Rauta / September 2021

SOURCE

 

"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."

 

4-Sept-2021

 

Metal Sound / August 2016

 

 

LINK

 

 

MOONSORROW The Return

Marko Miranovic / August 31, 2016

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.

• Interview by Marko Miranovic, August 2016

 

bleeding4metal.de / January 2007

 

 

SOURCE

 

Interview mit Marko Tarvonen von Moonsorrow
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!

 

Marko on Barren Earth for Obscuro.cz / August 2018

 This is not Moonsorrow but it is Marko and this is my fucking blog and I post whatever I want okay??

 

SOURCE

 

“We want to keep it alive” – Interview with Marko Tarvonen/Barren Earth

0

By Ms Cesar Little on 1.8.2018 English, Finský koutek, Interview, Nummirock

Barren Earth @Nummirock

Marko Tarvonen (photo: Ms Cesar Little)

There have been quite some changes in Barren Earth lately either within the band line up or affecting the band dynamics. When there was never a doubt that Kreator would limit Sami’s [Yli-Sirniö, guitar] availability for Barren Earth the question arose how Oppu’s [Olli-Pekka Laine, bass] return to Amorphis would affect the band. And then of course already the tour with Insomnium and Wolfheart back in January 2017 brought more new faces on stage as for example due to Marko’s child being born not long before so his family had priority. So how are things right now with Barren Earth?

Meeting Marko Tarvonen was not exactly planned during Nummirock and even less the way it turned out to be in the end. But I met him along with all the other musicians and crew members from Moonsorrow, Rytmihäiriö and Barren Earth when arriving at Nummirock and saying ‘hello’ I took my opportunity to ask Marko if he would join my drummers’ series. Of course he would! When we met it took quite some time before we finally spoke of drumming. Very obviously Barren Earth matters a lot to him and he was eager to tell me about his perspective on my favourite band. I hardly spoke at all.

Without any specific question Marko says: “I don’t know what’s gonna happen to that band. We don’t want to quit it. We want to keep it alive somewhere there.” And he is happy to add that Barren Earth are invited to play at a very big US American festival in 2019. It will be the first time the band returns to the USA since the tour with three other Finnish metal bands back in 2011. “We have been a bit unlucky with tours and of course our daily schedules didn’t let us play more shows”, and he adds in a considerate and summarizing tone in his voice: “Yeah, that’s what it is.”

Jón Aldará, Oppu [Olli-Pekka Laine] (photo: Ms Cesar Little)

As I mention that Barren Earth is my favourite band Marko replies: “Yeah, we really like the new album very much.  Really, really succeeded in what we were looking for. A little bit different sound this time and with some new members in the band like Antti [Myylynen] on the keyboards.” I noticed earlier how much the older band members appreciate Antti in anyway. “He brought some different sound to what Kasper used to do. A bit more modern and updated keyboard sounds whereas Kasper [Mårtenson, keyboards] – he was more into these 70s sounds with Hammond organ and moods and stuff which is not a bad idea either. I love both sounds and players.”

The atmosphere between Kasper and his former band mates is apparently still very trustful and close. He attended their release gig some months back in Helsinki for the “A Complex of Cages” album. Marko speaks very highly and appreciative of Kasper and tells me about his current occupation and how much he loves this. “You have to do what you love”, he ends.

I word my somewhat floating thoughts that in my perspective it seems like Antti and Jón [Aldará, vocals] only sped up the musical evolution that was heading for the same direction anyway but slower before they entered the band. Marko confirms: “They both put a lot of effort for this band. You don’t really need to give them guidance what to do, especially Jón. He writes everything on his own. He writes his own lyrics and vocal melodies and arrangements. We don’t need to guide him whereas Mikko [Kotamäki, vocals] was pretty much ‘Here are the lyrics and the parts and sing like this.’ Then he did. He wasn’t really doing a lot stuff by his own. Anyway.”

Janne Pertillä (photo: Ms Cesar Little)

He continues: “Sometimes this whole thing with Barren earth has been a bit frustrating because nothing happens for a long, long period. Nothing happens, then an occasional show here and there. So you need to activate the whole system again, start from the beginning with the rehearsing. When like five or six years ago we were more like daily practising. But now we gave up the rehearsal place and everything. I don’t know. It’s kind of bad in a way. You don’t get easily active when you don’t have a room for rehearsals and gathering together.”

I mention that I noticed some differences between the two release shows and that they impressively well managed some technical difficulties. “I think we had three or four rehearsals before the first show, only. Yeah. I think the first show wasn’t really good. I think we had much tension and the Tampere show was more relaxed with all the fuck ups and everything. It was more the core and it came out very naturally.”

Marko Tarvonen (photo: Ms Cesar Little)

Marko just goes on: “It’s a shame, I could have done a few more shows in a row. Now when you are in that mood again and you are prepared and then all of a sudden it ended again. That’s what I mean. It’s a bit frustrating. Once you’re going into that mood and then they take it all of a sudden away from you.”

I am aware of the challenges the schedules of the many bands they’re active in mean for touring with Barren Earth. I found Kimmo [Korhonen, guitar] and Timo [Ahlström, guitar] (and Eero [Wuokko, drums], of course) very good stand-ins. “Time. But would rather do the gigs with our own line up.”

But if the question is touring or not at all? “Even Oppu told us when he joined Amorphis: ‘Look guys, you can do Barren Earth’ – even without him.”

During the January tour 2017 already I was thinking that Oppu is the one person that could not be replaced by whatever amazing stand-in and so a more than surprised “Really??? I cannot imagine Barren Earth playing without him. Not at all”, forces itself out of my mouth. Marko agrees entirely: “Yeah because he is primus motor in that band. Kind of the guy who formed the band and kept things going. And yeah he wrote the major share of the new songs. It would feel a bit weird to play without him. I wouldn’t do it that way but let’s see. We may have to do that at this American festival next year because we don’t know if Amorphis has something going on. He has to be there. He has some contract with them to do two years. He has taken that leave, yeah from his day job for two years. For two years then he is going back. He works for our government, house of Parliament as an IT assistant for parliamentary people. I am happy for him. He was yearning to play tours and music. So I am really happy. I told him: ‘Look mate, do it. Do it! Go there!”

Jón Aldará (photo: Ms Cesar Little)

“He has nothing to lose with only pausing his day job”, I say. “Yeah now when he is still under 50 years.” I ask him not to make us feel even older than we are already with a frown. “Maybe he cannot do that anymore when you’re 55 or 60. I’ve been considering my future as metal drummer because it’s a very physical job to do especially Moonsorrow with singing a lot.”

And so we’re drifting into the actual topic of our appointment which is another story for another occasion. I had met Jón the night before attending the show of Septicflesh. He told me with a frown and a good deal of irony that they felt honoured to have such a popular warm-up gig for Barren Earth the next night: Saxon. The show Barren Earth played that very night was unique. The setting was extremely atmospheric underlining impressively the music. It was rainy and thereby quite dark considering the midsummer brightness. The wind from the lake added perfectly blowing the stage fog in thick clouds and soon off. Jón has remarkably progressed literally from show to show, never mind if I saw him with Hamferð or Barren Earth. But this Nummirock gig was the most expressive and intensive show he delivered I have ever seen of him. Yes guys, please, keep this alive!

Nordic Metal / February 2020

LINK TO THE WHOLE ARTICLE with report, photos, videos and whatnot.

My Global Mind / January 2017

SOURCE



Interview with Moonsorrow at 70000 Tons Of Metal — The World’s Biggest Heavy Metal Cruise

Posted on February 17, 2017

Interviewed and Photos by Zenae D. Zukowski



Zenae: My name is Zenae and I’m here on behalf of MyGlobalMind, and I am speaking with?

Mitja: Hello my name is Mitja, I play guitar in Moonsorrow.

Zenae: I saw your performance last night, it was amazing, one of my favorites from the first day.

Mitja: It was an amazing response from the crowd. We weren’t expecting anything because you never know how it’s going to be. It was a full room and everything was great.

Zenae: What is your drink of choice from this cruise?

Mitja: Let’s see.. well, it’s very hard to drink beer on a Caribbean Cruise. You need some cocktails [laugh]. So, I think I’ll pick Mojito or White Russian.

Zenae: I Love White Russians.

Mitja: Yeah.

Zenae: Which bands would you like to see?

2017_02_02_Moonsorrow_70000TonsOfMetal-7 Interview with Moonsorrow at 70000 Tons Of Metal — The World’s Biggest Heavy Metal CruiseMitja: I already saw Suffocation. I would like to see Uli Jon Roth and Grave, Marduk guys I saw yesterday and some friends like Amorphis and such. Those would be my highlights at the moment.

Zenae: Awesome. Have you been receiving great feedback from the crowd with the new material (Jumalten aika)?

Mitja: Oh yeah, very positive. Hardly any negative ones, but yeah mostly the album has been taken very well.

Zenae: It was an incredible album, one of my favorites from 2016.

Mitja: Thanks, we worked really hard for this album, harder than ever. It’s great to hear that people are really into it.

Zenae: Was the writing process different than previous albums or?

Mitja: I think it’s always different for us. This time we tried new methods of arranging for example, and that took a long long time. So, in the past, we might record more straightforward. And this time we were having bits of pieces and trying them in the different order and so long so it took a long long time. But in the end, we worked very hard and we got it together but at some point, it felt frustrating and the process was the longest we ever had. We had a good material, but just to find the right spirit and the essence of music, that’s what’s the most important and difficult as well.

Zenae: Is there a favorite song from the new album (Jumalten aika) that you like to play live?

Mitja: Yeah, personally I like to play “Ruttolehto” (“Ruttolehto incl. Päivättömän Päivän Kansa” ), the second song. It has so many elements we don’t have that much. Usually, it involves Jonne (Jonne Järvelä) from Korpiklaani to sing those dramatic parts and we don’t have him on board so we can’t do it. We did a couple of tours with them, so he would come to the stage every time to sing his parts. And it was amazing to see people actually crying in these parts because it gets so emotional in a way.

Zenae: Would you guys return for another combined tour in North America?

2017_02_02_Moonsorrow_70000TonsOfMetal-8 Interview with Moonsorrow at 70000 Tons Of Metal — The World’s Biggest Heavy Metal CruiseMitja: We have done many times [laugh]. Yeah, naturally, but the last tour it was in 2012 with them and then 2010, I guess or 9. We’ve been touring quite a lot together. They’re great touring companions because we are on the same level. All though the music is very different but it’s so smooth because you know them so well.

Zenae: I can see that you guys working well together with the two different energies.

Mitja: Yeah on and off stage, it’s great and very good, I think. Some people think it’s strange that, because they’re very traditional folk metal kind of, quite happy music, but we’re on this other side of the coin in a way.

Zenae: Yeah [laugh]. They cheer us up before we get really depressed [laugh]. Do you have a favorite Moonsorrow album?

Mitja: Ah, No! I cannot say so. I also don’t have a least favorite. But I’m pretty happy with all of them. They represent different times and different era of our songwriting but I wouldn’t change a thing. I don’t listen to our albums at all because when it’s finished you kinda leave it aside and move on but. If I would have to say a favorite it’s either the new one (Jumalten aika) or Verisäkeet because those are the most important right now to me.

Zenae: The new one is very dramatic.

Mitja: Yeah.

Zenae: I relate to it being one of my favorites as well.

Mitja: Cool

Zenae: What advice do you have for the young starting out musicians?

Mitja: Well, what advice which is not the easiest one to accomplish is to find your own voice because every band starts with copying other bands. For example, we still do, we still copy other bands in a way of having kinda tributes and influences, that’s natural and that’s good. But to find your own voice, trying to think okay what makes us this band that’s important, that something that you should think and finds a new angle on stuff. If you want to be a brutal band it’s difficult to find kinda cliff that makes you stand out from other bands. And that’s the most important thing you need to do. Whatever the genre is you need to find your own recipe on how to stand out and...

Zenae: Be original?

Mitja: Yeah, be original and have self-criticism. But still, have fun with whatever you’re doing. Don’t be narrow-minded. None of the bands that are very influential, they’re never narrow-minded. They never just went in a formula of something. They always had something from outside that works in the mix so they became something different. So, when you keep that in mind then it might help.

Zenae: I think that’s really good advice. You do hear a lot of bands that want to sound like someone else instead of trying to be original. It doesn’t help them stand out from the crowd. You guys definitely stand out producing incredible work.

Mitja: Thank You!

Folk-Metal.nl / June 2019

Source

Our reporter Assia, flew to Denmark for Udgårdsfest 2019.
Besides the beautiful festival itself and many great acts, she had the pleasure to interview Ville from Moonsorrow.

Metalpresse / April 2018

Rauta / May 2018

Metal Sound / April 2018

SOURCE





Well, I have to admit that I am following Moonsorrow since their birth, actually since they’ve released their debut album. As the years passed by I found that I more and more liked their style, since it has become rawer, with more black metal influences. When Verisakeet (2005) was released I was pleasantly surprised and still this record echoed in my mind as the best offering from these Finns, but anyway also they later records were indeed great. Jumalten Aika, their latest offering, was issued two years ago, but we haven’t opportunity to cover the album with an interview so I used the chance to meet with Henri Sorvali (at their show)  and to have one interview.



How are you satisfied with this tour so far? Where were the best shows?

Yes, I’m really satisfied. The tour has been really great so far. It makes me happy to see hundreds of people every night. The music we make is not happy, and it makes me happy that people like it (laugh).

About your latest record, it’s been two years now, how are you satisfied with the reactions and would you change anything?

Honestly, I’m totally satisfied with the album. I wouldn’t change a note, anywhere. Many people took the album as their own, they really like it. A lot of them also said that this is our best album. I couldn’t be happier. I don’t even know how much is sold, but I don’t really care. I only care if the people like it.

Could you compare it to any of the previous albums? There are some musical links.

Yes, actually, there is a lot of it. But we didn’t want to do something over and over again so we turned it into completely opposite way. We tried to do something more evil. But it’s still the music that we like and we want to play. We are folk metal band, but a lot darker, like dark folk metal not the „na na na“ stuff. I think primordial is also a folk metal band as well. They have a lot of inspiration from their home country and their traditional music.

What can you tell us about the lyrical stuff and the concept of the cover artwork? What would you like to express?

We wanted to make an album that covers the ancient myths, but instead of retelling them to make our own interpretations of them like, stories based on stories. I try to go a lot deeper to kind of find out what were the people thinking a thousand years ago and see what made them to make this stories. They didn’t have science, they had to explain everything. Every religion before Christianity had a thunder God, because that was something that you couldn’t explain. Now we know all of that, but back then they had to invent the Gods.

And your album from 2011 Varjoina kuljemme kuolleiden maassa was actually not inspired by fantasy, if I’m correct, it’s a post-apocalyptic story. What can you tell us about that album?

Yes, it’s a concept album. An album before that was already about the end of the world, so we wanted to place this one in the time after the end of the world like, what’s gonna happen when all of the people died and we only have a few people left. It’s a pure science fiction.



If I’m correct, during this period, you have recorded vocals in the woods?

Ah yes, we had a small cabin in the woods in Finland. I can’t tell you the location because it’s secret (laugh). Two previous albums are also done there, and also this one. It’s the perfect atmosphere because you can go there, only you, the record producer and Mitja with his video camera. It’s a very small group, and we do this thing together in the middle of the woods when there’s nothing around. You’d have to drive tens of kilometers to the nearest place.

When it comes to Moonsorrow, you have released 7 full -length albums in last 16 years. Can you tell us something more about how you look upon this records right now? What are the most important ones? Also there was a big pause between the last two albums so, could you tell us something about that too?

We released our second album in the same time Finntroll released their second album, and I think those two albums are the most important in folk metal. But those are the albums that I like the least, from both our and Finntroll production, but I think they are the most popular.

How do you choose your songs for the shows, since your songs are a bit longer?

Yeah, that’s always the problem when we play live, for example tonight, we’re gonna play 6 songs, and that’s 75 minutes. Doing the set-list is always very hard because when you play one song, you need to have everything around it to play that song, you can just play random 6 songs, you need to make a story. It’s like mathematics. You can create a set-list that’s 65 minutes, but that’s way too short, or 80, which is way too long.

You have filmed one video clip in Belgrade actually, how are you satisfied with it and would you like to continue making videos with Moonsorrow since this is the very first video?

Absolutely, I would do stuff with them again if I had a chance. Great people, so professional, so friendly. They we’re driving me around in free time, showing me Belgrade.

Are there any plans for the next record or have you already started making songs?

We actually just started talking about that, like a couple of weeks ago. I don’t know yet but there might be something happening. But one thing’s for sure, the next album will always be different from the previous.

You’re in Century Media for two years now, how are you satisfied with that relation and could you compare it to any previous labels?

I don’t have to lie, I really like them. When we had the meeting with them, their artist in relations at the time, he was signing us, and he told me that he was following the band from the very beginning, like, since the demo times. And I was like, wow, this is the right label for us.

What is your message to all your fans in the world that you would like to send to them?

I would really want to see all of those people at least once in my life like, we need to play in those places where we haven’t played before, like Serbia for example. We want to play everywhere because, in every corner of the world, you can find someone that likes our music, and those people deserve to see us live.

• Henri Sorvali
• Interview by Marko Miranovic

Impact Metal Channel / April 2018

23 · IV · 2018
Barba Negra Club, Budapest, Hungary

Necromancer's Crypt / September 2017 (Lunar Womb)

SOURCE


Hi Henri,
This interview is a retrospective discussion with one of the pioneers of the DS genre or Hernri Sovali (instrumentalist, sound engineer, composer producer and a member of Moonsorrow and Finntroll, he has been working in the game industry as musician since 2004.
I must say that I run into your music exploring the network with the intent of expanding my DS music culture. The Lunar Wombs are one of the groups that not only hit me but also gave me the feeling of the group that puts a solid stylistic brick in the genre.

Thank you! When we (as Lunar Womb was first a collaboration between three people) started the project in 1994 we were mostly inspired by bands such as Tangerine Dream and Burzum. When the other people left the project after the first demo I wanted to bring more of my other influences to the project, namely the folk- and middle- age- elements combined with the ritualistic and meditative approach of the first demo.

There weren´t many bands of the genre at the time in the “Dungeon Synth”- scene albeit from Mortiis and the sporadic Norwegian offshoots (Wongraven, Neptune Towers, etc) , but I was heavily into projects such as Endvra, Puissance, Elend and Pazuzu which were a huge source of inspiration to me among classical, medieval and folk music in general. I guess that all molded Lunar Womb´s sound what it was to become before going much more folky and melodic in the last demo.

Ok then,
the Lunar Womb project was born in 1995 but only in 2015 it has been resurrected and remastered, in your bandcamp there is written that resembling it gave you the impression that it was dated , but I had the impression  that did not but that is only good music ...

It took me longer than I expected to finish “The Sleeping Green” and when I finally had got the last mixes ready in 2001 or so, I already felt the project sounding a bit too “outdated”, and our cassette label which was supposed to release it was already laid to rest a couple of years before. I was also quite busy with both Moonsorrow and Finntroll and decided to leave the album unreleased “until I think otherwise”.

Fast- forwarding to 2015, I accidentally stumbled across the original recordings again and thought that underneath the bad sound is still beating a strong vision which should be dug out. And that I should give the album it´s last rites, remaster it for good and let it rest eternally. After all, I had put very much effort and soul to it and I felt it still contained the same spirit that was burning (and still is) inside me years ago.
As we had now things like Bandcamp, Youtube and many others and I knew I wasn´t going to need any publisher anymore, I spent several full days decluttering the sound, restoring lost dynamics and fixing horrible engineering mistakes I had foolishly done fifteen years ago until I knew I couldn´t make it any better.

What has convinced you to remasterize "The Sleeping Green" and above all you can talk about your great musical passion that you have ? Can be considered a great relief even at a psychological level?

  <a href="http://worldoftrollhorn.bandcamp.com/album/the-sleeping-green">The Sleeping Green by Lunar Womb</a>


First of all I thought the album should be finally released to the public due to the abovementioned things in the previous answer, but as I had greatly improved in my technical skills during the years I thought I could also take it as a “technical challenge”. My passion for music that awakens feelings and paints pictures unseen is very deep, and as I had conjured everything from my mind back then I also hoped to evoke such visions within the listener´s mind.
I wanted the music to take me somewhere I felt I belonged, and I wanted to show people where that place was. In that sense, it was also a relief to finally show the possible listeners the map there. If the listener finds the same imageries, landscapes and long lost ages that I did, I feel I have succeeded on my humble task.

Does your job at Rovio Entertainment (if you still work with that company) have a lot of influence on your musician's creativity or is it the reverse?

It´s a double- edged sword, really. I have been working as a composer in the games industry since 2004 but I have always had some spare time to waste at work than after joining the Angry Birds, which is much more demanding job. I have worked there since 2013, and while I have become much more professional composer and music producer during the time, it also has sometimes negatively effected my workflow for what it comes to more “spiritual” compositional outbursts on my spare time due to exhaustion. (which also could be explained that during this time I have also started a small freelance mixing service and got two more kids, hah!) 
While doing music at Rovio, I find it very important to still make music which contains something else than just notes in certain order, which is sometimes consuming, as we´re speaking of creative work being done on constant schedules. However, I feel like working in such professional atmosphere feeds my creativity at the same time and pushes me to try different new things and techniques which I wouldn´t even dream of 4-5 years ago. And while I do that, I try to make sure there´s never a moment I couldn´t put a lot of my own touch to everything- for example, on the last soundtrack I made, I included influences from Burzum and Danzig to the package, haha!

Does music in the video game world have something special that can not be transmitted in the same way in DS ?

Absolutely not, if you ask me. There´s a lot video game music hugely resemblant to DS genre, and in fact I´ve been saying for years that some day I´ll write a lenghty essay on the topic pointing out parallels between the two musical forms, haha! To tear it down a bit, both genres are heavily drawing from the ambient genre, are basically existing to evoke feelings and tend to be repetitive and hypnotic on their roots- not so far away from early electronic and ambient music. And New Age too, if you prefer, which is just basically a (poor) spiritual attempt on both.

On the other hand, if we´re taking game music´s most known examples- be it either hanszimmeresque corny movie soundtrack style (CoD, I´m looking at you) or the classic 8/16- bit stuff, I can understand why comparisons to the feelings the DS genre may evoke within the listeners which game music cannot are rather justified. There is a lot of game music which can transmit the same sort of emotions a DS album can at it´s best, and I´d strongly suggest you to check out soundtracks from such classic games as “Myst”, “Diablo II”, “The Dig” and “Fallout II” to get a glimpse of game music in more DS/ dark ambient style, and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons which combines the same elements Lunar Womb´s “Sleeping Green” is full of- only ten times better!

To be honest, I think it´s a shame that the mainstream game music in the 2010´s doesn´t necessarily bring forth such a strong atmosphere it used to do 10-15 years ago due to hollywoodizing/ “playing it safe”- reasons, but if you wander to the more indie side of things, there´s a lot of good things happening on the musical side which you could enjoy. Then again, isn´t this the case with everything, heh?

I do not really like video games and/or various fantasy stories etc. But...
Do you believe that the video games audience has a different, (I would say more superficial, approach) to the music ? or there are sensitive ears between game players that listen with  passion the music that accompanies the game itself?

I pity the fool who cannot surrender to the immersive grasp of fantasy world- after all, that´s what the whole DS genre is all about! ;)  What our societies have forgotten during the constant growth in both technology and efficiency is the art of storytelling and spirituality. Our roots are torn apart and replaced with fast food, homogenic cultures, reality TV and Cosmopolitan. Fantasy literature, movies and games are all part of the same revival as is the DS- genre: not only pure entertainment per se, but a clear indicator that the western society- no matter how well it works otherwise- has forgotten it´s own roots.

For some, it starts from Game of Thrones and for some the glimpse is revealed by a role- playing game while someone wants to understand Deathspell Omega´s lyrics better. But this all is a clear indicator that our world is lacking the depth it once had, and every day more and more people are starting to realize this. Our job as musicians is to take part of that call and strengthen the signal when it´s needed.

When you think about the music used in these forms of art, I believe it´s very much dependant on the game genre, though. It´s really hard to believe someone fully embracing any spirituality or superficiality in Mick Gordon´s (par excellent, mind you) Doom 2016 soundtrack, but am most certain that the more (medieval) fantasy- based the game is, the more it draws in certain types of people who are also much more sensitive to the music than, say, people who are more into Counter- Strike.
 

What do you think about the current development of the DS scene?
Is there any group you like in a particular way?

My knowledge of this lately- resurrected scene is rather minimal at the moment, though I am extremely pleased on the revival of these soundscapes. It seems that the Americans are mostly to be thanked for this, as I haven´t really been exposed on any European people doing this particular style lately...and with lately I mean the last 15 years, haha! For what it comes to any particular groups, Druadan Forest (though having been around since the 90´s), has made an awesome new DS- album which I had the opportunity to master at my studio just recently. It should be out on Werewolf Records soon, and I highly recommend to check it out when it´s released!

The biggest challenge in the whole DS- genre revival in my opinion comes from the fact that as these soundscapes were originally a product of the 90´s, it´s very hard to get the same hardware and sound over 20 years later. Nowadays you can get almost any instrument sampled digitally, but the more common late 80’s/ early 90’s hardware synths from Roland, Korg and Ensoniq are completely deglected as there is no demand for their cheap digital sounds which were popular back then. They aren´t too good to be “retro” but not too good to be useful either for most of the people, thus they are not available in various sample formats for now. But maybe times change in the future?

The computer and sample- based production of the 2010´s has surely brought us a lot of opportunities to use same sort of sounds digitally, but if they were used the exact same way that they were done in the 90´s, the sound would also be dull, outdated and quite poor. It is certainly pure art to balance the old and the new together in a way that is still respectful to the genre, yet with the worst technical flaws defeated.
And we also need to consider the fact that these original soundscapes weren´t necessarily the best of the best at the time- usually they were cheap digital synths with very synthetic- sounding imitations of real instruments and I´m certain the artists would had used more realistic- sounding and generally better- quality sounds if they had the opportunity to do it. Had the scene evolved and continued, who knows how the original concept of e.g. Mortiis would had sounded with today´s technology!


If the Lunar Womb project was continued as you think it would have evolved?

I believe it would had become something very Wardruna- like, yet not as warlike and ritualistic. Immersive soundscapes combined with traditional instruments, samples of nature and a ton of choirs. But definitely more into the dreamy and spiritual side of the bone, though. Lunar Womb was (is?) always about a lonely and long journey instead of a horde of barbarians chanting war hymns....Not that there´s anything wrong with that either, hah!

Are you satisfied with the re-issue of Lunar Womb  “Planets / The Astral Grief” by the Hollow Myths label?

I wasn´t planning to release the re- issue at all and it took quite a many persuading emails from them to finally get my acceptance on the matter. I was willing to do it in the end because I heard there were so many people asking for it in CD form and I wanted to give them the chance to get the music on CD instead of a random Youtube- link which they didn´t want. We have agreed that the initial amount will be 100 pieces and no more shall be printed ever again.

Are you also into techno music?

Among many other music styles- absolutely yes, and if counting ambient out of the context, my particular favourite subgenre is Goa Trance (and some Psytrance). It has the same element in common than in many other music genres I enjoy, which is meditative and hypnotic, slowly evolving minimalism. On top of that it´s also very atmospheric for what it comes to the production and has usually very widely utilized stereo image which drowns you to the soundscapes, resembling a lot of genres from ambient to even black metal.


The artwork from Rudolf Koivuof  of“The Sleeping Green ” is great … Are there other artists and illustrators whom you particularly like their work?

This couldn´t be an interview about 90´s Dungeon Synth without mentioning Theodor Kittelsen and John Bauer, haha! Especially Bauer´s work on Trolls has been a huge influence for me throughout the times. But for Finnish painters more than just Rudolf Koivu, I need definitely to mention Akseli Gallen- Kallela and Hugo Simberg as well. Especially Gallen- Kallela´s works have been heavily utilized in the Finnish metal scene since the 90´s in various demos, magazines and flyers. For what it comes to (painted) art in general, I have obviously always tended to be more drawn into the national- romantic era and find many particularly inspiring pieces from there despite of the identity of the artist.

Recently some musicians are rediscovering the sounds of the old synths of the 90s, of course technologies allow all this, according to you in this genre of music, how important is the atmosphere and the sound, compared to the musical ideas that are actually written?


As mentioned earlier, the technological possibilities of recreating the exact sound of a particular era has been around for some time already, and it may be a tempting idea for a young composer to pick up a sound and start mimicking. But with great power comes indeed a great responsibility, and without first understanding the form of art we are trying to create it is impossible to create nothing a but a bland shadow of it.

When you are creating something completely new or perhaps combining two things together (isn´t the early DS basically just “medieval ambient”, if you think about it?) for the first time, there are basically no rules. But if you´re trying to stay true to an original musical artform, be it anything from classical music to death metal, you need to first have an understanding of the basic characteristics of the genre. A skilled musician can arrange and produce any song into another style with stunning (and sometimes very amusing) results, but without first understanding what he is doing it´s impossible to convince anyone, leaving but a sour taste in mouth afterwards.

Be it any musical genre, both musical and production values are very important, and usually the more “strictly defined” the genre´s characteristical sound is, the more pinned down those values are.

 

Hollywood Metal / May 2016 (Lunar Womb)

SOURCE

Unearthed Arcana: Henri Sorvali and Forgotten Dungeon Synth

Kaptain Carbon

There are a billion things I could have asked Henri Sorvali. His work in Moonsorrow and Fintroll is usually a start but so is his work in video game composition or his enthusiasm for gaming. Additionally, I could have asked him about his role in the H&M clothing troll which overtook metal media a few years back. There are a billion things I want to ask Mr. Sorvali but since we has so few moments together, I might as well concetrate mostly on his dungeon synth project. I mean, would you expect anything less from me?
As reported in the last Dungeon Synth Digest, Lunar Womb was a dark ambient / medieval project created by Henri Sorvali and a few associates in the late 90’s. The project was never completed and sat on hard drives collecting digital dust. However, this year it was completed and released to a new generation which found an appreciation for the sound. The Sleeping Green not only represents a seminal project finally completed, but also an unsuspecting artifact of dungeon synth history in which the creator was surprised to learn that many people not only knew about, but were eager to celebrate. Henri was kind enough to make his way to our small hamlet and over pipes and cups of ale we were able to discuss music from ages past and dungeons of today.

---

You no longer play live with Moonsorrow. Was that a decision made because of your commitment to other projects?

Not just because of that. My personal life and other music- related timesinks are keeping me extremely busy, but as I have written in my blog in August 2015, the decision was not only due to commitments to other projects but mostly because of my mental health. I have been suffering from depression since the late 90´s and touring makes it uncontrollable in a way that I have had to step out from those activities. If you´re interested to read more about the matter and my decisions leading to the situation, surf into here.

I initially reached out to you regarding Lunar Womb which was an electronic/ambient/synth project began in 1995. Who was involved with this project?

It all started with me, my cousin Ville and our mutual friend Kharadrai back in 1994, all of us being fans of ambient and electronic music. After releasing our (horrible) first cassette demo, “Planets”, we decided to split up, everyone concentrating on their own styles as we were all having a different ideas how to evolve. While Ville never continued his visions, Kharadrai made some very succesful and oppressing- sounding industrial/ ambient demos in the late 90´s and I continued with Lunar Womb alone until 1999. The second demo I made alone in 1997 wasn’t particularly very good due to a complete lack of equipment, but with Sleeping Green I had finally got a proper synth with proper sounds to materialize my visions the way I wanted to.

Your material from this project was made in the late 90’s but got archived until last year. What was your reaction when unearthing this project?

Going through my backups in early 2015, I stumbled upon the tracks, wondering if they still sound as outdated as I remembered. For my surprise, I realized that with a proper re- mastering these could actually be interesting to listen to….at least for myself, so I decided to give it a chance. I still find the vocals quite horrible and for what it comes to the production it´s definitely not matching the standards of today, but underneath the clumsiness there´s clearly an idea about what I was trying to achieve. If nothing else, I consider it as an important part of my musical history combined with my ideologies. I wasn´t planning to publish those, but when discussing about the tracks with comrade Velkaarn from Asmodian Coven- website, he insisted me to do so, so here we are over 15 years later, haha!

The sounds and melodies on The Sleeping Green are a combination of both work in the late 90’s but also finished and polished more recently. Was it easier to work on Lunar Womb with the recent technology as oppose to the late 90’s?

To correct the assumptions a bit, nothing has been re- recorded or musically modified from the original tracks. Everything you hear is recorded and mixed in 1999! The only thing done again was the mastering, which is basically the “last polishing” of the sound. It took me several weeks and countless hours to restore the music into a state it was possible to master again, and I doubt it could had never been done 15 years ago in a way it was done now- undoing a lot of earlier mistakes in the sound processing (e.g. stereo image overwidened into a phase cancellation, artificially too boosted hi and low frequencies) and trying to get some of the dynamics back with careful automation hell.

Could you give us some insight into the world of dark synth music made by metal musicians in the late 90’s? Were you aware of things like Burzum, Depressive Silence, Mortiis, and what seems like a bevy of musicians making dark synthscapes?

I first stumbled into Burzum´s synth pieces in 1994 but the real breakthrough for myself was Mortiis´ “Keiser av den Dimensjon Ukjent” a year later. I used to (and still do) listen to Cold Meat Industry- released albums as well, ranging from Aghast to Mortho(u)nd to Arcana and back and a lot of “real” ambient artists such as Steve Roach and Brian Eno, but the more medieval and national-romantic fantasy- themed style was definitely my cup of tea and that seemed to be also the case for many other metal musicians.
At some point in ´96/97 the “ambient side project”- thing got really popular, as every second black metal musician was announcing his new upcoming Casio project to be the most dark/ atmospheric/ conanthebarbarian around and there were countless of bad releases to try to avoid. Many of them were quickly forgotten, but some became gems that are still standing against time in their own uniqueness and feeling, of which a great example is the superb “Fjelltronen” of Wongraven, a.k.a Satyr. I find many parallels between ambient/ synth music and 2nd wave of black metal, both relying often on hypnotic soundscapes and otherworldy atmospheric layers of sonic mass- and many bands have already included those similar synth elements to their albums in a form of intros and interludes since the dawn of that 2nd wave of black metal. And as the metal audience is generally more keen into fantasy pop culture and even classical national- romantic themes than e.g. dubstep or reggae audience, it´s easy to see why the seemingly very different- sounding music has found a place in their hearts as well.

What was your reaction when you learned about the recent development in dungeon synth and a whole new generation of people following the paths made by solo musicians in the 90s? Did you ever think it would be a thing in 2016?

You know that warm, fuzzy feeling when you thought you had lost something dear, finding it again years later? That! But it´s not only nostalgia- tinted glasses, as I really love that sound. What really made me glad was that while the technical limitations are not hindering the productions like they used to do, the music I encountered was still made with a great respect to the genre´s original sound combined with the more modern possibilities. And for many things I could had predicted from the metal (and related) scene, I have to admit that the return of DUNGEON SYNTH wasn´t on that list, haha!

Have you had any recent favorite dungeon synth albums or artists?

As the whole re- movement of the genre was flying completely under the radar for me, I only have catched a small part of the new artists as we speak. From your blog, Faery Ring was really catching my attention, though!

Aside from Moonsorrow and Finntroll as well as being a music producer for Rovio Entertainment, you have recently opened up a mixing / Mastering operation called Trollhouse Audio. Who is the audience for this service?

More extreme black and death metal bands and projects who are interested on getting a proper, yet nasty and organic sound for their products- be it mixing, mastering or even both! The more evil the source material, the better, heh! I opened the service “unofficially” in April 2016 and have recently worked with a couple of Finnish black metal projects, and right now I´m mixing a full- length album of currently unannounced band to be released later this year.
I´m also very experienced on mixing on synth/ ambient/ neoclassical music, so if anyone reading this becomes interested, don´t hesitate to catch me on Twitter @trollhornmusic– I´m not that expensive, as it´s more of a very dear side- project for me among everything else, haha!

Do you have anymore freetime left? Do you like to pass that little bit you have with games or books? If so what has been keeping your interest lately?

Being a father of three kids, the concept of “free time” is rather unknown term for me, haha! While I´m not taking care of the more mundane things such as de- infecting a moldy woodshed or picking up small people from kindergarten after work, I still have some time for myself every now and then. Most of that I either spend in my studio room, playing computer games, writing and drawing while listening to music, building and modding computers and reading either about music production, philosophy/ psychology or fantasy literature. I do spend a lot of time in the nature in contrary to all the tech surrounding me, but I always take my family with me.
Just like every gamer who is a parent, I have a ton of unplayed or unfinished games in my shelf and on my Steam and GoG- accounts. Lately I´ve been playing..uh, a certain “older” version of World of Warcraft, Heroes of Might and Magic III, Day of the Tentacle remaster, Psychonauts and Hearthstone. I tend also to play with my kids as much as possible, and we just finished Curse of Monkey Island with my son, who thought it was the best game ever, heh!

Let us say I am starting a new longterm campaign for a tabletop RPG. Could be D&D, Pathfinder, or any other system and you are playing in my game. What type of character are you making. What should I expect during our games? Are you our fighter or are you casting spells in the back?

I´ve always been drawn more into the caster types. Basic swordfighting is so boring that I at least need to be a thief then, haha! For (A)D&D, I´d probably settle for a chaotic neutral Illusionist. Being a bit unstable, I´d love to do the unpredictable and amuse myself in expense of practicality. Not to mention the certain “unrelialibity” as a party member as well- a kind of D&D- version of good old Loke, if you prefer mythology, haha! Last time we played D&D, we used pre- defined sheets and I ended up getting a lawful good human mage. Yuck! It was so boring to be in character I started drinking heavily IRL and demanded my character to be an alcoholic so I could tweak my own gameplay even a bit more interesting.

I ask this to every dungeon synth creator but seeing how Lunar Womb just came out with a record, it would be natural for that entity to tour. What are your thoughts on a festival with this type of music. Could you see an interest in having a festival of all ambient synths?

There are a lot of festivals already dedicated to music which isn´t necessarily loud and overhyped, and I could easily see e.g. a stage or a tent dedicated to this type of music only in Wave Gothic Treffen or M´era Luna Festival. Ambient music festivals are existing, but for a festival solely dedicated to this subgenre, it would be quite hard to find bigger names every year to draw interest, as the scene is so small.
But who knows? Maybe some day there will be Dark Dungeons Open Air in a nice southern German field with live action roleplaying and mazes built from inflatable stone walls to solve and go through? Damn, the more I think it, someone has to do this!!!!

Vice / March 2015 (Strong Scene Productions)

SOURCE

We Spoke to the Guy Who Tricked the World Into Thinking That H&M Were Selling Neo-Nazi Metal T-Shirts

Henri Sorvali helped create an ingenious fake campaign poking fun at how metal subcultures are mass marketed.

So, the last 24 hours have been fucking weird. When I woke up this morning, it looked as though everyone's favorite source of cheap belts, H&M, had been sussed out for creating online profiles for a load of fake metal bands, peppered with the occasional bit of neo-nazi imagary, all in the interest of flogging some t-shirts.

In a news story that originally appeared on Metal Injection, and has since been reported by Fact, Complex and innumerable other sites, H&M had come under fire for potentially unleashing "one of the more ill-advised marketing campaigns in recent history."

They reported that H&M are currently selling a series of t-shirts with the logos of what appeared to be obscure metal bands on. However when you looked up the bands, they could all be traced back to a collective called Strong Scene Productions. If you visit their Facebook page, you do indeed see the band names from the shirts (MORTUS, MOTMROS, LANY, MYSTIC TRIANGLE et al) littered everywhere, alongside gig posters ($250-300 for an underground one day festival), biographies ("The purpose of Mortus is to serve the almighty Sathanas and spread the black semen of the holy goat onto all lands") and artwork that features a goth'd up version of the models featured above. But all of this was created en masse within the last week.

Metal Injection reported that some of these invented bands had ties with the National Socalist Black Metal scene—that is, to put it bluntly, raving neo-nazis. So, if this was all a marketing ploy by H&M, then somebody really, really fucked it. However, given that this time last year, H&M were forced to withdraw a line of vests featuring the Star of David with a skull in the middle following accusations of anti-semitism, the idea that someone from marketing sacked off the research aspect of their job once again didn't seem all that unlikely. Even so, something about it all didn't quite add up.
In now turns out, H&M had absolutely nothing to do with the making of these bands whatsoever. It was all a giant parody by those behind Strong Scene Productions who are, essentially, genuine metal fans who took one look at H&M's most recent “metal-inspired” items of clothing—complete with fake bands and patches that work from a brief of “generic heavy metal imagery”—and thought, "I'm done with high street chains badly commodifying my music." They decided to play a deep and brilliant joke on H&M, by actually creating the "bands," making them really right wing and then spreading them across the internet for the world to join the dots.

Henri Sorvali of Finnish metal band Moonsorrow/Finntroll is one of the people behind the idea. So, I got in touch to chat with him about the marvellous media shitstorm he helped create for one of the world's biggest retail outlets.

(Some very legit artwork for a totally real band, taken from Strong Scene Productions' Facebook page)

Noisey: OK real talk, Henri—do any of the bands on Strong Scene Productions actually exist?
Henri: No. Every single band was created on the basis of the patches in the H&M spring collection clothes.

Is this a backlash against the commodification of metal by mainstream retailers?
Partially, yes. But we also wanted to point out the fact that you cannot commercialize a subculture without actually knowing all the different aspects of it. Knowledge on your product is essential in marketing, and Strong Scene supports self-awareness and education for everyone on the matter. And no, I also haven't been hired for a job by H&M either, which the wildest rumors claimed!

This all seems like a lot of effort just to troll H&M. So the real question is, why bother?
The purpose of the group (consisting of literally tens of people from different areas of music and media around Scandinavia) was to create discussion on the fact that metal culture is more than just "cool" looking logos on fashionable clothes, and has many more aesthetic and ideological aspects in different subgenres than what some corporations are trying to express. The metal scene is varied, controversial and a sort of a wolf you can't chain into a leash and expect it to behave on your terms like a dog. Strong Scene as a collective has absolutely no political nor ideological intentions, and is only bringing the conversation to the level it should be discussed at. Think of us as the one-time "Yes Men" of metal music.

You're in a metal band yourself—Finntroll. Any connection between the subject matter on the albums (battling trolls etc) and the online trolling we see today?
While this would be a rather clever place to actually drum for Finntroll´s media publicity, this has nothing to do with that. You call this trolling, we call it cultural jamming. And Finntroll just kicks out the jams in other things!

Thanks Henri!

HeavyMusic.ru / March 2017

SOURCE

  It’s been a year since the release of “Jumalten Aika”, and Heavymusic team came back to Helsinki for having a chat with the guys from Moonsorrow again. The secrets of promo photos, old Finnish traditions, the end of the world and more — have a read our exclusive interview!
          
        

          
          So how was the tour going for you?
          
          Ville: Excellent!
          
          Mitja: Yeah, very good! It’s nice to tour in Finland as we didn’t do a proper Finnish tour, just played some festivals, and then we started touring in Europe when the album [Jumalten Aika] was released, so finally we’ve been touring a little bit more in Finland.
          
          Have you received any kind of special treatment from the homeland fans? Is there any difference in mentality?
          
          Ville: I don’t know if it’s different, it was just really good. We got a very good response from the audience, maybe it’s because we don’t do this so often they don’t get tired…
          
          Or they just miss you so much because you usually play in other countries!
          
          Ville: I don’t know why actually.
          
          We’re sitting here like we did almost a year ago. The same place, nearly the same time…
          
          Mitja: Right!
          
          …but at that time we didn’t have a chance to look at “Jumalten Aika” booklet. Now after taking a closer look we can say that your promo pictures have definitely caught our attention. Can you tell us about its making process?
          
          Ville: It was Markus’s idea. He wanted to do this maybe because he doesn’t like us that much *laughs* He wants us to suffer. It was really painful to do. In a way it was fun. How did we do it?
          
          Mitja: We were in theatre with some kind of a pool of mud and dirt.
          
          So you were in a closed space, not outside, right?
          
          Mitja: Yeah, we were indoors.
          
          Ville: We weren’t really at the graveyard or anything.
          
          *everybody laughs*
          
          Mitja: It was fucking cold at that time of the year, so being outside and trying to dig ground for the hole big enough for the guys…
          
          Markus doesn’t dislike you that much!
          
          *everybody laughs*
          
          

          
          How did you feel with all that ground in your hair and even in your mouth?
          
          Ville: Dirty.
          
          Was it tasty?
          
          *everybody laughs*
          
          Ville: I was the one who had the dirt in my mouth, so I can tell you it wasn’t especially tasty. I wouldn’t use that word to describe it.
          
          You wouldn’t repeat that, right?
          
          Ville: No, probably not.
          
          *At that point Mitja shows us a photo of Markus lying on the ground in the pool half-naked*
          
          Mitja: So there’s Markus.
          
          He is trying to be so stoic…
          
          Ville: He doesn’t have to try to be stoic.
          
          Well, let’s move to the next question. Using of folk melodies has always been a strong feature of your music. Do you in some way rearrange any old Finnish melodies or do you write your own stuff?
          
          Ville: We’d like to think that all those melodies are originals, and that we’ve come up with them. Of course, there’s only a certain number of ways how you can combine these a few notes that are used in traditional Scandinavian music, so every melody sounds a bit like the next melody in a way, but we don’t use melodies that are known as traditional or anything. We try to come up with the new ones.
          
          The new ones sound like the old ones, and it’s really good! Ok, now I want to ask you about phenomenon which can be called “blood memory”. It means a special state of mind when you suddenly feel like traveling back in time and looking on the world with your ancestors’ eyes. Have you ever experienced such a feeling and if yes, what was the reason for it?
          
          Mitja: A good question. I don’t think I have. I tried to, but I don’t think it really happened to me. Although many times I try to depict in my head how things were before and so on, but I haven’t had any experience like this.
          
          Sometimes when you’re listening to music, you can imagine all this stuff they sing about and sometimes it just happens…
          
          Mitja: Well, when I usually listen to the music I see some kind of landscapes and colors but nothing very concrete.
          
          Ville: When I was writing the lyrics, I really tried to see the world with my ancestors’ eyes, but of course it’s a bit difficult, because the surroundings are totally different. Those people didn’t use to live in the cities, for example. They didn’t have running water or electricity or anything.
          
          How about escaping to the forest?
          
          Ville: I was doing some inner research in forests and Arctic areas, but that’s a different story.
          
          Ok, it will be the question for the next interview! Do you have any favorite Finnish traditions or customs?
          
          Ville: Drinking.
          
          Mitja: Customs?..
          
          *At that point our interview is interrupted with a loud “Whee!” from Marko who is riding an equipment trolley driven by one of the technicians. They say “Oh, you’re having an interview! Sorry!” and zoom off. Everybody laughs*
          
          Mitja: I would say… Just fishing *laughs* It’s not really a tradition, but…
          
          Ville: It’s not really a tradition, because it was crucial for quite many people’s living back in those days. You had to fish to get something to eat. Nowadays it’s just a hobby, because other people fish for us, we just go to the supermarket and buy that fish, and it’s actually pretty sad.
          
          The nature has always had a great influence on your music, if not to say the greatest. What do you think modern people should learn from the nature?
          
          Ville: Respect.
          
          Mitja: Yeah. Respect and I think it would be good to anybody to go in the woods by yourself completely alone and stay for a couple of nights with yourself and nature. It teaches you a lot about yourself usually.
          
          Ville: And I think people should definitely understand that even though we have all these big cities, we have these supermarkets that stock the food for us, we have smartphones and everything, we still totally and mostly depend on the nature. All these parts that are used in the smartphones *nods in the direction of smartphones recording the interview* come from the nature originally. So we’re just kind of visitors here. If we fuck up the planet, the planet doesn’t care, I think, but then we fuck up ourselves. People should really understand that before it’s too late. It’s not supposed to be a lecture or anything but that’s what just came up to my mind.
          
          You have developed two concepts of the end of the world on your albums. It will die in the fire or plunge into eternal cold according to “Hävitetty” and “Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleden Maassa” respectively. In your opinion, what will be the real end of the word?
          
          Ville: Stupidity. There are lots of possible scenarios, I don’t think if it’s actually gonna happen but… It’s not gonna happen during my life, I hope. People will eventually reeducate themselves.
          
          Mitja: Yeah, people are lucky enough to live until they do, but I think some asteroid will destroy our planet before we can do it.
          
          So it can be better for us than dying from our own hands…
          
          Mitja: I don’t know if it’s good for anything but... I hope it’s gonna happen soon, maybe tomorrow.
          
          Ville: It would be good for the other life forms on this planet, if we get rid of ourselves, but I’m not gonna get rid of myself, I don’t need that. Some things have gone a bit out of hand.
          
          

          
          Can you guys compare yourself with any kind of nature phenomena?
          
          Mitja: What do you mean?
          
          Anything like rain, storm, snow, Northern lights… maybe rainbow?
          
          Mitja: *laughs* Ok, we’re rainbows…
          
          Ville: I would like to be a stone. They are quite cool. They don’t really disturb anyone.
          
          Yeah, just lying on the ground…
          
          Mitja: Growing some mold…
          
          *everybody laughs*
          
          Ville: Unless there’s a landslide. Then they disturb quite a lot.
          
          Mitja, what about you? Rainbow was your first answer…
          
          Mitja: No-no-no…
          
          Ville: A unicorn.
          
          Mitja: Yeah, a unicorn. *laughs* No, I would say… mist.
          
          Nowadays many people think it’s important to have a warrior spirit. With regard to all events which are happening in the world what’s your opinion about that and do you consider yourself as warriors?
          
          Ville: No.
          
          Mitja: Not really. You need to have some stamina to go through everyday life, but I don’t value people who are over-aggressive and take whatever they want.
          
          Well, it’s maybe about defending their own interests and even overcoming yourself every day, doing something you don’t like to, but you have to…
          
          Mitja: Yeah, when you need to take stuff in your hands then of course, not just physically but in general. But I value wisdom more than being just a fighter.
          
          Ville: I think that’s one of the most important features of human kind that we actually have, if we want to. We have the ability to coexist and make compromises that benefit everyone. In theory.
          
          This year marks a centenary of Finnish independence. In order to commemorate this event one web-site called musicfinland.fi has made a special playlist which includes one hundred songs of different Finnish artists who has made bright and lasting international impression. Unfortunately, no Moonsorrow songs were included…
          
          Ville: I haven’t checked the list.
          
          …so if you could choose one song to be in this list, which song would it be?
          
          Ville: That’s a very good question.
          
          Mitja: I would choose “Tulimyrsky”.
          
          Ville: Yeah, because it’s the longest.
          
          The next question might be a tricky one, but we want you to be honest. Does Moonsorrow give you enough space for artistic expression, or do you sometimes feel the need to bring your material to any side projects?
          
          Ville: So far it has for me. I don’t really feel a need to do something else. I might do something else now and then just for fun, but I don’t think Moonsorrow limits my artistic expression.
          
          Mitja: Yeah, we all write all kinds of material and every material has its place somewhere, not maybe in Moonsorrow, but we want to write some Lakupaavi [punk/grindcore side project including the members of Moonsorrow] stuff definitely not under Moonsorrow’s name.
          
          Well, it must be continued!
          
          Ville: But no one knows when.
          
          Mitja: Time is also limited. I find it extremely difficult to find the time for other projects, and when I do, it’s always battle against time schedules and stuff.
          
          What kind of projects do you do?
          
          Mitja: Well, I have an old band called Shadow Cut, and we tried to make some new songs but... it’s impossible to find time for it. I have some ideas for other projects, but it never happens because nobody finds time.
          
          Do you at least have any volunteers to help you with this or do you do everything by yourself?
          
          Mitja: Yeas, it’s always with other people. I am not good enough with the computers to make music by myself, it’so slow. After seeing how Henri [Sorwali, the mastermind of Moonsorrow] works and how he can by hands play just drum kit in one minute, and then all the instruments in few minutes, while I’m still trying to struggle with the kick drum, not even be able to make a complete drum feel for one song.
          
          So no majesty of Burzum or Falkenbach for you?
          
          Mitja: *laughs* No.
          
          And now we have two special questions. The first is for you, Ville. Which part of being a musician excites you the most: playing the instrument, writing the lyrics or doing the vocals?
          
          Ville: All of those, really. I’m in a very different mood in all those different aspects. When I play the show, I’m in the mood for playing the show, when I do vocals in the studio, I’m in that mood... I enjoy all of that in a very different way, I can even compare it, I’m really sorry.
          
          The second question goes for you, Mitja. According to some pictures, which have been made during the shootings of “The Home Of The Wind” documentary, one of your hobbies is sailing. Can you tell us more about it?
          
          Ville: And sinking ships…
          
          *everybody laughs*
          
          Mitja: Yeah, I own a really old wooden boat with a friend of mine. It’s great to have it during the summer because Helsinki and the archipelago around us are really beautiful, and just in a few minutes you’re in a completely different environment. The ocean is a very interesting element for me, it’s quite scary and beautiful and all things at the same time.
          
          Ville: And the constant threat of drowning…
          
          Mitja: Yeah, it’s always there.
          
          Ville: It really puts you in perspective. Man versus the nature.
          
          Mitja: In my case it’s usually man versus the engine.
          
          *everybody laughs*
          
          Is it that old?
          
          Mitja: Yes. It’s from 60s and the engine looks like… it needs a lot of maintenance this summer, or I’m really gonna drown.
          
          Well, retro style is quite popular nowadays.
          
          MItja: Yeah, they don’t do boats like this anymore.
          
          Ville: I wonder why…
          
          Mitja: I too wonder why, because…
          
          Ville: It’s a nice boat.
          
          Mitja: Yeah, it has spirit. When it’s old and made of wood, it’s so much better to sleep and better to look at compared to fiberglass boats.
          
          We have mentioned the making of your documentary. What is its current state, have the shootings already been finished?
          
          Ville: Yeah, the main guy behind it has just mentioned that now he’s finally finished with all the material. Let’s see!
          
          Mitja: Yeah, it’s in the editing phase right now. He shot the previous week, they came to Tampere to shoot some material, and I’m delivering them some old footage as well, so they started to edit it. I guess they’ve edited some parts already.
          
          Great news! Can’t wait to see the result!
          
          Ville: Me neither.
          
          And which part of the shootings you liked best?
          
          Ville: I only did a couple of interviews so I gave a lot of background information but I wasn’t filmed during that. Interviews and all of that were really nice, they had good questions, and obviously they made a good background work. It was really nice to work with people who know what they are doing and know what band they are dealing with.
          
          Mitja: It feels sometimes like they know the band better than we do.
          
          Because probably you’ve already forgotten some things.
          
          Mitja: Yeah, yeah.
          
          That’s the fan’s nature, I guess, to know everything and even more…
          
          Mitja: But it was strange when every time they asked me to talk about paganism, it always started raining. We had a session on an island, and just when I was starting to answer their questions it started pouring down like hell. The next day we went on a hill and when I was just about to start again, it started to rain.
          
          So you aren’t the mist, you’re the rain!
          
          Mitja: Yeah, right.
          
          Or maybe you have some secret knowledge which is not meant to be shared…
          
          Ville: Or it’s so crappy it shouldn’t be shared.
          
          And now here’s our last question for today. What is the most peculiar thing you can’t live without while being on tour?
          
          Ville: Hmm, let me think… *after a long pause* I don’t have any esoteric artefacts in my bunk in the bus…
          
          Mitja: I do.
          
          Ville: I just have my music I listen to, that’s it. I don’t even have books. I have one book on this tour, but I’ve already read it before the tour, so I just lent it to other people.
          
          What was the book?
          
          Ville: It was a very short book about an American tour from the prospective of a roadie. It was really short and I actually read it. I bought it for the tour, but I actually read before the tour.
          
          Mitja: Well, I don’t really need many things. It happened to me once when all my possessions were stolen from the bus, with all my clothes and stuff. I did have my wallet and phone in my pockets, but everything else I lost. As long as somebody provides you with drinks and food, then I’ll be fine. It was horrible to be in the US without clothes, because when we arrived to Hollywood my clothes looked horrible. It was so dirty after two weeks of touring, and I thought “Ok, I’m gonna go and buy some new stuff from H&M”, but they were closed. It was Sunday or just the late hours, and the only shop that was opened was Armani shop…
          
          Ville: Yeah, in Hollywood.
          
          As long as you have a good credit card you’re fine.
          
          Mitja: I’ve bought Armani sweater and shirts and stuff, and it cost like hell. It was like a completely different person when I came back to them.
          
          I bet you made a lot of fun on him!
          
          Ville: He doesn’t really have to dress up differently for us to make fun on him…
          
          So that’s it! Thanks for the answers and have a good show tonight!
          
          
          Questions: Olga Degteva, Maria Meledyakhina