This is (or intends to be) a compilation of Moonsorrow interviews of all time, in any format: web, PDF, scanned magazines, video, audio... None of them are owned by me. All of them are linked to their original websites, when available. Everybody's contribution is accepted, encouraged and needed. Check Contact for details on how to add your interview, it'll take you one minute. Thanks!
Concerning language
All the interviews in here are copied and pasted in their original language. When an interview is available in several languages, all the versions will be copied. I may translate some into English myself; in that case it will be pointed out. Most of them are in English, though.
Now, if you want to translate an interview from any language into any other language, your contribution will be more than welcome! Just contact me.
Welcome to the Moonsorrow Interviews Compilation! Here you will find more than one hundred Moonsorrow interviews, many of which have already disappeared from where they were originally posted. Check the Index and Contact pages above and the notes in the left column for more info.
Moonsorrow’n edellisen Jumalten aika -albumin julkaisusta tuli
kuluneeksi tänä keväänä seitsemän vuotta. Uuden materiaalin parissa
työskentelevä Henri Sorvali muistelee teosta yhä lämmöllä.
– Pidän sitä parhaiten onnistuneena kokonaisuutenamme Verisäkeiden
[2005] jälkeen, huolimatta siitä, miten vaikea sävellys- ja etenkin
sovitusprosessi se oli. Myös koko bändille jäi albumin valmistumisen
myötä palava tarve jatkaa eteenpäin sen viitoittamalla tiellä. Fiilikset
ovat edelleen positiiviset ja eteenpäin suuntaavat.
Moni kuulija varmasti ajattelee, että uusi Moonsorrow-albumi on ollut tekeillä koko ajan edellisen levyn julkaisun jälkeen.
– On se ollutkin, mutta tekoprosessi on ollut pidempään tauolla tai
edennyt äärimmäisen hitaasti henkilökohtaisista prioriteeteistani ja
syistä johtuen, Sorvali kertoo.
– Käytännössä uuteen levyyn keskittyminen alkoi varovaisesti vasta
noin vuosi sitten. Lopputalvesta päätimme aktivoitua kollektiivisesti
edistämään levyntekoa, ja olemme pyrkineet pitämään sovitussessioita
enemmän päämäärää silmällä pitäen, ei ainoastaan riffien ja pätkien
äänityksiin keskittyen.
Moonsorrow’n musiikki on aina ollut yhdistelmä metallista raakuutta
ja monikerroksista eeppisyyttä, eikä ole ihme, että monumentaalisten
sävellysten rakentaminen ottaa aikansa – varsinkin, kun bändin omat
laatuvaatimukset ovat korkealla.
– Oman riman korkeus on suhteellinen käsite, mutta levyillemme ei ole
koskaan päätynyt mitään, mitä olisimme pitäneet huonona tai
puutteellisena ratkaisuna, Sorvali sanoo.
– Isoin haaste on ollut, ja tulee olemaan, osien jäsentely ja
sovitus. Sen lisäksi pyrimme löytämään jokaisella levyllämme erilaisen
tulokulman asioihin. Sellaisen löytäminen saattaa joskus aiheuttaa
aikamoista päänvaivaa.
– Valmisteilla olevan levyn suhteen tulokulma on onneksi löytynyt.
Tiedämme nyt, mistä musiikillisesta ja tuotannollisesta suunnasta
haluamme lähestyä kokonaiskuvaa. Sen löytäminen ruokkii aina innostusta
materiaalin tekemiseen, ja pyrimme aina lähtemään tilanteesta, jossa
levy olisi ihan uusi projekti ja se ”eka demo”.
Musiikkiin käytettävä teknologia ja laitteistot kehittyvät koko ajan.
Kuinka hyvin pystyt toteuttamaan päässäsi soivan vision olemassa
olevilla välineillä?
– Siihen pisteeseen, johon Moonsorrow’n kanssa sitä tarvitsen,
musiikkiteknologia on riittänyt minulle viimeisen parinkymmenen vuoden
ajan. Luotan sävellys- ja demotusprosessissa hyvin yksinkertaisiin
työkaluihin, koska haluan varmistaa nojaavani ensisijaisesti
musiikillisiin enkä teknologisiin ratkaisuihin. Myös levynteossa jätämme
samplekirjastot ja autotunet rauhaan ja pyrimme toteuttamaan homman
niin luomuna ja livenä kuin mahdollista.
– Pääasiallisessa työssäni, lähinnä orkesterimusiikin parissa
operoidessani, tilanne on luonnollisesti täysin erilainen, mutta
Moonsorrow’n kanssa koen pystyneeni toteuttamaan visioni
sataprosenttisesti kakkosdemosta lähtien. En kuitenkaan pystyisi
tekemään tätä koskaan yksin, vaan kaikilla muilla yhtyeen jäsenillä on
mittaamattoman tärkeä rooli vision toteutumisessa.
Tulevan albumin luonteesta Sorvalilla on tässä vaiheessa varsin vähän kerrottavaa.
– Tuleva levy tulee todennäköisesti jatkamaan musiikillisesti siitä,
mihin Jumalten aika paikoin jäi. Teemoista ja konseptista pysyn
toistaiseksi vaiti ja jätän aiheesta keskustelemisen lyyriselle
mestarillemme, kun sen aika koittaa.
– Kappaleiden kestot ovat vielä mysteeri itsellemmekin, mutta
uskoisin, että parinkymmenen minuutin eepokset lienevät osaltamme tehty
ja mitat tulevat pysyttelemään kymmenen minuutin molemmin puolin. Mitään
neljän minuutin ralleja tältä bändiltä tuskin koskaan tulee!
"Moonsorrow is one of the most inspiring Finnish epic pagan metal bands out there. Jerry had the pleasure to talk to these guys at Nordic Metal Cruise 2021. Tune in for some 30 min of talk."
It's
without my questions sheet (lost before we came to Clisson apparently)
that I consequently ask some things by memory to the very kind
MOONSORROW's guitarist Mitja Harvilahti after their performance at the
HELLFEST. And the Finnish quartet (quintet in live setting) has a lot to
offer with their epic-black-pagan music. Their latest release is called
"Tulimyrsky" which is an E.P. including a Metallica cover.
Fab: So are you happy to be here at the HELLFEST 2009 ? How is your feeling after you show here? Mitja Harvilahti:
Oh, it was a pleasure to play here because for us, France is always
very good. We've been here for a few times, and every time the French
audience has been really really good. And we've been waiting to play
here in this festival for a long time, so it was really a pleasure. The
crowd was very good. Unfortunately (little nervous laughter), I hurt my
neck during the third song so I couldn't spin my head anymore at all,
because it hurts like hell all the time, but, otherwise, we had a really
good time.
Fab: And what do you think about the reaction of the audience? Mitja Harvilahti:
It was really good. I mean, there were lots of people who probably
didn't really know us, but I could see they liked what they heard, and
they stayed for the whole show. Also, there were a lot of fans, so the
reaction was really enthusiastic.
Fab: How do you manage to perform your very epic songs on stage? Mitja Harvilahti:
This summer, we couldn't do the very epic songs. The last tour we had
one and half hour. If we have one hour to play, we can play one very
long song, and then shorter ones. It's just about to make the songs
work. You have to rehearse a certain way so that the guitars might be
taken some of the keyboard leads. But I think it works pretty easily
after all, even though the songs are very long. We have many kind of
different passages and parts in the songs, so, it turns to be very
boring (laughter).
Fab: Can we say that your inspiration is still very into Northern Culture? Mitja Harvilahti:
Yeah (hesitating), in a way. Note that it is quite abstract mostly. So
we might deal with Nordic mythology matters in our feelings, but they
always have this Pagan mood by nature, within the music and the lyrics.
We have some songs that are part of our Northern, Finnish historical
northern culture in general. But mostly nowadays they are more abstract,
more poetic. But the feel of the lyrics is very Finnish. So it's
definitely rooted into the Scandinavian region in Finland, even though
we don't say anything about it. But always we have metaphors, some of
that instinct, it does not especially have something historical,
northern or something, it's not so straight.
Fab: Have you
planned to release a book about all the stories that are inside your
lyrics? The finland history, with drawings, etc…with your music as a
soundtrack. Mitja Harvilahti:
Hum, that would be interesting. Our music is very cinematic so, I
think, but if you were just to make a short movie, it would suck
(laughter), it wouldn't worked the way that it should. Perhaps,
actually, lyrics with pictures, photographs, paintings…it would make
sense. Also it would make sense to do a DVD, a live DVD with the
pictures and the background, the videos. It would be strong, but to
start working on it, it will take a long time to put it together, I
think. But we have some ideas about that actually. We have to find the
right people to do it. Because if you do something mediocre, it's
bullshit, you have to do it well.
Fab: So are you going to release a dvd soon? Mitja Harvilahti:
Not right now. We have a lot of material to use as an extra material,
but we have to shoot some couple of shows, and we haven't decided how we
should do it. Maybe in Finland or maybe somewhere else, but we really
need something special. And we have to come up with the idea with the
record company and everything. But someday, we will eventually release a
DVD within two years I hope. Because when you make a DVD, you have
to tour a lot just before the shoot, it doesn't work often when you have
some dates in Helsinki and that we just rehearse in the practice room
and then go to do it, because if you're not confident enough to go
onstage, then it's not going to work out. So we need to find some time,
be on the road for a couple of weeks and eventually shoot a DVD. When
you do something especially for a DVD, you don't wanna take any risks,
people playing the wrong note, or stupid stuff like that, that's
something we don't want, that's why it's taking so long to make a DVD.
Fab: What is your thought one year after the release of the "Tulimyrsky" E.P.? Mitja Harvilahti: Yeah, it was an E.P. with one new song for half an hour (laughter), and a METALLICA cover (ndlr: For Whom The Bell Tolls) , a MERCILESS cover (ndlr: Back To North),
and two old demo songs, "2008" version. The idea we had was from five
years back, because we had arranged the METALLICA cover many years
before, and we recorded it in 2005. So, we already had some bonus
material, but we didn't find any use for it. So, after our last
full-length album, which was a very heavy thing for us to do, we needed
something refreshing, something for us to break the chains, and just do
something that we enjoy all. That's why we had this idea of a very
cinematic half-an-hour, epic song and of course the METALLICA cover. And
we wanted to do these two demo songs again (ndlr: Taistelu Pohjolasta & Hvergelmir).
We haven't really changed them anyway, but just recorded better. And we
chose the MERCILESS cover, the second song, because we already played
it in 2000.
Fab: How did you
change the METALLICA cover song into something almost completely
different but recognizable? And with a strong MOONSORROW identity. Mitja Harvilahti:
Well, that's the thing when you make cover songs. If the band is
original in some way, if they have their own songs, there's no point to
replicate the song. We had played the riffs many years ago in the
rehearsal room, and we realized that we could make something special
with it, something completely special out of this Metallica song. We
changed some of the riffs, the audience will know when (laughter), and
we found out that is sounded more MOONSORROW than METALLICA, even if
it's a cover. I think it still captures the METALLICA song really well,
but it's in our performance. And that's what I think is interesting
about covers, playing them almost completely different from the
original.
Fab: And did you had any feedback from METALLICA about this cover? Mitja Harvilahti:
No, not that I know of (laughter). I have no idea if they have heard
it. Actually, I should have gave the cd to a friend of mine who just met
them a week ago. Maybe I will send it to their management.
Fab: Have you started working on the new full-length album? Mitja Harvilahti: We're just gathering ideas right now, we have one song. Our drummer has made one song but we hadn't really arranged it yet. Henri (Sorvali - Guitar/Keys)
who is the main composer, is working on other things right now. He's
doing some arrangements, he's finishing with FINNTROLL new album. I
can't guarantee when it's gonna come out. This spring, maybe. If it
takes more time, then we will have to postponed it to autumn. That would
suck because we really want to make it in time for the summer
festivals. But it's amusing, when you have people from many bands, like
us and fintroll for Henri, how it seems that you always have all release
in the same times (laughter).
Fab: Do you usually do the songwriting at home, or on the road? Mitja Harvilahti: Usually at home, at Henri home
studio. He's very quick with what he does. We got to gave him some
riffs, he would then add some more riffs. He will make a lot of materiel
in one day, so, the whole album would take shape within two months,
maybe a couple of weeks. We don't really rehearse at the rehearsal room,
we just go down into the studio because we work so much on the final
arrangements. It's very different from many other bands. We need tight
schedule to really squeeze it hard from us. It's always hard to work
that way, but that's the way it works for us.
Fab: You need creative pressure. Mitja Harvilahti: Exactly. Henri is
amazingly fast. When he's doing the demos at his studio, he can
programs the drums with one hand, and I can see his eyes, he's already
has some keyboards stuff or guitar's riffs. When he's done the drums, he
just grabs a guitar or a keyboard, any instrument and he plays a lot of
stuff instantly. So it takes shape really quickly. After a couple of
weeks, we already have put a lot of things together.
Fab: Did you ever thought about doing a movie soundtrack? Mitja Harvilahti:
Not really. If somebody ask us to, we might do I, itt will depends on
the time we had. It would be an honour to do a soundtrack, if it's a
good movie (laughter). But we never know. We have some offers from
friends, little companies, there were short films and not really
interesting. Our music has been used in some movies in finland or
television programs, bu we haven't done any official soundtrack. That
would be interesting through.
During the second day of Summer Breeze 2016 we met with
guys from Moonsorrow (Ville and Mitja) in order to have one interview
and chat about their brand new full-length Jumalter Aika which turned
out to be one of the best records in 2016 by opinion of Metal Sound’s
redaction. Since Moonsorrow has made a great comeback at the scene with
their newer effort, and since they moved on a new label (Century
Media), we’ve talking mainly about their new full-length, filming of
video clip, their upcoming plans and some other things that follow the
band as well.
As a matter of fact, Moonsorrow’s brand new issue Jumalten
Aika has this rawer sound closer to your record Varisakket released 10
years ago…
Mitja Harvilahti: The roots are in early 90s, within black metal
scene, when we were growing up, by discovering it. This time we had a
chance to explore the sounds and we also quite a lot explored the song
writing as well. This was something different for us because we been
doing the same formulas for quite a while. So, this time we re-newel the
whole song writing method and that was the most difficult part as well.
Ville Sorvalli: I guess that the initial approach that we wanted to
have with this album was that we wanted to have some more live friendly
songs. shorter and catchier songs that we could easily play live,
because this has not happened. I guess that we have all agreed that we
would like to have rawer sounds so that we want to explore more black
metal roots. That’s basically everything what we have decided before we
have started to write a new material and then the things has just
started to happened.
Time distance between your albums is like 5 years. Why did
you took so long to record a new album? Was there any special reason for
it?
Mitja Harvilahti: There was little bite of everything: some family
reason mainly. Actually the problem was with our main song-writer, Henri
Sorvalli, who also writes the music for Finntroll as well . Before, it
was like he was writing the music one year for Finntroll and the other
for Moonsorrow so we have constantly delivered the albums, but now he
got first one child, so there was a little break, than he got the
another one so there was one more year of break. And, when we started to
write a new songs it was not as we thought it would be. So, at the end
we finished with five years between our albums.
Talking about black metal influnces…
Mitja Harvilahti: I think that it sounds that we have returned even
more deeper in the past. I also think that the influences on this record
are way to obvious. I mean, we all in Moonsorrow like different sorts o
music but we all agree when it comes to black metal. All the members in
the band like black metal bands from Norway, from ’90s. We were
influenced by diffrent bands but I think that it’s too obvious which
these bands and albums are, we were influnced by some of their records
that today they don’t even like.
For the filming of your debut video you were in Belgrade and
you have done it with I-code. So, how do you like the video and how do
you like Belgrade?
Ville Sorvalli: We were thinking about the first video, and also the
label asked for it so we decided to record one video. Yes, we are very
satisfied with the video and the final result. I was the only member who
was in Belgrade. unfortunately, I was not able to walk though the city
this day since we were quite busy filming the video and material but I
would like to visit it one day.
As a matter of fact Moonsorrow is now at Century Media so how
did it happened that you have changed the labels from Spinefarm to CM?
Mitja Harvilahti: It was actually few years ago. They wanted
Moonsoorow to sign a contract with them but, we need to introduce them
how this band works. So, we were asking them do you really know how this
band works, do you really want to sign Moonsorrow for Century Media.
And, since they said that they really wanted to sign the band for them
we have agreed.
Are there any plans for the forthcoming European tour in 2016?
Mitja Harvilahti: Yes, we have already released our touring dates for
the most of European countries for 2016. We will make a tour this year
with Korpiklaani. I know that for some of you it could sound little
weird or strange since our music is quite different, but I think that we
are the same coin just with the diffrent sides. We are like darker side
of the same thing, while they are brighter. So, I think that at the end
this mixture between our two bands will really work. I am quite sure
about that actually.
Estuvimos, sobre todo, viajando y esperando. Parece un solo día muy largo. Tocamos ayer y hoy parece el mismo día por los vuelos y demás. Estamos muy cansados.
Oí que Marko tiene un problema en la rodilla.
Sí, lo operaron al principio del año y puede tocar siempre que tenga cuidado.
Hace poco sacasteis la tremenda caja. ¿Cómo surgió la idea? ¿Estáis satisfechos con el resultado?
Creo que fue hace unos dos años cuando empezamos a hablar de ello. El sello Blood Music quería hacer este bicho y nos moló la idea y nos pusimos a recopilar material. Quisimos hacerla de modo que nadie se pudiera quejar.
¿Y te gusta cómo quedó?
Sí, es tremenda. Tengo una en casa. Estéticamente chula, pesa mucho, suena guay. Hay cosas inéditas. Dos maquetas perdidas y luego recuperadas. El material perdido sigue perdido, aún hay dos canciones que grabamos pero no existen, pero juntamos todo lo que teníamos para la caja.
Thorns of Ice se perdió, pero ¿por qué no sacasteis Promo en su momento?
El sonido era horrible, como se puede comprobar. Henri hizo lo que pudo con ella. El sonido era horrible. No sé qué pasó. Pero no teníamos mucha experiencia aún. No pudimos sacarla, era horrible.
La caja era muy cara. No discuto que el precio esté justificado, pero ¿no es un poco injusto que quien no se la pueda permitir no tenga acceso a esas maquetas?
La verdad es que no creo que sea difícil encontrarlas en internet si alguien quiere escucharlas.
Lleváis años reuniendo material para sacar un DVD en el futuro. La caja incluye un DVD. Supongo que eso no es todo lo que teníais, pero ¿esto iba a ser parte del DVD grande futuro?
Sí, eso se suponía, pero decidimos meterlo aquí porque se centra en la gira del quinto disco. Es un año de gira. Digamos que completa el paquete. Ya haremos otra cosa para el DVD. Tenemos mil movidas, pero ni idea de cuándo saldrá. Somos épicos por una razón: todo lo hacemos despacio.
Hablando de lentitud, ¿cómo va la composición del séptimo álbum?
Pues por fin tengo buenas noticias. Ya tenemos un 60-70% listo y lo vamos a grabar este año. O sea, que saldrá. Ahora lo sé y puedo confirmarlo.
¿Va a ser conceptual? ¿Retomará el concepto del anterior?
No, será distinto. Conceptual, puede, pero con historias diferenciadas, para mantener el interés. Hemos hecho discos muy pesados.
Hace menos de un año que empezasteis a tocar Aika, a pesar de que la canción tiene catorce años. ¿Por qué no os decidisteis hasta ahora?
Sinceramente, no lo sé. Cuando planeábamos repertorios el año pasado decidimos que había que añadir algo, aunque no tuviéramos material nuevo. Entre las canciones que no habíamos tocado, elegimos esa. No sé por qué no la tocamos antes. Creo que suena bastante guay.
Pocas quedan que no hayáis tocado, ¿no? Varjojen virta...
Esa no la vamos a tocar nunca. Demasiado compleja. Y aburrida.
Hiidenpelto...
No creo que metamos mucho esas canciones de 30 minutos, porque queremos tocar más temas. Sí, Hiidenpelto es otra... Pero no quedan muchas. Haaska es otra. Hemos hablado de tocarla. Ya veremos.
Espero que tenga más éxito que Karhunkynsi. Me encanta esa canción. Creo que me dijiste tú que a la gente no le gusta.
No fui yo, fue Mitja. Está convencido de que no gusta. No sé. A mí me gusta tocarla. Pero igual se hace pelín aburrida. No sé.
Tiene una parte súper rápida... Bueno, es igual.
Súper rápida y súper larga.
¡Sí, pero mola! ¿En qué se inspira Aika?
Tiene que ver con el fin de la Era Vikinga. El año está mal, de hecho. Debería ser 1066.
Sí, esa era otra pregunta. ¿Fue un error?
Probablemente. No lo puedo decir. Seguirá siendo un misterio.
Ahora mismo, en este momento estamos muy cerca de Stamford Bridge [el lugar donde se libró una importante batalla en 1066]. ¿Pensáis visitarlo?
Nah, no tenemos tiempo, por desgracia. Hoy nada fue como planeábamos. Tuvimos que esperar un montón para el hotel, esperar un montón para la prueba de sonido, la cual fue bastante mal por fallos técnicos... No tuvimos tiempo para hacer turismo hoy. Es una pena. York es una ciudad interesante.
Y ahora están con el festival vikingo anual. Mi pregunta es si para vosotros es especial tocar en este festival aunque no hayáis tenido tiempo de verlo, pero formar parte de él.
Sí, claro que es especial, aunque no hayamos podido ver nada. Pero mola ser parte de los eventos. Para acabar con el tema del turismo: hay que aceptarlo como parte del trabajo. Nos pagan para dar conciertos, no para hacer turismo. Si hay tiempo lo hacemos, pero si no, trabajo es trabajo. No parece trabajo, claro. Y viajar... Viajar es peor que trabajar.
Otra canción de tema vikingo es Tulimyrsky. Por lo que sé, la canción cuenta una historia. Háblanos de esta historia. ¿Es real? ¿Dónde tuvo lugar?
No, no es real. Para el álbum Voimasta ja kunniasta me inventé una historia sobre un ataque a una ciudad vikinga, y Tulimyrsky es la continuación. Los vikingos van y se vengan. Es todo inventado, cero elementos históricos.
O sea, ¿que el Voimasta es conceptual?
Sí, eso se supone.
Ya que sólo son cinco canciones, ¿puedes decir brevemente de qué va cada una?
Va de dos hermanos. Uno se deja cegar por el dinero: en un saqueo se queda en el pueblo saqueado, se pone a negociar con los locales, les da consejos tácticos sobre cómo saquear su propio pueblo y le pagan por esta información. Luego, en Tulimyrsky, esta gente va a vengarse y continúa la sangría.
¿Volveréis a hablar de vikingos algún día? ¿O ya os llegó de eso?
No sé. Los vikingos son interesantes pero creo que ya hemos hablado bastante de ellos. Puede que hagamos otras cosas en el futuro, puede que no. Ya veremos. No quiero adelantar nada del nuevo disco, pero probablemente no habrá vikingos.
¿Alguna vez os apeteció hacer algo acústico, o sinfónico, o alejado de lo habitual?
Si lo hiciéramos, sería con otro nombre. Si alguien tiene interés puede hacerlo como mejor le parezca. Probablemente sería Henri el que hiciera algo así, pero no sería como Moonsorrow. Nosotros tocamos rock and roll.
¿Qué piensas de la loudness war?
Es una bobada. A mí me gusta el sonido de los 70.
Aun así, el rango dinámico del Hävitetty es bajísimo.
Sí, ya sé. No fue decisión mía. Estoy muy disgustado con eso. Pero es lo que hay.
¿Fue cosa del sello o del grupo?
Henri es el que se encarga de la producción, así que eso hay que preguntárselo a él.
Pasando a cosas menos serias: ya no sales desnudo al escenario. ¡Pobres mozas!
Yo creo que es mejor para ellas. Podrían traumatizarse de por vida.
Para acabar, ¿qué podemos esperar hoy?
Canciones. Un buen e intenso repertorio munsorriano. ¡Nada menos!
Ein Interview von CaptainCook vom 24.01.2007 (6635 mal gelesen)
Only a couple of days ago, MOONSORROW published their 5th album, Viides
Luku - Hävitetty. Drummer Marko Tarvonen found the time to tell us a bit
about it and much more.
Hey Marko! First, please tell us a bit about the new album „Chapter V – Ravaged“. What is the concept all about?
Marko Tarvonen: There’s an end-of-the-world
concept through the whole album. It reflects the old beliefs that the
new world will be born after the old one dies and it’s kind of adapted
into this day. Just watch the news and you know what it is all about.
Most of it is [MOONSORROW vocalist - ed] Ville’s feelings and some
mythological symbolics.
„Chapter V – Ravaged“ features only two songs. Was that your plan
from the very beginning or did the music just develop into these epic
dimensions? Why didn't you separate the two songs into a couple of CD
tracks to make it easier for people to listen only to parts of the
album?
Marko Tarvonen: No it was not planned at first.
Actually we thought of doing a very normal Moonsorrow album. But then
when we started writing the songs we found them quite epic enough and
thought, whatta hell let’s do it in a big way then! So they kind of just
turned out like that. We had written thousands of different riffs and
song parts and started to sort out the best ideas and tried to arrange
the best possible effort as a whole. And it was out of question to split
the tracks to many indexes and I’m sorry how would it be easier to
listen the songs with just some parts?
Thomas Väänänen of Thyrfing performed some of the vocals on „Chapter Five – Ravaged“. How did it come to that?
Marko Tarvonen: We met him first at Heathen
Crusade festival in USA last January and asked if they had thought of
doing some lyrics in Finnish with Thyrfing because Thomas is a Swedish
Finn. Then we contacted him after some months and asked if he was
available to contribute on our album and he liked to do it very much. So
I guess this was the first time he sings in his mother’s tongue. He did
a superb job.
Old fans will miss some of the folky tunes on „Chapter V –
Ravaged“ (especially on 'Born of Ice Stream of Shadows') that were a
part of your former recordings. What made you write a more traditional
Black Metal album?
Marko Tarvonen: Umm... I wouldn’t say black metal
at all but yes I know what you mean. We got bored with this folk metal
scene totally and wanted to do something very different already on
Verisäkeet. There will always be some folkish echoes in Moonsorrow’s
music but most of all we’re metal bands for gods’ sake. If you want
easy-listening happy melodic shit, try Korpiklaani then. They do it very
well but it isn’t my cup of tea.
In contrast to your last recording „Verisäkeet“ you have reduced
the guitar work to mere powerchord strumming on large parts of the new
album. Don't you think that this is a restriction on your expression?
Marko Tarvonen: No, as there are not so many
actual powerchords played on Hävitetty. You have to listen more
carefully... almost all the time there are two different chords in the
riffs + a different bass line. They are not easy to block out but I can
tell they are not those ordinary powerchords we use. We use those very
big chords where every string on the guitar is used. So yes, the album
is more guitar-orientated than previous albums and reflects our live
sound as well
As always, you recorded the album at Tico-Tico studios with Ahti
Kortelainen. And as always, I'm not happy with the sound, particularly
the vocals and drums. Why did you never chose to change studios as
MOONSORROW was growing bigger?
Marko Tarvonen: We don’t want polished sound. We
want cold mean shit and Tico-Tico is perfect place for us to get that.
We don’t care if people don’t like that.
MOONSORROW has been very productive in the last couple of years.
„Chapter V – Ravaged“ is already the fifth album since 2001. How do you
keep your creativity flowing?
Marko Tarvonen: Maybe that’s because we haven’t
toured so much. But now that seems to change too as we’re getting more
and more shows so I guess the next album won’t be there anytime soon.
When you were headlining the Ragnarök Festival in Lichtenfels last
year, you had to play late at night when most people were already
exhausted from the day. Nevertheless you decided to come back this
year...
Marko Tarvonen: Well, the festival is at the same time we’re touring so it was easy to organize that on our schedule.
I heard that there will be only one song on the final MOONSORROW album. Are you already thinking about quitting?
Marko Tarvonen: Someday yes, haha!
Thanks and keep up the good work!
Marko Tarvonen: Thanks for the interview. See you on tour, cheers!
