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)

Meteli.net / November 2001

Link 1 - Link 2

Answered by Ville Sorvali

On hanget korkeat nietokset vaan pakanajuhla on meillä


Moonsorrow on vuoden 1995 aikoihin alkurääkäisynsä esittänyt suomenkielinen pakanametallibändi, jonka suosio on voimakkaasti nousemassa alan harrastajien keskuudessa. Bändin musiikki on kansanmusiikkivaikutteista, synkkää, mutta samalla omalla tavallaan hyvin iloluontoista. Nyt joulukuun alussa bändin toinen kokopitkä levy Voimasta ja kunniasta näki päivänvalon Spikefarmin julkaisemana. Moonsorrown perustivat serkukset Henri ja Ville Sorvali, joista ensimmäinen operoi kitaralla ja levyllä myös koskettimilla, jälkimmäisen toimiessa vokaalitaiteilijana ja basson varressa. Virallisen ensidemonsa Metsän jälkeen orkesteri on siirtynyt kokonaan suomenkieleen ja saanut lisää jäseniä, julkaisujakin on kertynyt kiitettävästi. Edellisellä Suden uni pitkäsoitollaan bändi lauloi mm. siitä, kuinka Piispa Henrik kohtasi suomalaista käsityötä olevan kirveen kappaleessa Köyliöjärven jäällä. Jo ennen uutukaisen julkaisupäivää meteli.net hankki langan päähän Ville Sorvalin ja juttua riitti.
On varmaan syytä selventää hieman bändin alkutaipaletta. Mistä teillä lähti Henrin kanssa aikoinaan idea perustaa juuri tällaista musiikkia veivaava orkesteri?
-Siinä joskus vuoden -95 paikkeilla alkoi Henrin ja mun mielessä kiteytyä konsepti pakanallisesta metalliyhtyeestä. Se oli Moonsorrow mikä siitä syntyi, vaikka eihän se ihan tällaista ollut aluksi. Moonsorrow säilyi, kun monet muut projektit, mitä siihen aikaan oli vireillä, kuolivat ympäriltä ja Moonsorrowsta muotoutui ihan oikea bändi.

Oliko suomen kieli jo alusta alkaen mukana?
-Ei, aluksi oli luonnollisempaa kirjoittaa englanniksi. Sit jotain -97 Tämän ikuisen talven aikoihin Henri sanoi, et jos Ville tekisit tästlähin sanoitukset ja minä siihen, että kirjotetaampa suomeksi.

Onko joskus tullut mieleen tehdä Moonsorrown nimiin materiaalia myös englanniksi?
-Onhan sitä joskus ajateltu, ans kattoo ny. Itse olen tykästynyt koko ajan enemmän suomenkieleen. Ei siitä ole kertaakaan tullut huonoa palautetta, että lauletaan suomeksi. Suomalaista pakanamusiikkiahan tämä on ja mä pystyn ilmaisemaan itseäni monipuolisemmin suomeksi.

Parhaillaan on ollut menossa voimakas noususuhdanne nimenomaan suomeksi lauletulla metallilla. Näetkö, että Niskalaukaus, Kotiteollisuus ynnä muut olisivat kasvattaneet myös kiinnostusta teitä kohtaan, vaikka ovatkin kovin erilaisia bändejä?
-Onhan sellainen aalto nyt menossa ja saattaahan se meidätkin ottaa mukaansa. Hienoa tämä on kun bändit taas alkoivat laulaa suomeksi. Ajatellaan vaikka aikaa kun Suomi itsenäistyi. Silloin tuli tärkeäksi oma kieli ja kulttuuri. Voidaan ajatella, että nyt on meneillään samanlainen vastarinta Euroopan yhdentymisen ja yhteisen rahan vuoksi ja sen, että eurooppalaisia kulttuureja yritetään sulattaa yhteen. Sellainen alitajuinen vastareaktio.
-Olin tuossa juuri kuuntelemassa Viikatetta livenä ja sehän on aivan helvetin hyvää musiikkia. Niin syvää masennusta, angstia ja ahdistusta ei yksinkertaisesti voi ilmaista muulla kielellä kuin suomeksi.

Mitä mieltä muuten olet Pasi Koskisen Ajattara -bändistä (Ajattara soittaa kuolonmetallia suomenkielellä ammentaen teksteihinsä Kalevalasta ja muinaissuomalaisuudesta)?
-Kovasti olen kuunnellut ja tykännyt, samalla lafkallahan tässä ollaan. Ei voi sanoa, että se olisi uutta musiikkia, kun se ammentaa tosi vanhasta musiikista, mutta tosi piristävä poikkeus suomalaisessa musakentässä.

Te olette käsittääkseni irtisanoutuneet voimakkaasti blackmetallista ja määritelleet bändinne sen sijaan pakanametalliksi, annapa siis kuulua tarkempaa määritelmää pakanametallille.
-Eeppistä eli kertovaa, siihen lisätään pakanalliset ajatusmaailmat ja metalli. Raskasta, mahtipontista, eeppistä, kansanmusiikkivaikutteista hevimetallia, joka ei soi radioissa, eihän noin pitkät biisit soi radioissa.



VOIMASTA JA KUNNIASTA



Moonsorrown edellinen albumi Suden uni ilmestyi vasta viime keväänä, mistä tuli tarve tehdä näin pian uusi levy? Johtuiko se edellisen albumin julkaisun venymisestä vai mikäs on tarina?
-Uutta matskua oli tehtynä jo ennen Suden unen ilmestymistä. Meillä oli vahva fiilis siitä, että pitää tehdä uutta. Matsku oli valmiina jo kesän lopulla, mutta vielä kahta viikkoa ennen nauhoitusten alkua meillä ei ollut levy-yhtiötä. Me työskennellään varmaankin parhaiten hermopaineen alaisuudessa, studioaikaahan ei ollut mitenkään runsaasti, vain pari viikkoa.

Onkos levyn ilmestymisajankohdalla (3. joulukuuta) mitään tekemistä perikristillisen valon juhlan lähestymisen kanssa?
-Ei (heh). Hyvähän se on, että ilmestyy juuri nyt, mutta kyllä se aika pitkälti oli levy-yhtiön toivomus, että saataisiin se ulos jo tämän vuoden puolella.

Nyt uuden levyn myötä vaihtui siis myös bändin levy-yhtiö. Kuinkas te päädyitte Spikefarm Recordsille?
-Kesällä metsästettiin levy-yhtiötä ulkomailta, läheteltiin demoja sinne tänne ulkomaisiin yhtiöihin. Jostain syystä sitten tajuttiin, että lähintä vaihtoehtoa ei oltu ees tsekattu. Että onhan täällä Helsingissäkin levy-yhtiö. Sopimuksenteossa ei kauan nokka tuhissut. Itse olen oikein tyytyväinen nykyiseen tilanteeseen.

Mistä kertoo uuden albumin otsikko Voimasta ja kunniasta?
-Voimasta ja kunniasta (heh).Teksteiltään se on fiktiivisempi kuin Suden uni, tarkoitus on välittää pakanallista maailmankuvaa. Tämä on sellainen majesteettinen paketti.

Onko jokin levyn biiseistä muodostunut erityisen läheiseksi jo tässä vaiheessa?
-Erityisesti nyt kuunnellessa on noussu esiin tuo viimeinen biisi, Sankaritarina, se aiheuttaa mukavia kylmiä väreitä selkäpiihin. Se on sellanen vajaa 14 minuuttinen, eeppinen veto.

Onko olo nyt täysin tyhjentynyt ja tyytyväinen uuden levyn osalta?
-Ei koskaan täysin tyytyväinen, eihän jatkamisessa muuten olisi mitään mieltä, mutta totta helvetissä tuosta tuli hyvä levy ja olen todella tyytyväinen siihen. Miksauksessa vedettiin hirveellä rytinällä biisit läpi eikä siitä oikeen kerenny muodostumaan mitään kuvaa. Nyt kun sitä on uskaltanu kuunnella niin kyllä se on helvetin hyvä lopputulos mikä saatiin aikaan.

Onko Voimasta ja kunniasta -levyllä jotain erityistä teemaa esimerkiksi sanoituksellisesti?
-Tavallaan se on sellainen fiktiivinen konsepti. Rakensin siihen tarinan voimasta ja kunniasta, hirveen sankarillista meininkiä.

Suden unella soitinvalikoimaan kuului myös studiolta löydetty haitari. Onko se mukana tällä kertaa?
-Totta helvetissä! Haitari on ja pysyy niin kauan kuin se Tico-Ticolta löytyy.

Suden unen jälkeen bändi on saanut kaksi uutta jäsentä, kitaraan Mitja Harvilahden ja livekokoonpanoon kosketinten taakse Lord Eurénin. Mitä uutta nämä kaksi herraa ovat tuoneet mukanaan?
-Kyllä uudet jäsenet ovat Moonsorrown soundiin vaikuttaneet, varsinkin Mitja on mielettömän lahjakas kitaristi ja on tuonut uutta särmää sovituksiin. Meillä on nyt ekaa kertaa mukana myös kitarasooloja varsinaisella kokopitkällä levyllä. Eurén vaikuttaa siihen, että me kuulostetaan livenä joltakin. Eurén mielletään kyllä vakituiseksi jäseneksi. Studiossa Henri on koskettimien takana, koska se toimii niin suvereenisti.



KUUNTELEEKO KUKAAN ENÄÄ BATHORYA?

Kotisivujenne mukaan teillä on hyvin erilaisia bändejä suosikkilistoillanne, löytyy Pink Floydia, Iron Maidenia, Entombedia, Bal-Sagothia, Slayeria, Nordmania, King Crimsonia ja Hedningarnaa. Kuinkas on, vieläkö se Bathory on kaikkein kovin suosikki, onhan Moonsorrow jopa soittanut tribuuttikeikan Bathorylle.
-Eiköhän se oo kollektiivinen suosikki. Ei Moonsorrow kuitenkaan ole mikään Bathory-kopio vaan meidän musassa on enemmänkin sellainen tribuutti-elementti Bathoryn viikinki-levyille. Niitä on tullut paljon kuunneltua eikä vaikutteita tietysti voi täysin välttää.

Moonsorrown jäsenillä on monta rautaa tulessa sekä musiikillisesti että muussa elämässä. Varsinkin jos ajattelee Henriä, bändin pääasiallista säveltäjää (Henri soittaa Finntrollissa, Larharyhmässä ja Luokkasodassa ja on myös vieraillut Ensiferumin levyllä). Kuinkas teillä aika riittää erilaisille projekteille?
-Henri ei tee nykyisin juuri muuta kuin musiikkia, koska se on myös sen työ. Baron Tarwonen (rummut, toim.huom.), jolla on toiseksi eniten projekteja tekee muutakin kuin musaa. Itselläni ei ole toistaiseksi ollut ongelmia aikataulun kanssa (Ville soittaa Moonsorrown lisäksi rock-kokoonpanossa nimeltä May Withers, toim.huom.). Jos muu elämä alkaa kusta niin sitten pitää kyllä miettiä uudestaan, mutta täytyy pyrkiä siihen, että voisi aina vaikuttaa Moonsorrowssa täysipainoisesti.

Finntrollista tulee mieleen kaikkien rakastamat bändivertailut. Moonsorrowta ollaan jostain syystä verrattu juuri Finntrolliin, vieläkös sitä kuulee?
-Mun mielestä tää vertailu on aika käsittämätöntä. Henrin takia sitä kai tehdään, mutta minusta me ei kuulosteta Finntrollilta. Musta on yllättävää, ettei kovinkaan moni toimittaja vertaa meitä Bathoryyn. Onko se niin, ettei kukaan enää kuuntele Bathorya?



MAJESTEETTISET LEGENDAT

Seuraavaksi Moonsorrown biisinteosta. Mistä te ammennatte inspiraatiota tällaisen musan tekemiseen? Ilmeisesti olette kiinnostuneita kansanmusiikista ja historiasta, kuinka näiden aiheiden ääreen on nuori mies ajautunut?
-Omasta puolestani voin sanoa, että myytit, legendat ja kaikenlaiset tarinat on kiinnostanu lapsesta saakka, ja pakanallinen ajatusmaailma, vaikkei sitä tietenkään vielä lapsena tajunnu. Koulun pakkopullan jälkeen alkoi kiinnostua historiastakin. Nää aiheet istuu tosi luontevasti meille ja niistä sitten inspiroidutaan. Majesteettiset legendat ovat pääosassa.

Millaiset tarinat tai teemat nousevat biiseissä ylitse muiden?
-Suden unelle saakka aika pitkälti valtauskonnon yleinen kritisointi ja pakanoiden historiassa käymät taistelut tätä vastaan. Uudella levyllä olemme siirtyneet enemmän tarinapuolelle. Aiheina ovat myytit, uskomukset, kotiinpaluu...sellaiset kansallisromanttiset aiheet.

Moonsorrow on myös hyvin visuaalinen bändi. Skrymer Finntrollista on suunnitellut kansikuvan uuteen levyyn. Kuinka paljon bändi itse oli suunnittelemassa levynkansia?
-Annettiin löyhä konsepti siitä, mitä siinä voisi olla ja levy. Skrymer on helvetin lahjakas maalari ja kannesta tuli vähän sitä mitä ajateltiin, mutta tietysti Skrymerin oma visio ja parempi näin. Myös edellisen levyn kansikuvan alkuperäistaulun maalannutta herraa mietittiin. Suden unen kannessa olevan kuvan alkuperäisteoksen on maalannut mies nimeltä Hannu Suuronen. Hän oli luonut kuvan vain ajankulukseen töissä ollessaan. Me löydettiin kuva sattumalta ja pyydettiin saako sitä käyttää.

Kukas on Moonsorrown bändilogon takana, sehän on harvinaisen sovelias ja tyylikäs.
-Logo on Henrin käsialaa, vuosien saatossa sitä on paranneltu, aiemmin se on ollut...hmm, käyrä, vielä viime levylläkin, mutta nyt se on saatu korjailtua.

Bändin uudet promokuvat jatkavat taistelu- ja soturiteemaa. Pyrittekö te luomaan bändille vahvaa imagoa ja kuinka tärkeää on visuaalisuus Moonsorrowlle?
-Jos jotain alottaa niin paras tehdä loppuun asti kunnolla. Kuvat ovat kyllä vakuuttavia. Visuaalisuudella on aina oma merkityksensä, ensin tulee tottakai musa, mutta imago ja visuaalisuus tukee musaa. Ei tuo ole teeskentelyä. Ei me tosin yleensä kuljeta ympäriinsä verta naamallamme eikä meillä ole siviilissä sellaisia rautapaitojakaan sattuneesta syystä.

Visuaalisuus näkyy myös bändin teemaa jatkavista kotisivuista (moonsorrow.cjb.net). Kuinka paljon bändi on vaikuttanut sivuihinsa?
-Kotisivun tyyli lähti Henrin laatimasta framesta. Mä rakentelin sivut mielessäni ja meinasin jo ruveta koodiakin vääntämään, mutta sitten yksi ruotsalainen fani otti meihin yhteyttä ja pyysi saako tehdä meille epäviralliset kotisivut. Mä mietin noin kaksi sekuntia ja sanoin, että teepä viralliset.

Entäpä Moonsorrown fanit. Osaatko kuvitella millainen on ihminen, joka kuuntelee teidän musiikkianne? Bändin nettisivujen Pagan Forumissa ainakin käydään kiivasta keskustelua.
-Periaatteessa kuka tahansa metallin kuuntelija. Jos henkilön oma ajatusmaailma viittaa lähelle meidän musaa, jos henkilöllä on pakanallinen aatemaailma ja pitää mahtipontisesta nostatuksesta.

Sitten vielä loppuun Moonsorrown livesetistä. Onko tarkoitus kiertää Suomea enemmänkin nyt uuden levyn saavuttua?
-Ideanahan oli tehdä laajempaa kiertuetta. Nyt päästään niinkin pohjoiseen kuin Hämeenlinnaan asti. Meidän pitäs saada oma keikkamyyjä. Ei tule oikein mitään siitä, että itse soittelee keikkojen perään.

Onko bändinne enemmän live vai levybändi?
-Levystä saa irti kaiken ja liven on oltava parempi kuin levy. Ei ole mitään mieltä siinä, jos kuulostaa levyllä paremmalta kuin livenä tai sitten samalle.

Millainen on Moonsorrow livenä? Onko teillä erityinen viikinkishow vai kuinka?
-Ei meillä sen kummempaa showta ole. Tukat vaan heiluu ja soitetaan kovaa ja nopeasti.

Sehän riittääkin aivan mainiosti. Kiitokset Villelle haastatteluun vaivautumisesta. Toivottavasti itsekin saan todistaa pakanametallin voimaa viimeistään tulevan kesän festareilla.

Hanna Valjakka

The Metal Observer / September 2001

Link 1 - Link 2

Answered by Ville Sorvali

Of Strength, Honor, and Mead

During the past few years, Finland´s prolific metal scene has spawned a throng of talented young folk metal bands such as Finntroll, Turisas, Ensiferum, and Moonsorrow. Drawing influences from polka, humppa, and traditional Finnish music, this horde of trolls and pagan warriors has ravaged the land of a thousand lakes with notable success. Thus, it was an honor to interview Moonsorrow´s singer and basist, Ville Sorvali, on a sunny September afternoon.

Metal Observer: First of all Ville, could you give a brief account of Moonsorrows history?

Ville Sorvali: The band was formed in 1995 by Henri Sorvali (rhythm guitars and keyboards) and myself. We recorded the demo ”Metsä” (”Forest”) in 1997, which was followed by ”Tämä Ikuinen Talvi” (”This Winter Eternal”) in ´98. This one was caught up by Plasmatica Records. Baron Tarwonen (drums) joined us in ´99, and just last year our first full-length album ”Suden Uni” (”A Wolf´s Dream”) was released through Plasmatica. In addition to this, Mitja Harvilahti (lead and rhythm guitars) and Lord Euren (live keyboards) joined us during 2000. Also, a while ago we changed from Plasmatica to Spikefarm (led by the Thy Serpent-guru, Sami Tenetz). Our second album, ”Voimasta ja Kunniasta” (”Of Strength and Honor”) is due to be released on November 26th, 2001.

MO: Who is mainly responsibile for your music and lyrics? Or is it divided equally among the members of Moonsorrow?

VS: I guess Henri does most of the actual music, although I and the rest of the band try to contribute as much as possible. The lyrics, however, are mostly written by myself.

MO: Your music is extremely versatile. Which bands would you say to have influenced Moonsorrow´s style in a decisive manner?

VS: In the beginning it was Bathory, Enslaved, and Emperor. Nowadays it is difficult for the majority of our audience to distinguish other than the Bathory influences. All in all, it is fairly hard to point out all the bands that have inspired our music - there are many.

MO: Do the members of Moonsorrow participate in other projects or bands?

VS: Henkka plays in Finntroll, which might, at the moment, be considered Finland´s most prominent folk metal band. In addition to this, he and Marko participate in a band called Larharyhmä. Mitja plays in ”The Sinkage”, and I myself take part in ”May Withers”

MO: So, how are the recordings of your new album proceeding?

VS: The actual recording and mastering is already accomplished, so now it is but a matter of cover art and other minor details. The recording process was fairly swift and painless: we spent 10 busy days at Tico-Tico studios.

MO: How you would describe the musical landscape and style of ”Voimasta ja Kunniasta” as opposed to, say, ”Suden Uni”?

VS:First of all, the new record is going to be much better than the former one. Naturally, our music has experienced various improvements and developments. ”Voimasta ja Kunniasta” is going to be much darker and a whole lot more sinister than our earlier albums. It has, to a certain extent, some influences from progressive metal, although not too many. This might cause some fans to experience problems in unraveling the mysteries of the new album. The lyrics will pretty much continue the legacy of ”Suden Uni”. One might, however, find ”Voimasta ja Kunniasta” to be a bit more conceptual than it´s predecessor in terms of lyrics.

MO: Your thoughts on the current state of the Finnish metal scene?

VS: I think the scene is managing marvelously these days. A wave of folk metal, including the bands Turisas, Finntroll, Ensiferum, and ourselves, has swept over the country. Pagan metal is flourishing.

MO: Would you like to comment the business-oriented development that the local metal scene has underwent since it´s pioneer days?

VS: Quite honestly, I couldn´t care less. It doesn´t matter to me whether a band sells a hundred or 50000 records, as long as their music is original, thought-provoking, and good. Besides, the success of Nightwish and Children of Bodom, for example, continuously opens new possibilities to smaller bands in Finland. So a big thanks to them...

MO: When did you yourself discover the magic of metal?

VS: It all started in 1988, when my attention was captured by an Iron Maiden video aired on MTV, though I didn´t buy the bands widely hailed masterpiece: ”7th Son of a 7th Son” until having laid my hands upon Metallica´s ”Metallica” (otherwise known as the ”Black” album). A thing promptly led to another, and before long I found myself purchasing records of Emperor! So, thats a brief account of my personal history in heavy metal.

MO: Having thoroughly read Moonsorrow´s lyrics, it seems to me that your views on Christianity and the Christian church are a bit...negative...? True or false?

VS: I consider the church to be, and to have always been, a deterrent factor in Scandinavian life and culture. Suffice it to say that we could well manage without Christianity.

MO: Any upcoming gigs?

VS: Probably after the release of ”Voimasta ja Kunniasta”. The last one was in April, so it has certainly been a while...

MO: Which band(s) would you like to tour with?

VS: BATHORY!! More realistically, though, Einherjer or Thyrfing. It doesn't really matter what kind of music our fellow bands would play, as long as the spirit of unity remains seamless.

MO: Thanks for your time Ville. Is there anything you would like to say to our readers?

VS: Follow the voice of your pagan heart. And drink mead...lots of mead!

Urkraft magazine / May 2001

Link 1 - Link 2 - Link 3

May 8, 2001
w/ HENRI URPONPOIKA SORVALI
Conducted by Stefan Lejon

Start by giving us a short retrospect of MOONSORROW´s career so far.

[Henri] The story of Moonsorrow began in autumn 1995 when I and Ville decided to create a band singing about old times and heathenism in general, drawing musical inspiration from such creations as the first Enslaved mini LP or the first Ulver album. It didn´t take us long to record our first demo tape, "Thorns of Ice", which however was never released because half of the material was accidentally destroyed and we didn´t want to release a demo only with just an intro and one song. Then, the project was more or less laid on ice because of all the other stuff we had back then to do for a year, and after that we decided to do another demo called "Metsä" ("Forest"). Soon after it was released we also made a promo tape, but it never left our home stereo equipment for the public because of the terrible sound quality and maybe a bit too experimental vocals (imagine something like Attila trying to sing clean while suffering from a bad stomach-ache and diarrhea...). Then, in early 1998 we begun to record our last demo, "Tämä Ikuinen Talvi" ("This Winter Eternal") which took us nearly a year to finish because of numerous problems with the studio etc. It was the tape that gained us the record deal with Plasmatica, who a year later paid our little trip to Tico-Tico studio in Kemi, Finland, to record our debut album "Suden Uni" ("A Wolf´s Dream") which is now finally released.

"SUDEN UNI" is out now. How has the response been so far?

[Henri] The response has been very good indeed! Of course some people have complained the material to be a bit too "slow" or too "mid-tempo", but basically we don´t care for such complaints as we are very satisfied with the album by ourselves.. Most of the people I have been in conversation with have only given positive comments concerning the album. How has the media been responsing to the album I don´t know yet, ´cause it has been out only for a couple of weeks now.

Why did you decide to write and perform all your lyrics in Finnish? I read somewhere that since you sing about Finnish history, you think the lyrics should be in Finnish.

[Henri] The language of the lyrics is not so important, but the message is. However, when we started the band we wrote (for it was me who was responsible for the lyrics back then) all the lyrics in English. Then, when Ville started to make the lyrics he wanted to do them in our native language and I had nothing against it. Of course the Finnish lyrics help us to create more "heathenish" atmosphere and I think when Ville has stated the abovementioned comment he has been partially right, but when asking my opinion, I don´t think it´s so important to write Finnish lyrics just for the sake of the topics but for the whole image and atmosphere.

Have you considered singing in English?That would perhaps help you to spread the history of the Finnish people, and most importantly - your music...

[Henri] As I told before, we did have English lyrics in the beginning, but I don´t think we are going to use them in the future. It is pretty obvious that most of the listeners can´t understand a rat´s ass from the texts, but that is why we have on our album also included short stories of what the lyrics are all about. In the future we are going to include also direct translations of the lyrics to the booklet, so it will help foreign listeners to understand the whole package. But I honestly don´t think it will affect to the album sales whether the lyrics are in Finnish or in English as long as the music is good.

Tell us a bit more about the source of your lyrics. Where do you find inspiration for them? Are they all based on actual historical events or are some fictional? What are they about in general?

[Henri] The lyrics of Moonsorrow are inspired by paganism in general, be it historical events such as great battles against the crusaders, Nature, Gods or the "good old times" and everything related to the topic under Heathenism. As Ville is responsible for all of them I really ain´t the right person to tell about his inspirational sources, but I suppose he is inspired by occasional events being happened and different emotions.

You are obviously very inspired by Finnish folk music, but when all is said and done it´s still black metal we are talking about. So you must also be inspired by black metal. Any specific bands that have inspired you over the years?

[Henri] NonononoNOOOOO!!!!!!!! IT´S NOT BLACK METAL, FOR ODIN´S SAKE!!!!!!!! Why can´t people stop calling us and other pagan metal bands BM????? Black Metal is satanic, and we most certainly are not a satanic band. Well, I basically got your point, but you really can´t call Darkthrone Viking Metal either, can you?
The artists within BM-genre have of course inspired us during the years, but as none of us is not and has never been a die-hard-blackmetaller, the bands who have inspired us through the years are maybe Enslaved, Bathory (The best....no,the only band in the world!!!!), Bal-Sagoth, Einherjer, Ulver and zillions of others I don´t know. However, these were just the bands who have been affecting to our sound during the years in a way or another. The bands I listen to with great pleasure nowadays are e.g. well.... Bathory (ehh...), Cannibal Corpse, Black Sabbath, Marduk, Samael, Thyrfing, At the Gates, Autopsy, Black Widow, Pekka Pohjola, Frank Zappa, Garmarna, Pohjannaula, Annbjörg Lien, film scores (and other classical music) such as Braveheart or Conan (and everything by Danny Elfman), Slayer, Napalm Death and tons of others. Mostly 70´s Prog, Folk and Metal.

How has PLASMATICA been treating you so far? What do you think of the label?

[Henri] Plasmatica has been treating us very well, but veeeeery slooooowwwly. I think if they just got rid of their laziness it would be a promising label in the future. I sincerely hope the best for Carlos&co as our co-operation has now basically ended (we made the deal only for one album) and I´m sure they will succeed as a record label well in times to come.

What does future hold for MOONSORROW? Any plans for a tour? Are you writing new music, etc?

[Henri] New material has been written, yes, and some demo recordings of the new stuff has already been sent to certain people for a possible record deal. And we are the most definitely trying to get one before July because we have already booked the studio for the new album then. (You can never be too optimistic conserning the band,heh...) No tours are coming at the moment because we all are too busy with other things (job,education,other bands etc.) but we gig occasionally of course. The latest one we had was a Bathory tribute gig in Helsinki 13.4.2001. We played with Finntroll (my other band, go visit us at http://finntroll.darkgod.net), Gandalf and Hellbox (an awesome Venom cover band from Turku, Finland). And what comes to the gigs in general, we are maybe not the most active band in the world at booking any. Usually someone asks us to come to play and then we either go or we don´t go. It depends on many things, as always.

I heard that you also have a record company of you own. Could you perhaps tell us a bit more about that?

[Henri] Meat Hook Productions was created in 1995 just for fun ´cause we wanted a "pseudo-label" to publish our own demos. Later we expanded our activity from a demo tape publishing company to a distribution service and our very own Meathooked ´zine. (However, Meathooked had basically nothing strict to do with the label except for the likeness of the name.) We made two issues of the magazine and there are still some copies of both left, so if you are interested in quality interviews, irony and something else than your average toilet paper, don´t hesitate to contact us immediately. Anyway, the story of MHP is going to reach its end, as we have found out that there is only 24 hours in a day, heh. But we are now selling the last distro items pretty cheap, so once again, you know what to do if you are in need of demo tapes, 7-inches, ´zines etc.

Thank you for the interview and good luck with the album! Last words?

[Henri] Tack för den intervjun, det var mycket bra! Hoppas att vi kan komma till Sverige för att spela i framtiden. Supa, knulla och lyssna på METAL!!!!!!!!!! Och hälsningar till Tommy/Bloodshed, Patrik&Tumppi/Thyrfing och Micke och den jävla club Aggression!!!!!!

[Yeah, this is Swedish. - Grilo]

(Thanks for the interview, it was very good! Hope that we can come to Sweden and play in the future. Drink, fuck and listen to METAL!!!!! And regards to Tommy/Bloodshed, Patrik & Tumppi/Thyrfing and the fucking club Aggression!!!)

Sword zine / March 2001

Link

NOTE: As I was posting this, I noticed it is repeated. I'm not deleting it, just for the sake of completionism - enumerative at least. I guess we'll never know which magazine actually did it!

Answered by Henri Sorvali

Hi there!! Who will answer my question for this interview? Then please tell us the story about MOONSORROW since they were born until now!

[Henri] Hail! This is Henri Urponpoika Sorvali answering your questions. I am the guitarist/synth player of the Finnish pagan metal band called Moonsorrow. Behold! The origin of our band is beyond some years, a bit over five to be exact. It was in late ’95 when I wand Ville (bass/vocals) formed Moonsorrow to express our paganistic ideas and our love for metal music. We made our first demo ”Thorns Of Ice” in January 1996 but due to various reasons it was never released. Our next demo ”Metsä” was made in may 1997, and after that we made a 2-song promotape which turned out to be a complete disaster, so we necer released. The last demo ”Tämä Ikuinen Talvi” was created during 1997-1998 and finally released in 1/99. After we had sent it to a couple of record companies, Plasmatica Records offered us a deal which we accepted. So, we took a flight to the northern Finland to the Tico-Tico Studio and recorded our first album ”Suden Uni” which is out when you read this.

Tell us a little bit about the process of the making of this album!

[Henri] The first days went with recording the drums. Then the bass, a couple of days for the guitars and finally the keyboards etc. and vocals. We mixed the album in three days and thus it was completed.

Why do you choose Blackmetal style more than US blackmetal style. Where usually US black Metal bands prefer to choose US Brutal death style like SUFFOCATION, CANNIBAL CORPSE, etc. Please explain!!

[Henri] First of all, Moonsorrow has nothing to do with black metal. Anyway, I don’t know. I like brutal US death very much, but I don’t see it challenging enough. You know, just riffs and stuff. We try to be more artistic and music-oriented than just noisy. Besides, I have heard maybe five good North European brutal dm-bands in my whole life. I think it’s the climate, heh.

How many albums have you released?

[Henri] Just one, namely ”Suden Uni”. It’s on Plasmatica Records (Sweden) and is most likely out when you read this. 43 minutes of astonishing, epic and bombastic pagan art. In the name of the allfather, I recommend you all to buy it!

In music, which one is your priority, the song or the And what do you think about lyrics, political lyrics, porn lyrics, and social critism lyrics?

[Henri] The music, absolutely. I have never understood the idea of lyrics being the most important thing. For the latter part of your question; lyrics are... well... emphh... lyrics? Basically I don’t care ’bout the lyrics if the music is good but I do most likely think that they should fit the music. Like have you heard any satanic blues lately? Or how about raw, fast and furious black metal with lyrics about society and capitalism? I think you got my point. Anyway, a lyric is a lyric, whether the message is ”proper” or not.

Beside music, what is your activity? Are you sure you and your family can live just by playing music? Well, because in our country there are so many bands do not exist when their members get married.

[Henri] Luckily I don’t have any kids to feed yet. I can live by myself by music and my girlfriend who lives with me has a steady job. In the future, though, I must work harder to bring food to the household. But it is not a problem, because I do work with music anyway, you see, I am what one would call ”a professional”, so I already live by playing different styles of music in different places like weddings, clubs, studios etc. A bit like whoring around, heh.

What do you think about sex, drugs, and satanism? Do you often have sex? How often you have sex with your girl friends? Can you give her an orgasm? Suppose you were in the jungle and there were only you, your little sister and gorrila, and you needed to have sex, who would you rape???

[Henri] As I just told, I have a girlfriend. And she is the most wonderful thing I could ever imagine. And yes, I can give her many orgasms if you really wanted to know. About the jungle-scene, I wouldn’t rape anyone ’cause it’s the sickest and most unhonourable thing to do ever. But I would ”spank the monkey”... :)

Back to music, tell us about the events you have joined! And which live that really impressed your? After releasing your new album, what are your plan?

[Henri] We have only played live four times during half a year, but we’re really not a gigging band if you know what I mean. We’ve played only with Finnish bands like Diablerie, Ensiferum, Arthemesia, Cantata Sangui etc. And after releasing our album we’re gonna get fucking drunk!

Uuff... last question. Do you know something about black from Indonesia?? Thanks for your time Brother!! Now you can do what you want with this end of interview, go a head...!!

[Henri] Damn... I have heard of some Indonesian bm-bands but I can’t remember just now any names. Well, maybe later. Anyway, thank you very much for this interview and support. Stay metal!!!

Mirkwood / February 2001

Link

Answered by Henri and Ville Sorvali

First of all, let me congratulate you with the debut album. I was just astonished with the quality of your new material: perfect melodical parts with palpable influence of folk traditions - they don’t sound very often in such accurate performance! Could you describe the feelings which your creation arouses in you; are you satisfied with the final result?

[Henri] Thank you for the kind words! We are very satisfied with the result, although there could be some whining around because of the record company. But of course it has nothing to do with the music, which we, as I said, find very successful. And what comes to the feelings right now, I could say that the album is perfectly as good as it could have gotten back then, but I promise our next album will be even better! New stuff will be even more pompous, more folkish and 100% MOONSORROW!!!! We guarantee it will fucking kill!!!!!!!!

Probably, the only unpleasant moment with your new album is that awfully long waiting for its realization. I guess, it’s a fault of the label - Plasmatica Records. Why did you decide to deal with this new and not well-known label?

[Ville] Yes, it was very irritating to wait for the release of the album. Whether it was a fault of the label or not does not matter anymore, after all one should be able to expect these kind of setbacks when dealing with small labels. They just don’t have the money to push things their way with the desired pace. There were all kinds of troubles concerning the supposed release, all the way from simple communication obstacles to the last-minute fuck-ups with the manufacturing company (they had the masters idle for two months or so, so I guess we should question their working morals a bit too). Surely many people question afterwards why did we choose Plasmatica Records, but why shouldn’t we have signed the best contract we were offered? Working with new and not well-known labels usually isn’t that efficient - as we have learned - but there are always two sides to a coin if you think about it. On a small label every band has priority and there should be no questions about artistic freedom unlike on some bigger labels.

You also run not a large underground label Meat Hook Prods, on which first Moonsorrow demo-albums were released. So why did you decide to co-operate with another label? Is it lack of money, or some other reason?

[Ville] To cut it short, Meat Hook Productions is (was) just a d.i.y. demo label somewhat equal to a self-financing band and it could never have succeeded with an actual album release. It was quite natural to release our demos on MHP, but we always knew that we would need another party to finance our debut album if such was to be recorded. Certainly lack of money played a role in that, but also the fact that the promotional and distributional capabilities of Meat Hook Productions were badly limited. We didn’t ever have enough contacts, let alone any knowledge of the market, so if released on MHP our album would probably have sold some 400 copies. Also, there are only 24 hours to a day, so having to do all the promotion ourselves would’ve surely gnawed our efficiency as a performing band.

The sound quality of ”Suden Uni” pleasantly surprises. How did you manage to achieve such, let me say, crystal sharpness of sound? Did the previous experience you got while realizing your demos play the basic role in it?

[Henri] A huge credit goes absolutely to Ahti Kortelainen and his always so great Tico-Tico Studio, where we recorded the album. (And will also record the next one, which is scheduled to happen in July/2001.) We had a perfect vision of what our album should sound like when we went there, and Ahti managed to make it sound just like we wanted to and even better. Of course there is this very fact that everyone of us has had previous studio experiences (Moonsorrow is most certainly not the only band we have ever recorded something with), and it does help a lot when you can just tell the engineer what you want with clear ”studio-terms” and stuff like that, but on the final hand it’s all about the studio and the engineer.

Something unusual is present in the musical palette of Moonsorrow such untraditional instrument for black metal as accordion. Was it made for the sake of greater originality, or is using of accordion typical for Finnish folklore?

[Henri] The accordion (”Harmonikka, Haitari, Hanuri” etc. in Finnish), is a very typical Finnish folk music instrument besides of course violin, mouth harp, recorder and other more obvious instruments you can hear e.g. on our album. The reasons to include it to the songs were the very facts that a) it is an old folk music instrument which creates hell of a more folkish atmosphere when used as a substitute for e.g. a plain electric guitar melodyline, b) it sounds fucking great when blended with metal music and c) of course it sounds pretty original, doesn’t it?

I hear some statements that the Finnish language and metal music are incompetible. Personally, I don’t agree with such beliefs, because it won’t take long to find the proof of the opposite! How much does it mean for you to perform songs in your native language? Can I say that for pagan and black metal it’s more natural to use national languages?

[Ville] Who has told you that? I have never heard that Finnish language wouldn’t suit metal music, I have just heard that it won’t sell. Finnish is a very grim language and I in my opinion thus blessed for metal music, actually. I’m glad that you appreciate it at least. To me it’s important to be able to perform songs in my native language, because my expression is not bound to any language barriers then. I don’t force myself to write in Finnish, though; if some verses are to come out in English or Swedish, so shall it be. I only seek for the most natural way of creating lyrics. It just happens that when speaking of ”Finnish” matters the words usually come out in Finnish. I don’t know about black metal (the message is satanic and Satan, whosoever believeth in him, can handle all the languages of the world), but within paganistic contexts it is of course more natural to use national languages. The primordial feeling in the songs comes forth much stronger in an authentic tongue, and the linguistical honesty of the message is a bonus for those who actually understand the text.

You work hard in the underground - a band, a label, a ’zine... Do you have enough time and will to deal with all these projects?

[Ville] Enough will, yes, enough will for even more but not enough time. That’s why I’m burying Meat Hook Productions in the first place. I already have two bands and several projects, one ’zine of my own and another one I’m writing for and I think that’s enough. Not all of my life is in the underground anyway. Behind the curtains I still have my studies, my work, my unclassified hobbies and my lovely fiancée.

Meat Hook(ed). Your label and magazine have such name. The name seems quite strange to me and I think it would better go with some ”brutal deathsters”. Why did you make such choice?

[Henri] From where exactly have you actually got your information about Meat Hook Prod. NOT having anything to do with brutal deathsters??? We deal with Death, Black, Thrash, Grind and even freakin’ Ambient/Darkwave and that obviously includes brutal Death Metal as well as, say, industrial Blackthrash, my friend. Just order our ’zine and/or the catalogue and you’ll notice that yourself. MHP represents quality music, and although the name points more to a Death Metal direction we are not and we have never been into just only one style of metal which to publish. (However, I admit that it might not be a great - although pretty original, heh - idea to name a die-hard BM-label as ”Daffodils In Springtime Prod.”) For the namegame, I, for it was yours truly who chose the name back then in 1995, just preferred it to be more ”deathish”, partly because of my liking of brutal Death Metal and partly to step aside from the gray mass because of the millions of ohh so veeeeeery evil Forestwinterblasphemyravenlordpazuzu-styled DIY-labels or ’zines which were the unfortunate everyday of 99% of the scene back then. Besides, I have never been into that satan-thing, really. To sum this conversation up, a quality label is a quality label, be it’s name anything from Gory Gutfucking to Cold Mountains Of Axuzulghraaab, basically. Or has anyone ever given a flying wank of Hervé’s obvious fond of plant biology? After all, it’s METAL, for Odin’s sake!

Can we say now, that Moonsorrow has joined ”mainstream” (realization of cd & so on)? Or are these just trappings and you still keep to underground principles?

[Ville] What is the mainstream you’re talking about? I consider mainstream selling half a million albums and daily airplay, so really we are practically as far from the mainstream as we were in 1995 when we started. These days releasing a cd is almost a necessity if a band wants to be heard, and of course we want to be heard! We’re still firmly underground and that’s how it goes with metal music.

[Henri] I don’t get it. Do you consider Darkthrone to be a mainstream band just because they’ve done six (or something like that) cd’s? If a band records their music for releasing it on a cd, but it will in the long run sell only 50 copies, have they still became a ”mainstream” band? I basically understand your point and I respect your views, but I think it’s all about the band whether they leave their ug-principles behind when they step into the world of shining discs (which I find very arrogant and the most stupid thing to do). We, however, are always going to be an underground band, no matter if our albums sell 20 or 20000 copies.

The interest in ancient traditions - is it just your inner world, or does the pagan essence of your world-perception somehow influence your contacts with the exterior world? Does it require to be realized in ceremonies and magic arts?

[Henri] On this one I can only speak on my behalf. However, I find my personal religion and world perception being more like a mixture of the abovementioned things. Of course it comes from inside me, as I am what I think and how I view the world, but on the other hand it has a clear influence to the exterior world in common things like how I treat other people etc. I try to be guided by the nine virtues (courage, truth, honour, fidelity, self-discipline, hospitality, industriousness, self-reliance and perseverance), an old Nordic life-code, so to say, and try to live my life as I tend to think what is right. As for the rituals I have some own small things but I am not so keen to talk about it. They’re those little personal things that I’d like to keep just within me for no one to expose. Anyway, they have nothing to do with ceremonies and magic.

For me Finland is inseparatably connected with ”Kalevala” - a real masterpiece of traditional epic craft. Does the work of Moonsorrow base on the images and ideas of this epos?

[Ville] Ehh, that’s Amorphis you know. Although a fascinating epic, Kalevala is only a small fraction of what Finnish mythology has to offer, and that’s really not our job to rewrite traditional poetry anyway. The work of Moonsorrow is based on the ancient Finland and heathendom as a whole, and our lyrics are about whatever related subjects between the earth and the sky.

[Henri] And to make a small but markable notice, the Kalevala is actually a Karelian epic, and be it also the national epic of Finland, it doesn’t mean we can speak of ”Finnish mythology”, as there actually isn’t a definition for that kind of a term. The religious beliefs of ancient Finland were both of the Karelian mythology and the Asatru, of where we basically have taken our image from.

You got me interested by words that you have something to say about your political views. And here I give you a possibility to speak them out. Moreover, I would like you to do it as capital as you can, because this topic really involves me (sometimes even more than music - if it won’t sound paradoxically). What are the ways out from the moral and spiritual corruption of the modern society, as you see them?

[Ville] Yes, I’m a passive fanatic and I have a lot to say about my political views, but I’m quite uncertain whether anyone’s interested. What can I say? At first... yes, many so-called pagan metallers will be disappointed now, but I have nothing to do with any right-wing ideologies. I detest all kinds of fascism and I despise all proclaimers of that ”superior race” bullshit. As a heathen I’m naturally attracted to national romanticism, but if any people seriously think that would make me a nazi, that’s their stupidity not mine. I’m more of a socialist type (but huh, don’t mistake me for a communist either); I believe in democracy and a working social service system (which the politicians of Finland seem to have forsaken), I’d hope for more reasonable taxation and a more equal distribution of income and I would definitely reduce the power of the church to minimum. I’m also strongly anti-militaristic because the obligatory army system is completely inhuman and outdated, modern warfare has absolutely nothing to do with honest battling and wars are not the solution to global problems anyway but rather the opposite. Above all I support environmental policies, because nature is what we should preserve and not our disposable ”information society”. (However, at this point I would like to disassociate myself from the fanatic groundlessness of the lineless ”green party” of Finland.) We need information, grounded opinions, well-directed suggestions and action to save the environment, and if the only way of achieving it is to annihilate the mankind, so shall it be. But that’s it for the politics. The modern society is rotten to the core and we live among an unthinking, superficial and narrow-minded flock. A moral and spiritual corruption indeed. The only way out from this disgustingly real nightmare, as I see it, would be to educate people and help them open their ears to the voices of their heathen ancestors, but the real difficulty of the task is that these people really don’t want to hear that this paradise of all possibilities they’re living in is nothing but a technocratic prison. People actually believe that text messages, logos and dial tones are the salvation of mankind and that’s amusing... and really sad. We can just hope for something to awake them before it’s too late.

In my interviews I try to pay more attention to ideological basements of musical creative work (probably, this one looks like an exception, but I’m going to reach the goal in the future). And what interests you most, when you make interviews for Meathooked ’zine?

[Ville] I’d say that the music and the minds behind it interest me equally. As a (sort of a) musician I have an interest towards music itself, and while talking with other musicians it is natural to change a few opinions on the matter. On the other hand, I’m also interested in the minds that create the music and so I tend to lead the conversations to ideological fields later on. I don’t really care what do the artists think but I do care about the relevance of their arguments. What is the meaning of art without a thinking mind behind it anyway?

[Henri] When I start to think of whom to interview I always have certain principles. First of all, I really must like the interviewed band’s music (no shit, huh...) and mostly I try to pick a band who hasn’t been in every ’zine lately. (Like, what’s the point of contacting a band who gets tons of letters a day from all around the world and can’t really give a shit of going in-depth in the interviews or just has their faces in every fucking magazine around already, be it a Polish underground one or some goddamn Terrorizer?) Secondly, I try to pick a band whose image is something I find interesting. (As You have also seemed to understand, a good interview is something where the interviewee is asked to discuss of something else than answering to those always-so-exiting questions like ”Do you like your new album?” or ”Are you a Satanist”, and goes in-depth, having various of topics from music to everything else.) And of course if I have an option to have a chat with a guy who I admire for his musical (playing) skills, like Mr. Maudling from Bal-Sagoth, it is a great pleasure to me. But the most important thing to me when making an interview is to go as ”in-depth” as possible (without insulting the interviewee by stepping too much into his personal life, of course).

Because you often give interviews as a member of Moonsorrow, and on the contrary, ask questions for your own magazine, I’ve got an (maybe strange) offer: ask yourself a question on which you would like to answer, but which no one asks you in interviews. If you got such a question, so please go ahead!

[Ville] There are plenty of questions I would like to answer but I can’t.

In your musical work I feel an influence of Bathory (especially of the time of ”Hammerheart”). Am I right in this supposition and can we call these Swedish Vikings the inspirators of the musical development of Moonsorrow?

[Henri] Phew... what can I say? All of us are very fond of Bathory and especially the ”viking-albums” and I somehow proudly admit the influences from Quorthon’s works. But I do not think that we in any case copy the band. The new Moonsorrow-material will also have it’s influences from Bathory and besides, tell me one single Viking Metal band who doesn’t sound like them and I can point you a band who hasn’t done its homework. :)

My motherland Belarus comparatively recently got its independece, and I wonder if people from the west know anything about this small, but having a very rich ethnic-cultural heritage country.

[Henri] Yes... but as I am poisoned by the american filth + other crap media, the first thing that pops into my mind is the Fanta commercial that was on tv something like a year ago, where some Belarussian fellas were watching football and drinking soda. Well, actually I know some other things about your land, too. Let’s see... I am very aware of your rich cultural heritage, especially what comes to things like music, food and of course your infamous vodka, heheh. About the latest history of your country I know that you were a part of the Soviet Union/CCCP for some time, but now luckily have your own system, based on not-so-ultracommunistic rules, which I hope turns out to be more humane than the previous one you had (if not counting the latter times of Gorbatshov and glasnost, which I thought were a great improvement, at least when observing things through the eyes of the so-called ”western” citizen). And yeah, didn’t you guys fight against us during the 2nd WW? (And the first one too, actually.) Well, what the fuck. I didn’t fight there anyway.
.....LET THE PAGAN FLAME BURN AGAIN..........FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!

Diabolical zine / February 2001

Link

Answered by Ville Sorvali

Hii ville. Firstly, can you tell me about the SUDEN UNI?

[Ville] Well hello there. What can I tell you about ”Suden Uni”? It’s our debut album, recorded in February 2000 in Tico-Tico Studio and released a year later by Plasmatica Records. It consists of 6 epics of the most bombastic heathen metal with a folkish touch, counting up to a bit over 40 minutes of primaeval musical enjoyment. If bands like Bathory or Einherjer are close to your heart, do yourself a favour and check it out!

There are some differences between TAMA IKUINEN TALVI and SUDEN UNI also there are some differences in sound like the second and sixth song in SUDEN UNI. Is this a change?

[Ville] Yes, there is a difference between our last demo ”Tämä Ikuinen Talvi” and ”Suden Uni”. While ”Tämä Ikuinen Talvi” was more blackish and norse, with ”Suden Uni” we took a bold step towards a heavier sound and actually returned to the epic lines of our first official demo ”Metsä”. I still don’t think we’ve changed radically at all; as with all of our releases, we’re only getting closer to what we want it all to sound. Then, what comes to ”Suden Uni”, in my opinion there really aren’t any radical differences between the tracks. Of course they are all different (as all songs should be) but they all fit the same concept perfectly, I mean the Moonsorrow-sound is strongly present within all the songs. But soundwise there indeed is a slight difference between the sixth track (1065: Aika) and the rest of the tracks. That is just because ”1065” is the most epic of the tracks and thus demanded a more ”epic” sound. We only deepened the snare drum sound to achieve that, though, so the difference really isn’t that big.

Why did SUDEN UNI to publish from PLASMATICA RECORDS?

[Ville] After we had completed ”Tämä Ikuinen Talvi” (which was one hell of a process, by the way), we decided that it was the time for Moonsorrow to start searching for a label to release our debut album. We sent a bunch of demos all over the world and eventually got a few offers for a record deal. The offer of Plasmatica Records was the best of them, so we chose it.

Did you make this albume with Henri Sorvali?

[Ville] Yes, but after ”Tämä Ikuinen Talvi” we also got a third member in our line-up, namely Baron Tarwonen. The songs on the album were all composed by Henri with some assistance from me, the lyrics were written by me and the arrangements were done by the three of us. In the studio I played the bass, Henri played the guitars and the keyboards and Baron played the drums and percussives. There are also some parts with mouth harp and accordion which Henri played and some 12-string acoustic which Baron played. Of the vocals I did the shrieks, Henri sang the cleans and Baron backed us both. The choirs and handclaps were done by all of us with assistance from a few special guests. So obviously it’s not the two of us anymore, it’s more of a band now.

I dont know anything about your concerts. Can you tell me some?

[Ville] We have played four concerts so far, two in Helsinki and two in Turku. All of these gigs were done before the album was released, and so the audience perhaps didn’t get a proper picture of Moonsorrow because we played mostly songs that weren’t heard by anyone before. It’s hard to tell if we are a good live band, because I’m always on stage when we play and thus unable to observe, but we’ll keep testing that and play as many gigs as possible in the near future.

Whats the meaning of your song 1065 AIKA, is this date means something special?

[Ville] 1065 is the year that is written to the annuals of history as the end of the viking reign. That song is but a tribute to the northmen, also a sad story dealing with the demise of all heathen cultures within the current area of the christian rule. Most of our ancestors were not vikings anyway but their fate was the same, so I decided to use vikings as the symbol just because they might be the most well-known heathen culture in the christian era.

What are the plans of your firm MEAT HOOK PROD. for this year?

[Ville] The only plan of this year and the last plan ever is to close down the whole thing. Time and money don’t allow me to continue with it anymore, as unfortunate as it might be.

There are lots of bands from different countries like NEW ZELLAND, MALTA, COLOMBIA in MEAT HOOK PROD. Are you choosing them or are they coming yo you?

[Ville] The bands from those ”exotic” countries are only in our distribution, they are not what we have released. In our team we have (had) only Finnish bands and one Russian solo-artist. Naturally I am choosing what to distribute, but most of the bands in our distribution have first got in touch with me and not vice versa.

Is CRYPT your project band? What about the SOLAR TOMB is it Henri Sorvali's?

[Ville] Yep, Crypt is one of my projects. It was a serious band at first, but it broke down in 1994 and in 1996 two of us just got together to record a demo so that our material wouldn’t be totally forgotten. Solar Tomb is again one of Henri’s projects, actually it is a side-creation of his other project Lunar Womb.

Whats the meaning of SUDEN UNI?

[Ville] ”Suden Uni” is Finnish for ”a wolf’s dream”. What’s the meaning of it, that’s up to you.

The guestions are over, do you want to say something else?

[Ville] I don’t know if there’s anything I would especially want to say, but thanks for the interview anyway! Keep the flame of heathendom burning inside your heart!!!