also there were a few guest musicians on the album, can you tell us about them and the situation to include them?

Yeah, haha! Who did we have? Ah, Olli (Vänskä) was playing violin. And all I can say about his performance is that it was so natural. I don’t know if he rehearsed but he came to the studio, listened to every part once and played it right after flawless. It didn’t take much time. And other guests were some singers for the choirs. Mathias (Lillmåns) from Finntroll, Jaake from Crimfall and Janne who is our live guitar player was also in the choirs. Who else. Can’t remember!

Well in addition to musicans there were a lot of interesting sounds on the album, is that something you always think about when you are writing?

Yeah, As we say, it’s not only music. We’re trying to create a movie without picture.
Everything has its meaning.

On the subject of meanings, brings me to a question I ask a lot of Finnish Musicians. What does being Finnish mean to you?

Hmm! Everything and nothing! Finnish-ness is deeply rooted in my personality, and reflects everything I do. I don’t know, its probably made me a bit stubborn and a bit careful with other people, Americans like you might think its antisocial behavior but it’s really not. I’m a bit more reserved, and that’s how Finnish people are. I think we have an interesting past and I really admire the fact that the ancient people really used to coexist with nature. I really don’t admire the fact that modern Finnish people are just following the ways of consumerism.

And capitalism.

Yeah.

That actually kind of leads me to my next question, In your opinion why are people following more Pagan ways and ideals, and leaving these mainstream religions for a return to older ways?

I think it’s that we are at a turning point kind of. A lot of people are getting fed up with the ways of living that’s being taught to them. There are lot of people who are fed up with this whole life that is only built upon consuming. People want to find something more spiritual and people are also getting fed up with mainstream religions because they are starting g to understand that they are very restricting. A lot of people realize now that being the year 2011 we can explain almost everything around us, and we don’t need Gods for that purpose.

There is no mystery anymore.

Yes, there is no mystery anymore and people have to realize that God or Gods were only invented because people wanted to explain what is happening and I think in a way if human history were in any sense to be rational it was meant that the Gods are forsaken when science develops.

It makes some sort of sad sense! So far as Pagan metal, what would you say sets Moonsorrow apart from other bands in this genre?

Ah, the usual boring answer would be that we are not that happy. Of course we are
as people, but the music is just not. It’s a lot harder to I don’t know, dance. And it also could be a bit more challenging to listen to, it’s a bit more complex then most of the folk metal bands around. I’m not saying we are better, but we are clearly different. And we were just kind of put into the same category because back in the late 90’s there weren’t that many band anyways. No one talked about folk metal. There was Finntroll, Ensiferum and Moonsorrow. That was it at that time. And I guess people just want to see a connection, because there is a connection. But they want to label us, I don’t mind, but we are clearly not at all similar to Ensiferum for example.

Certainly not. What do you want people to take away from a Moonsorrow show, or album?

Merch! No but seriously, I hope people get a complete experience. Like sinking deep into the other world when they are listening to the songs and of course meet a lot of people who think alike. I hope- no I don’t even hope: I know no one will leave this hall disappointed.

That’s for sure! Well, I have to say kiitos for interviewing with us!

Fan questions / Second half of 2001

Link

A bunch of fans' questions, answered by the bandmembers, from newer to older.

Tomas asks "I am just curious as to what bands are your main influences? Also who is your favorite drummer?"

Baron answers "As a song-writer I guess the most important influences are Bathory, King Crimson and say, Bal-Sagoth maybe. But I actually don't think we should do songs reminding these bands. We just make the music we love. My fave drummers are Bill Bruford, Phil Collins & Keith Moon. From the metal genre I can mention Pete Sandoval & Gene Hoglan." (10.01.2002)

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Sami asks "Hail! I've listened to "Voimasta ja Kunniasta" quite many times now and always the same thought crawls into my mind... I mean, where did you get the inspiration to create pagan metal in the first place? And to which themes and eras does the album relate, what is the inspirational source in your lyrics? When I checked the album "Tämä Ikuinen Talvi", I noticed that at least you have some Finnish influence, so I ask do you recognize any of it in your style (e.g. Kalevala or primordial Finland)? And when I looked at the gig list I was amazed that you have only been in Helsinki? How about a gig in Oulu? That would be cool!!" (translated from Finnish)

Ville answers "Where did we get the inspiration to create pagan metal in the first place? We just felt like it, for the sake of Iki-Turso! :) I think it was quite natural considering that we have pagan values and we like metal music. And yes, we recognize a lot of "Finnish influence" in our style. Thematically "Voimasta ja Kunniasta" is circling around the Finnish iron age, or perhaps more of the latter period, that is from year 1000 to the christian invasion. About gigs, no we have not played only in Helsinki. We have also played in Turku and soon also in Hämeenlinna. Nitpicking aside, we do however wish to conquer the whole Finland. Book us. :)" (04.01.2001)

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Demon's vision asks "Was it you who created the music for that humanoid hombres from planet horror movie? An amusing flick by the way. =)" (translated from Finnish)

Mitja answers "Yes, I'm responsible for the "UFO-intro" and some other stuff. There were also two other guys making that crappy music." (30.12.2001)

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szyna asks "When you will play a concert in Poland?"

Henri answers "To this and all other "When do you come to [insert your country here] to play a gig?" - We come if someone arranges a gig there, asks us to play there, pays all the expences etc.... use common sense! :) But anyway, no gigs are planned outside Finland at the moment, sorry." (28.12.2001)

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Paulo Ricardo da Silva asks "Hello there... this is a brazilian fan of moonsorrow, since 1991 i'm a fan of BATHORY and since that time i have aways looking for new bands with that heathen vibe, so i found vintersorg, thyrfing, finntroll... but MOONSORROW is absolutely the best one, great lyrics and musicians, so my question is: Where do you find inspiration for your lyrics? Are they all based on historical events? you have any tour booked? and of course... What you know about the brazilian metal scene? Thanx and stay metal"

Ville answers "Well hello. 1. Where do you find inspiration for your lyrics? - Mostly from my own feelings and from the music to which I'm writing the lyrics, I think. All of our lyrics are not based on historical events, of course, but history is certainly a major source of inspiration even in fictional texts. 2. Do you have any tour booked? - No. 3. What do you know about the brazilian metal scene? - Something at least. During the years I was more active in the underground circles, I got acquainted with quite numerous Brazilian bands. And of course I am rather familiar with the old legends Sarcofago and Mystifier. Thank YOU and stay metal." (27.12.2001)

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Kimmo from HML asks "What do you guys think of the Hämeenlinna-based groups Cadacross and Turisas? I'm not sure if you already have heard Cadacross, but at least Turisas must be familiar to you... I think these bands hold a lot of potential... and Cadacross' "So Pale is the Light" is brilliant as a debut album." (translated from Finnish)

Ville answers "Haven't heard Cadacross yet, you got that right, but I know the name. Turisas plays some nice muzak and as they really seem to put effort in all that they do, they're in danger to become one of my favourite bands in Finland. Potential, as you say. I'm definitely looking forward to checking out both bands in Stormbringer 2002." (19.12.2001)

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Ukkosen ylistäjä kysyy "Mitenkä tuo teidän keikka politiikka, koska rupeette heittään rundia ympäri Suomen synkkiä kaupunkeja? Ukkonen jyrähdelköön päällänne."

Baron vastaa "Tuskin tämmöisellä musiikilla mitään rundia on järkevää tehdä Suomessa, kun ei tämä kuitenkaan ole se maamme myyvin hevibändi, mutta keikkoja tehdään juuri niin paljon kuin joku niitä meille myy." (18.12.2001)

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Janne Tulkki asks "Reveal the secret recipe of warmead (krigsmjöd)!!" (translated from Finnish)

Henri answers (17.12.2001) - Recipe for Krigsmjöd

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Antti asks "Have you got any t-shirts for sale?" (translated from Finnish)

Henri answers "T-shirts are not available at the moment, but we are most definitely planning to do some." (17.12.2001)

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Jupe asks "ÖÖÖÖRRRRRGGGGHHH. Has Henri possibly been making any synth music, it would be nice to hear that!!!!! YEAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!! PERRRRKKEEELLLEEE!!" (partly translated from Finnish)

Henri answers "Yes....but it is not available right now. I'm working with a full-lenght album (or been have working with it for three years, heh) but nothing is available until I have made that one ready. It will be worth waiting, however.... :)" (17.12.2001)

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Unnamed asks "When shall you make a music video!? And do you believe in SANTA CLAUS???" (translated from Finnish)

Ville answers "A sort of a live video clip is on the works, and it shall appear on this page when it's complete. And yes, that fellow exists for certain, albeit Santa Claus is NOT his real name. :)" (16.12.2001)

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M. Mikael Tutti asks "Say there, good Baron: as I understand, you use your computer to write the Gorewinter stuff. Exactly what software/methods do you use?

Baron answers "Pretty much the same way as we´re doing in Moonsorrow with Henri. First we put the drums (midi) and synths to seq (I use Cakewalk 8.0), then recording the whole shit to a multitrack-studio softw. (CoolEditPro, Logic Audio, Cubase... they´re many, I prefer CoolEditPro ´cause it´s simple and fast to use) After this we record the real guitars & bass straigth to the computer through preamps, mix the shit and burn the cd. Voila! A Moonsorrow-demo is done! A week before we go to TicoTico, we rehearse a bit! ;) Trackers suxx big time! Öhhh..... except Acid by SonicFoundry which is cool to play some very weird shite! If you want more info about trackers, just send e- mail with subject "Dj Vermo & Trackers" to mitjaharvilahti@hotmail.com and you´ll know everything about ´em!

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Pyry asks "Is the picture on the background of the lyrics of \"Köyliönjärven Jäällä\" on the \"Suden Uni\" album actually taken from Köyliönjärvi?" (translated from Finnish)

Ville answers "I admit there are grounds for doubt, but the impression is the same altogether." (04.12.2001)

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Mike asks "Since i must ask a question i will ask this....How's the weather up there? I'm from Montreal Canada and the real reason i'm writing this is to express my gratitude for creating the most original and inspiring metal i've heard in a long time. I hope that one day you'll be able to tour on this side of the world, I hardly ever get a chance to see the bands i really like. This is probably a long shot but just incase your interested check out braveconcerts.com, they're the local promoters who get all the metal bands from europe out here. Keep thrashing!! p.s: bring finntroll along with you"

Henri answers "Thank you for the nice words you enlightened our day with! Playing in Canada sounds actually pretty good, if not counting the "several" miles between us as a problem... :) You see, it isn't actually rather cheap to fly there, etc.....but we'll figure something out. Maybe when we have sold 50000 albums someone is willing to pay the expences, heh. Anyway, the weather today (WHAT a question,huh?!???!?!??!??!!!??) is a major disaster, as all the snow we got a week ago is being washed away by RAIN.

:( Damn this coast weather! And yes....we'll keep (metal) thrashing (mad)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (29.11.2001)

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Oliver \"Wolfchild\" Wolf asks "Hello, Lord Eurén, I have a few questions for you: 1. Is it possible that Moonsorrow will come to Germany? 2. How good can you speak German? Good enough to answer my questions? If not English is also fine. 3. I really like Viking Metal. Are there any interesting bands in Finland? 4. What does \"Wolf\" mean in Finnish? That would be all, for now. I think its great that a band is taking care of their fans, if they answer their questions, even if there are some senseless ones. Very much greetings from Germany."

Lord answers "1. Nothing is impossible, but I think not very soon. 2. Es ist besser, daß ich nur Englisch sprechen. 3. There are no "viking metal" bands in Finland. 4. Susi (es ist Susi)." (14.11.2001)

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Vethor says "Hail!! tammikuussa sit h:linnassa pistetään tukat pyörimään!!!"

Baron answers "Alrighty then!" (14.11.2001)

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Lord McJake asks "Are you going to play many songs from your new album on your Nosturi gig? Vihreällä Valtaistuimella is an absolute must." (translated from Finnish)

Ville answers "It is a release gig so there is no excuse for not performing as many songs from the new album as possible. :) We have never rehearsed Vihreällä Valtaistuimella, let alone played it live, so I'm afraid we will not hear that one on December 7th." (04.11.2001)

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Oliver \"Wolfchild\" Wolf asks "You describe your music as \"Epic Heathen Metal\". What kind of music is that? Is that some kind of Viking Metal or something? I also want to know where I can order your CD's, and which languages can the whole Band speak (German whould be great)."

Ville answers "Epic Heathen Metal is, as the title indicates, basically metal music with epic proportions and a heathen content. It does somewhat resemble the style one would call Viking Metal, however that is not the term to describe Moonsorrow.
We all are Finnish natives and as far as I'm concerned, all of us also speak rather fluent English. At least I, Henri and Mitja can also handle a bit Swedish and Lord has let us comprehend that he knows some German.
As for our cd's, take a look at the Memorial page on this very same site." (10.10.2001)

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Leadjade Heavy asks "Exactly how many bottles of Koskenkorva does it take to sleep peacefully in Rock Café Maestro?"

Lord answers "Depends on the size of the bottle. Usually from one to seven." (02.10.2001)

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Frititis asks "Just one question, could we someday see you play here in Guadalajara Mexico?? Please think about it, Moonsorrow rules!"

Mitja answers "Hi! A gig in Mexico would be one of the greatest things ever! But unfortunately we don't know so much about any gigs yet. Let's see what happens when the new album comes out!" (02.10.2001)

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Peikkolaps' Eikkoti-Peikkoti asks "There wouldn't be any of your mp3's available, would there? Moonsorrow and Finntroll rule PERKELE!!!" (translated from Finnish)

Henri answers "Nope, no MP3 stuff at the moment. I promise that they will come before next christmosh, but nothing is sure before that, I guess. :)" (23.08.01)

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Tindra asks "When will you come again to Nosturi for a gig?" (translated from Finnish)

Mitja answers "If someone offers us a gig we'll be there for sure!" (21.08.01)

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Vandala asks "When will there be new gigs? Could Tampere be one of those places where you will be seen during autumn?" (translated from Finnish)

Mitja answers "There has been some discussion about a small tour, but no dates or places are known yet. Tampere could very well be one of those places." (18.07.01)

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Raadelman noidat asks "Are you Mitja intending to use that lovely rivet collar on future gigs as well?" (translated from Finnish)

Mitja answers "As you wish Kirsi! No, actually it almost strangled me during the gig at Nosturi, so I don't think I'll wear it anymore. What a shame!" (18.07.01)

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Worgathor asks "Have you planned playing a gig in Lutakko, Jyväskylä..? It would be nice to see you guys live... I mean Helsinki is quite far away so I can't get there anyway..." (translated from Finnish)

Ville answers "Yes, we have been talking about actually touring Finland for quite a while now but we would just need someone to organize it. If and when it comes true, we definitely hope that Jyväskyl" is one of our stops. Hereby I would like to invite everyone interested in booking us outside Helsinki to get in touch." (15.07.01)

Metal Sound / Mid 2005

Link

Moonsorrow

From the Thousand Lakes

I think that I may have promised an interview with Moonsorrow in the review of "Verisakeet", in the last issue of Hornburg. That album received a perfect score in the last issue, 10/10. I know this band from their beginnings, because their music has always been interesting to me. Basically, Moonsorrow could be called pagan black metal, but in their later phases, the music has become much more complex. The bend combines black metal with folk motifs and choirs. The end product is very effective. Moonsorrow was already interview in the third issue of Hornburg, but was then interviewed by our webmaster Dachaz who is a great fan of theirs. This interview I did with Ville, the singer. The interview is very interesting and talks about a lot more than just the band's music.

Hello Ville! How are things going with Moonsorrow lately?
Hails! Things are going smoothly, we're enjoying our summer holidays and slightly preparing for the upcoming festival shows.

With your latest CD "Verisakeet" you have gained great success all over the world; you've received very positive comments from media and fans. Now, how are your feeling after this huge success?
I don't know if it was that great success after all, things in perspective, eh. Anyway it was a lot more than we expected. We were doing quite an uncompromising work with "Verisakeet", and expected to get some more criticism also. Instead we got quite a lot of positive comments. I don't know what came to people, but I'm glad if they like it.

"Verisakeet" has some interesting elements. Beside some folk instruments you've produced this album with a more raw production style. Why did you decided to do that?
We felt that we have to do something different after "Kivenkantaja". We had reached the limit of our pomposity, so we took a quick 180 turn and got more "back to the roots", so to say. It all happened quite naturally (the whole band felt like the same), so I really can't separate any reasons why we did that in the first place. This time the black metal influences just got more through, a lot.

Also, most of your tracks are, more or less, very long. Is it hard to record and compose these songs? Also, the same goes when you perform them live?
Writing the music is usually a very long process with lots of different ideas and experimentation. The purpose of the process is to make a song, not a long song per se, as some people have already blamed us for, but is usually happens that the song becomes long in the process, without us really noticing it. We are very delicate about the structure of each song, and we just don't make any haste of ending a song in radio time if it doesn't fit. Recording is the easy part, because we have already made ourselves familiar with all the details in the songs beforehand and rehearsed them through with the band. We have made some live arrangements of certain songs that can't be played in their whole on stage, for a reason or another, but most of the songs we play live as they are recorded.

Do you see Amorphis as the pioneers of this so-called folk metal in Finland? Have you listen to this group throughout the years?
Yes. Amorphis has to be credited for a lot in the dawn of this indeed so-called "folk metal" (as we all know, they got numerous followers shortly after "Tales from the Thousand Lakes"). They were also a big thing for me back then, and a considerable factor in sparking my interest in such music. I think their old stuff is marvelous, but they have grown quite boring since then.. I don't even own their latter discography after "Elegy". Let's see what the new album with the new vocalist will bring.

You've released all your records through Finish label Spinefarm. Are they the main record company in your country? Have you had any offers from some other label?
Spinefarm definitely is, whether we want it or not, the biggest and most visible metal-oriented label in Finland. We're not working with them for that anyway, but for some more grassroot-level details; the office is close, the people are nice and things are going smoothly overall. We got few offers from other labels and settled with Spinefarm rather swiftly.

I remember well when you released your first full-length. In those times you wrote that you are influenced with Bathory and some other bands. Are you still seeing Moonsorrow as one group connected with some works of Bathory?
Moonsorrow is and will always be influenced by Bathory, I won't deny that.

Well, which period of Bathory has the most influence on you and why?
Obviously the Viking era, it has influenced Moonsorrow's music and my taste of music in general quite a lot, evidently. But I also like the early black metal albums and won't deny their influence either. All in all, we're talking about the best band in the world here - or even the only one, hehe.

Your lyrics were always written in your mother tongue, Finnish. Did you ever think to write a few songs in English? Maybe you will decide to do it in the future...
Actually we started with English (hence the name), but shortly switched to Finnish after our first demo. Ever since Finnish has been an integral part of the band's concept and outcome, and we never seriously gave a thought to changing it back to English. It's a Finnish band after all. ;)

If you look back in the past and the beginnings of Moonsorrow, would you like to go back and change something?
Cherish all those good things that happened to us but went by unnoticed.

Correct me if I am wrong, but all Moonsorrow releases were also published on vinyl. Do you personally preferred to collect LPs? How can you explain/comment that vinyl or even cassettes/tape are back again especially when it comes to metal music?
Actually, no Moonsorrow releases have been released on vinyl - yet. We're planning a vinyl edition of "Verisakeet" to be released in the autumn. I personally like vinyls and tapes, mostly for nostalgic reasons of course. I wouldn't say that the sound on vinyl is any "warmer" than on cd or anything, let alone tapes that always sounded downright horrible. I think vinyls and tapes have always been a part of the metal subculture, not coming back or being forgotten. There will always be this certain "feeling" about them.

The band members are and have been involved with other bands and projects, what is going on outside the band at the moment? Is it possible to focus on Moonsorrow but still have bands on the side?
Everyone has their own bands and projects, but we focus on Moonsorrow completely when needed. It's only a matter of priority. We are rather creative (restless) people and need to have our hands on something even when Moonsorrow isn't on.

Henri and you officially founded Moonsorrow back in 1995. Did you ever imagine that in these times you would reach this great success with Moonsorrow?
Heh, no, of course we didn't. We founded the band as a project among others (believe me, we had many) and just wanted to see where we could get with that. When we got our first record deal and the band around us in 1999/2000, we already felt that we achieved all we possibly could've wanted. Cliché to say, but everything that has happened since is bonus.

You have always considered Moonsorrow as a pagan/heathen (black) metal band. Do you still like to label your music in this way? Also, do you see yourself as an enemy to monotheistic religions such is Christianity?
Moonsorrow was founded as, is, and will always be a pagan metal band. It is an enemy of Christianity as long as Christianity is an enemy of paganism.



What is your general position about the concepts of religion through the history of human civilization? Do you think that it has some good or bad effects on human progress?
People need something to believe in; gods, scientists, extraterrestial beings, themselves, anything. I won't blame anyone on that. However something is wrong when people start to think their faith is the only correct one, start to forcefeed it on others and begrime their hands in cultural annihilation (has happened numerous times in history, no need to list events or parties). Whereas certain religions indeed have brought "civilization" to certain areas, some have merely replaced a functioning system with their own.

Do you like to visit concerts? On the other side, do you like to play live-I mean there are many musicians out there who are afraid to play in front of huge public/masses, many scared by terrorist attacks.
Yes, I like to visit concerts, and I try to do so whenever my economy allows. Live music is what rock n' roll is all about anyway. We definitely enjoy playing live, and no, there's no room for fear on the stage. There are lunatics everywhere and you can be killed on your daily walk to the shop if it comes to that.

When you have played live across Europe were you faced with any troubles? Were there any dangerous situations for you?
Nothing that we should be concerned about. We had an interesting experience in Lithuania though, when Henri couldn't enter the country because of his expired passport (we had to play with one guitarist) and I completely lost my voice during the bus ride, not to mention all the other difficulties we faced. It was a fun trip anyway, and cheers to all the crazy Lithuanians who came to see us!

Besides usually working with music, what other activities do you like to do in your free time? Also, can you live from the music or maybe better question, can you even earn some money?
I am working with whatever at times while hopelessly trying to finish my studies at the university. I have also been known as the editor of the Finnish metal magazine Inferno. On my free time I drink and meet friends, basically. The music doesn't support me but merely gives some pocket money now and then; then again, it's a hobby.

Could you choose your favorite track and album from Moonsorrow?
Hard question, but I'd say my current favorite track is Karhunkynsi. The best album is always the newest, and when it starts not to be so, I'll quit.

That's basically all. Do you have any last words for our readers?
Thank you for your support in Serbia, stay heathen!

www.moonsorrow.com Interview done by Marko Miranovic in 2005

Metal Sound / July 2011

LINK


Metal Sound Magazine
(Interview was done by Marko Miranovic)
Answers: Mitja Harvilahti (Moonsorrow)
The interview was done in Slovenia (at Metal Camp) during July 2011

The new album (Varjoina kuljemme kuolleiden maassa) is actually the first concept album we've ever done. It consists of one hour of music but it's one storyline. It's a very cinematic album as well, everything goes hand in hand, the music and the pictures in the booklet. I don't know if people like it as our most important album or not, but it's our album that we're most satisfied with. Everybody in the band is very satisfied, there's nothing we want to change about it. The whole process was the most enjoyable making of any of our albums ever. So we are very proud of it.

Could you compare this new album with your previous records? I see many parallels and links between the two or three last albums, music-wise.

Yes that was a thing that we... The previous album, which only has two songs, was very... how should I say?, very epic, it contains a lot of stuff, and we didn't want to go any more extreme with the structures. We wanted to do something that includes both elements, some heavy metal riffing but also some artistic music in it. So it's a combination of new and old in many ways.

This album has a lyrical background concept story for the first time in Moonsorrow's history.

Yes. After the last album, Ville and Henri were discussing about making a sequel to the previous album. The whole theme of post-apocalypse during these times, when the world is really getting fucked up, sounded so interesting and so natural that we didn't want to let it go, we really wanted to do it that way. So we sat down to think about ideas, we looked at pictures from Chernobyl, all kinds of post-apocalyptic or destroyed world, and we realized we wanted to do this album and it made sense. It's very acute in a way to do it right now. Ville came up with the idea of a group of people after the end of the world. It's kind of a metaphor of—there's lots of metaphors in the album and—the group of people is a metaphor of humanism and humans right now, when they are so blind that they destroyed everything because of the greed of humans. We do everything for money, we do everything just to gain more material for ourselves, and in the end we detroy the nature around ourselves as well.

When it comes to the new album, there is such a grim atmosphere, and there is a strong link between music and lyrics. How did you end up with this really grim and cold atmosphere?

In our music we always have images. When they listen to our music many people tell that they see images in their head. That's the thing, when you get into the world lyrically and musically, and you have a visual reference in it, then you can combine both, and that's something we achieved with this album very well, I think. The storyline and the music go hand in hand together very well. We have done so many albums already that it's easy for us to write music and lyrics to make it fit conceptually.

How would you label now the music of Moonsorrow? I think you hear some black metal influences in your music, but there are also some folk elements as well, and there is always this kind of epic touch and approach in Moonsorrow's music.

yeah, well, that's pretty much it. We have the strong elements of traditional Scandinavian folk music, always, then the black metal background we all have together, then we have 70s progressive rock elements, and the emphasis changes in different albums, sometimes it's more black metal, sometimes more folkish, but we're a combination of all this. So if I had to label the music, I still would call it pagan metal. I don't know any better name for the music itself. If somebody asks what kind of music do we play, somebody who doesn't listen to metal, I just tell them that we play heavy metal with traditional music influences and very long songs. But the paganism and respect for nature are always in te core of our music. You don't have to say it in our lyrics, but you can hear it in a way.

You have such long songs. For example, the new album has four very long tracks, but the previous full-length album has only two tracks of more than twenty minutes. How did you end up with this idea?

It grew into that direction. We didn't want to go there, but after the fourth album it kept going on, more epic, and we learnt how to write that material, how to write longer passages, longer structures. And it's very hard to stop! I know we cannot go back to 7 or 6-minute songs, it won't happen any more, our format will be around the 15 minutes, I think. When I learnt how to make that kind of music it gets easier in a way, it's natural for us now. But it never was planned. Every time we say, okay, now we want new short songs, let's do some very short and grim and black metal and bla bla bla, but we end up doing longer songs than ever.

When it comes to these long tracks, is it hard to perform them live? Especially those two very long tracks from your previous record, which were actually more than twenty minutes long.

I don't think it is so difficult. We haven't played the first song on the album. We haven't had time to check it out and rehearse it very much. But the second one, we rehearsed it a few times and that was it. You just have to know what to... We only have one keyboard player, but he can do lots of stuff simultaneously, and when I play lead guitar I take some keyboard parts for the guitar as well. We have to divide it so that it will make sense. And I think it sounds alright. Many people tell tht they like it more live than on the album, actually. In a live performance you can choose what elements or what parts you have to take in front, some melodies or riffs, if you want to have this one in a more important role, you choose that one and you may leave something else outside, but we have so much sampling on that album that in a live situation there's no way to make it happen anyway. We have to combine the most important things.

Would you agree with me that the fourth album was maybe the most important album when it comes to Moonsorrow's history?

Hmm... yeah... in a way... For me it is also the most important. Of course the two first, or even three first albums, for many people defined Moonsorrow as a band, but then we changed direction on the fourth one, and that was a very good decision, because everyone got so massive, so orchestrated at that time, when we released Kivenkantaja we thought it was starting to sound really crazy, we had so much stuff in the music, so much orchestration, so much everything, and do we need a symphony orchestra for the next album? Then many bands came up with albums with symphony orchestras and we realized that no, no way, we don't want to have anything to do with this, we have to go into another direction. Not because of the other bands, but it wasn't interesting, really, just to grow in that level. So we realized that if you want to emphasize the roots we have, and the whole nature and pagan atmosphere and philosophy we had on the fourth album we have to go down to earth, a very organic album. And it was the best thing we could do. I would hate the album if we had orchestras or choirs or... A symphonic album with the same lyrics wouldn't work out at all. It is very important.

If I'm not mistaken, before the first full-length you made three or four demo records.

There are two official ones, the last one was very symphonic black metal, the previous one was more like... it sounded more like Moonsorrow to me, more simple, it was very simple and a little childish in a way, but it was still alright. We got the record deal with the last demo, but that was very different from the first album. After releasing the demo, which was very symphonic, computer-drummed black metal, we released the first album, which is already a very mature pagan metal album. It already had all the elements that we have nowadays: it had black metal, it had folk music, it had progressive music even... It's a complete change from the last demo to the first album within one year. That was a big surprise for me.

If I'm not wrong, you have made one or two promotional videos so far, but they were very tricky (laughs). Do you plan to have one video clip professionally done one day?

No, not any music videos. I mean, you can spend twenty thousand or more and usually it's still crap. If you have so visual music anyway, it's better to leave the music to the people's heads to make the images. But we will have a DVD within one or two years. It's been in progress for a long time and it will be a very massive package. We already have shot footage for three or four years at least, or actually five years, and there's a lot of crazy material. But it will be a double DVD, or double Blu-ray, I don't know what the format will be when it's out, but in general I hate bands that put out the DVD with one live concert and some extra material, you watch it once and then you throw it in the garbage. If you pay 30 € or 20 € for a DVD it has to have a lot more to offer. We want to give a double DVD including at least one professionally filmed live show, then there will be a documentary about the making of the last Moonsorrow album, that will be very interesting when it's finished, because it really shows how the album is made, not bullshit like a video camera going around the studio and the guys are getting drunk, but it really goes very deep in the production of the album.

You have done the vocals in the [???]

[Smiles] Yeah! There is very interesting material coming. And then there will be all the clips from five years of touring and this year as well, whatever we get. So it's going to be a long thing to watch and something that you can really watch many times. At some point we will have a campaign where the fans can send us questions—there will be interviews as well—so they can tell what questions they want to ask us and what they want to see in the DVD, so people can actually make a difference. We would never ask anybody about the kind of music they want to hear from us, because we only make music for ourselves, and if people like it, the better, but the DVD is something different, people can really send us requests, I want to see this and this on the DVD, and if we get good ideas we'll do it. And on the interview section many of the questions the fans will send us will be answered, so I think that kind of package is more fair for the audience. It gives something for the value instead of just one show and very crappy extra material.

And the last question: I would like to ask you about the band's name, because there is a song link between Moonsorrow as a name and a Celtic Frost song.

Yes, "Sorrows of the Moon". It's still a mystery for me if it actually is linked or not. I'd rather say that it is [laughs] but I'm not completely sure. The name Moonsorrow was invented in 1995 or something. But it's a unique name, nobody else has had it, at least I haven't found any other, so I'm happy with it.

Transcribed on February 12th 2021, nine days before the 10th anniversary of Varjoina.