Korpiklaani
Noita
Nuclear Blast
2015
It’s quite surprising that these drunken Finns, have been around for the better part of some twenty years now in one form or other, but, what can I say, other than time flies… On their, eighth or is it ninth release as Korpiklaani, they still go on as usual about their business which is a rather raucous and loud sort of idiosyncratic folk metal with lots of accordions and violins? While in the past there were songs in English, “Noita”, firmly goes back to Finnish lyrics, thus estranging a good number of potential listeners. Also while the occasional melody or passage, might be pleasing, the overall feel the band leaves you with is somewhere between mid-era In Extremo and Mago De Oz, but nowhere near as good or as crazy.
However with a big company to back them and their frequent tours, even they have seemingly managed to make a career out of this... rather one trick pony style, which gets rather tiresome, rather fast.
Out of their previous albums, the one that was probably the better pick was “Karkelo” which did seem to strike a good balance between the bands drunkenness and their more serious musical aspiration, but “Noita” is nowhere near that good. While there’s still a mix of “drinking songs” and a few “deeper” tunes, the former are not that inspiring, while the latter sound rather trite. Obviously Finnish fans might enjoy ‘em more than the average listener, because the language is no problem for them but to the rest of us, they might be a bit more enigmatic, because of the language barrier.
The first three songs seem to be some of the better… “Viinamäen Mies” is more of a drinking number, while “Pilli on Pajusta Tehty” sounds more generically folk and rock.
“Lempo” which is significantly slower is atmospheric and has some quite epic melodies...
“Sahti” is an almost polka like, number, but I’d rather listen to one of Weird Al, polkas rather than this, in all honesty.
“Luontoni” is shift, but not incredibly impressive.
The Umlaut overkill “Minä Näin Vedessä Neidon” is another slow and more “serious” song and while it could have made a difference, it does so in a rather anticlimactic way and fails to justify its six minutes duration at the same time.
I have to give it up to the band though, for doing a “Finnish” cover to “Mony Mony” a song that Billy Idol popularized in the 80s. It sounds quite fucking out of place and completely “crazy” in Finnish! Korpiklaani are not without humor... but humor alone would not make me get the album… crack a smile perhaps…
“Kylästä Keväinen Kehto” tries to pick up the pace, but despite some bursts fails to maintain a constant pace, or the listener’s interest.
“Ämmänhauta” has some nice violin riffs and melodies and manages to be a somewhat better attempt at a more serious sounding song, but following this style the band tends to be a lot more depressive, I have to report, sounding a lot like early In Extremo.
“Sen Verran Minäkin Noita” is even more intricate, but loses itself in some Finnish lake, along the way, as it sounds quite inconsistent.
There’s one more track, as a bonus on the digi editions, “Antaja”, which is not too bad, but is only exclusive to them so...
Overall, the band’s style makes them stick to a few forms of musical expression, both in terms of tempo as well as in the way in which they incorporate their folk influences, so, their songs are quite similar, which unfortunately makes them rather boring pretty soon. Without being bad, they are not really my cup of tea and unless you’re a Finn or a folk/heathen freak, I doubt you’d find much to stick your fangs into in “Noita”.
However with a big company to back them and their frequent tours, even they have seemingly managed to make a career out of this... rather one trick pony style, which gets rather tiresome, rather fast.
Out of their previous albums, the one that was probably the better pick was “Karkelo” which did seem to strike a good balance between the bands drunkenness and their more serious musical aspiration, but “Noita” is nowhere near that good. While there’s still a mix of “drinking songs” and a few “deeper” tunes, the former are not that inspiring, while the latter sound rather trite. Obviously Finnish fans might enjoy ‘em more than the average listener, because the language is no problem for them but to the rest of us, they might be a bit more enigmatic, because of the language barrier.
The first three songs seem to be some of the better… “Viinamäen Mies” is more of a drinking number, while “Pilli on Pajusta Tehty” sounds more generically folk and rock.
“Lempo” which is significantly slower is atmospheric and has some quite epic melodies...
“Sahti” is an almost polka like, number, but I’d rather listen to one of Weird Al, polkas rather than this, in all honesty.
“Luontoni” is shift, but not incredibly impressive.
The Umlaut overkill “Minä Näin Vedessä Neidon” is another slow and more “serious” song and while it could have made a difference, it does so in a rather anticlimactic way and fails to justify its six minutes duration at the same time.
I have to give it up to the band though, for doing a “Finnish” cover to “Mony Mony” a song that Billy Idol popularized in the 80s. It sounds quite fucking out of place and completely “crazy” in Finnish! Korpiklaani are not without humor... but humor alone would not make me get the album… crack a smile perhaps…
“Kylästä Keväinen Kehto” tries to pick up the pace, but despite some bursts fails to maintain a constant pace, or the listener’s interest.
“Ämmänhauta” has some nice violin riffs and melodies and manages to be a somewhat better attempt at a more serious sounding song, but following this style the band tends to be a lot more depressive, I have to report, sounding a lot like early In Extremo.
“Sen Verran Minäkin Noita” is even more intricate, but loses itself in some Finnish lake, along the way, as it sounds quite inconsistent.
There’s one more track, as a bonus on the digi editions, “Antaja”, which is not too bad, but is only exclusive to them so...
Overall, the band’s style makes them stick to a few forms of musical expression, both in terms of tempo as well as in the way in which they incorporate their folk influences, so, their songs are quite similar, which unfortunately makes them rather boring pretty soon. Without being bad, they are not really my cup of tea and unless you’re a Finn or a folk/heathen freak, I doubt you’d find much to stick your fangs into in “Noita”.