### Moonsorrow: Tulimyrsky

#### 28/04/08 || Euthanatos

Moonsorrow is one of the best bands of the world. Is that clear? Good, as long as we’re clear on that. Another thing that has to be clarified right now. This is NOT, I repeat, NOT Moonsorrow’s new album. No, although it has a half-hour long new song, it isn’t the new album, it’s just an EP. Okay, I think we’re good to go.

“Tulimyrsky” is the title-track to this EP, and it is glorious. It has everything and then some that one would expect from Moonsorrow, all the ambient, progressive, black metal, folk, everything, it just has everything. It starts out with a spoken word in what I’m supposing is Finnish, with just a mellow violin making a sweet melody. At the 4 minute mark, the black metal session begins, crude, cruel, raw and fearsome. The rasp vocals, aggressive, yet understandable assault us for 3+ minutes, until, although the metal continues, the gentler sounds of Moonsorrow’s folkish part take over. At about 13 minutes in, everything metal is set aside to jolly folk dancing music, with flutes and the whole shebang. Naturally, this will all lead to chaos and mayhem later on, to finish things off with another spoken word and a melody of indescribable beauty. For the title-track alone, this EP would be worth your bucks.

But, wait, there’s even more goodies! There’s also a cover for Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls”. Although the Metallica horse has been beaten to death, that song is undeniably awesome, so I expected something cool from Moonsorrow. Alas, it’s pretty meh. I could have lived my life without it, for sure. There are also two ancient, ancient demo songs re-recorded, “Taistelu Pohjolasta” and “Hvergelmir”, which sound really, really good. As they are older songs, they feature Moonsorrow’s black metal side only, with no folk elements at all. But, fortunately, this doesn’t take away from the songs at all, having complex structures and spot on deliverances. To finish things off, there’s “Back to North”, a Merciless cover. I can’t really say I know the original, but Moonsorrow gave this cover their unmistakable identify, and it suited them really well.

Overall, a great effort to leave us all extremely excited for a full-length, even though this EP certainly should count as one and deserves attention.

The cover: Icy landscape, naturally very fitting.

9 dildos up Lars Ulrich’s ass out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2008
- Label: Spinefarm
- Website: www.moonsorrow.com
- Band
- Henri Sorvali: guitars, keyboards, clean vocals
- Ville Sorvali:bass, vocals
- Mitja Harvilahti: guitars, backing vocals
- Markus Eurén: keyboards
- Marko Tarvonen: drums, backing vocals

- Tracklist
- 01. Tulimyrsky
- 02. For Whom the Bell Tolls
- 03. Taistelu Pohjolasta
- 04. Hvergelmir
- 05. Back to North