Finntroll - Ur Jordens Djup

Artist : Finntroll (2007)

Album Title : Ur Jordens Djup (From The Depths Of The Earth)

Genre : Polka-Metal (yes!!)

Rating : ***** **½ (out of 10*)

This Week I'm Listening To...
A few weeks ago, while reviewing the Folkearth album, I tongue-in-cheekly made reference to "Polka Metal", blithely assuming there was no such genre. A kind reader left a comment, saying that, indeed, Polka Metal does exist, and recommending listening to Finntroll.

Finntroll is a Finnish band, who nevertheless sings in Swedish. Cuz Swedish is "more trollish", they say. They have 6 albums out. Ur Jordens Djup is their most-recent offering.

What's To Like...
The reader is correct (many thanks for the tip!): this is Polka-Metal. More precisely, it is "humppa-metal"; humppa being best described as a specific form of "Finnish Polka".

The Metal is fairly standard power-metal stuff. The vocals are all "grunting", which means that the fact that the lyrics aren't in English doesn't matter. I wouldn't understand them, no matter what language the grunts were in.

There is some very nice blending of polka (and folk) with the metal. The opening track, Gryning ("Dawn") is 3½ minutes of some well-arramged dark, brooding, instrumental stuff.

The tracks that are the most "polka-ish" are delightful. One gets the feeling Finntroll really enjoys playing polka-metal songs.

What's Not To Like...
This is my first Finntroll CD. Those who are familiar with all of Finntroll's albums give this one the lowest rating. The criticism seems to be that this one isn't as polka-ish as previous efforts; that it's a lot darker; and that, while the tracks are consistently good, there aren't any really great ones.

There is a "hidden track" at the end of the CD. The last song fades into soft "marshy" sounds, then into silence. But if you wait another 10 minutes, a fun-filled bar-room-sounding track comes on. Okay, the first time, it was a cool discovery. After that, however, it just means you have 10 minutes of dead time (cuz technically it's part of the last track) , which is rather annoying. Fortunately, a little bit of snipping via Sound Forge eliminated the 10 minute dead-space.

Ask Not For Whom The Finn Trolls...
It trolls for thee.

Finntroll is coming to Tempe on 07 October. To The Clubhouse, where I once almost saw Wolfmother. This is a metal concert, so there are no seats. You just stand around, moshing, or pogo-ing; or whatever you do at a standing-only metal concert. I'm making plans to go see them. The concert is nicely sandwiched between Within Temptation (two Sundays from now), and Nightwish (07 November). So if all goes as planned, I'll actually see my first three Metal concerts over the next three months.

I've talked Liz into going to see WT, but I doubt I'll be able to convince her to attend Finntroll. Whether or not I can get her to go to Nightwish remains to be seen.

But I digress. Ur Jordens Djup is a good, enjoyable, polka-metal album. The guitar-work is good, the fusion of genres is great, and if the music is dark, well, isn't metal supposed to be dark? We shall see how it compares to their earlier stuff, but if we assume they'll be showcasing UJD at their upcoming concert, it will be a great show.