TULIMYRSKY

Just like that other memorable (and by now classic) EP made by that important prog metal band (what´s their name again...?) Moonsorrow´s Tulimyrsky in packed with one monstrous epic (30 min long!!!) and some other songs which pale in comparison making this reviewer having to lower the rate of what could have been a perfect score. For it is a shame Moonsorrow did not release this epic as a single song like Meshuggah did with their marvellous I, but instead filled this EP with another extra 40 min of music, making this release even longer than their previous albums! Whether it was their choice or the choice of the record company is allusive to my knowledge, but who ever took that decision made a mistake in my book.

Now, on to the music. Tulimyrsky, the song, as mentioned earlier is a 30 min epic piece of music. And when I say epic I mean it. If I had to discrive Moonsorrow I would say they are Epic folk metal (with some pinch of viking) so you know they are epic... and when they write a 30 min song, well... you get the idea. Following the style of the rhapsodias presented in V: Hevitteti from 2007, Tulimyrsky opens with atmospheric keys and soft acoustic guitars while it crescends on to one of the most brutal entrys to a metal song. Now you know Moonsorrow will take no prisioners, from there on the music is hard, brutal yet sophisticaded and at times beautiful. Probably more melodic than their previous side long songs and definitly more symphonic (not in the prog way, but in the classical music way), specially in the outro, Tulimyrsky holds up against Moonsorrow´s previous work V: Hevitteti and shows us that these guys did not rest their heads, but instead wrote another masterpiece! And while Tulimyrsky may not have an absolute unique moment of music-heaven like Jäästä Syntynyt / Varjojen Virta´s chorus like riff around the tenth minute, which is one of metal´s finest moments in history, the whole thing is as solid as you can get, never letting go, never letting down and only a close second to the already mentioned Jäästä Syntynyt / Varjojen Virta.

The rest of the album as said already is pretty much 40 minutes of fillers. More hardcore fans of the band might find them interesting, particulary their cover of Metallica´s classic For whom the bells tolls, but I must say I don´t really find anything of interest in here. You might... but I don´t, either way, you have been warned! Get this only for the epic, you´ll be greatful!

Ok, an e.p...e.p. with a 30 minute song. Wow, this is something new . And there are extra tracks including 2 recorded songs and 2 covers...and they are all near or at least over 10 minutes.

Yea, Moonsorrow always go over the top...and this is no exception...and did it work, definetly.

Yea, in this review I will only really talk about the title track, cause thats the main attraction.

Yea, Tulimyrsky, is probabbly the most epic thing ever. Seriously, it is just powerfull beyond expectations. Yes, it is bombastic, epic, powerfull, just use a thesaurus, any word can be used to describe it.

The lyrics, again in Finnish, tell an epic tale about Vikings and fire...basically. But yes, there is alot to offer in this half hour of theatrics and mythology.

The vocals have been bettered than there debut album, and even the music is better written.

At the start, there is a slow atmospheric lead up with sound effects and narration. Then the epic blasts begin, and black metal riffs take over that would leave Immortall crying. After that, early Enslaved passages take over and would make the listener cry.

Then after all the epic Emperor esque passages, it slows down again, leading into jaunty folk tunes with moutharp (bingy bongie). After that, a jauntier tune takes over.

Then at about 20 minutes into the song, the black metal like riffs are heard again, and then more epic sounding blasts (reminds me of the recapitulations in classical sonatas). Then at about 25 minutes, it slows down again, and a very beautiful melodic passage takes over, and that leads into the last few verse, with an epic choir. The choir beautifully sings battle chants and ends on a diminished major 7th chord. Hair falls out after listening.

For Whom The Bell Tolls betters Metallicas version, anyday...thats how good this band are.

CONCLUSION: Out of all the e.p's I've heard of any band, this suceeds them all. Epic as hell and hair raising. Battle metal at it's finest.

'Tulimyrsky EP' - Moonsorrow (8/10)

It is somewhat ironic that the EP of a band would turn out to be among their longest works. Here is Moonsorrow's 'Tulimyrsky EP', consisting of one typical Moonsorrow track (a half hour sprawling epic) and a considerable amount of bonus material. Although an EP is rarely ever supposed to hold much weight in a band's discography, this release has garnered some big attention from both fans and others in the metal scene, and for good reason. On top of an epic track that is soon to become a modern classic in pagan metal, the covers here are highly impressive and go to show what a giant act Moonsorrow really is. All this aside though, I would tend to agree with the consensus that 'Tulimyrsky' may have had more stopping power if they had only cut down on some of the material after the main attraction and shortened things up a bit. All the same, some of the material here is fantastic.

Of course, the covers and redone editions of earlier tracks are an added benefit, but the majority of the attention should be directed towards the epic half hour track 'Tulimyrsky'. Its name is Finnish for 'firestorm', and this does reflect quite well in the music. An epic that shows the bands roots in black metal quite well, there is an epic scope of songwriting here, and the vast amount of time the track has to work with lets each idea get nicely developed before moving on. Although there is a fair use of repetition in the writing of 'Tulimyrsky', one of Moonsorrow's greatest assets is that somehow, the music never gets boring, despite the fact that their style focuses greatly on hypnotic pagan anthems. There are two or three recurring musical themes that keep popping up throughout the piece, and this gives it some great cohesion. The epic peaks towards the last five minutes, which is absolutely majestic; chants, symphonic arrangements, and driving guitars give me chills each time 'Tulimyrsky' comes to a close. This epic reminds me greatly of the music on Moonsorrow's fifth album (and my personal favourite) 'V - Havitetty' and it remains one of the band's greatest achievements, although some parts can wear a bit much with the spoken word dialogue and soundscapes.

The rest of the album is quite strong, but also feels as if the afterthought it dragged on far too long. It feels that if 'Tulimyrsky EP' had ended as soon as the song did, there would be a lasting state of awe, but instead the band goes straight into cover tracks. Fortunately however, these covers are fantastic. The more famous of the two is the Metallica song 'For Whom The Bell Tolls', from their album 'Ride The Lightning'. Moonsorrow prove how strong their sense of style is here by taking a classic song and truly making it their own; one listening to it could almost swear it was a Moonsorrow song they were listening to, as opposed to a cover. The two 2008 redo versions are quite good, although somewhat forgettable when compared to the rest of the music that 'Tulimyrsky EP' has to offer.

An EP that comes close to being essential, 'Tulimyrsky EP' is highly recommended and more than worth checking out, if even only for the brilliant title track.

Moonsorrow is one of those bands that were introduced to me as a unique, epic and progressive band that did revolutionary works for the Pagan Metal genre. When I stumbled over their overlong Tulimyrsky EP with this beautiful epic cover artwork I decided that it was about time to try this band out.

But opposed to many positive reviews, I didn't find much magic or originality on this record. The title song "Tulimyrsky" is interesting when the band employs exotic folk instruments such as didgeridoos or when they employ some epic keyboard passages, decent choirs or short narrative passages. The music itself sounds like a mixture of Bathory, Falkenbach and Tyr and doesn't introduce anything new to the genre. The title track tries to develop some atmosphere and is surely quite hypnotizing. But the track works rather as a relaxing background msuic to me and has not enough originality to keep my attention for almost thirty minutes. In only one third of this time, the band could have created a fairly addicting epic Viking Metal track but they chose the path of endless repeating patterns. There is a lot of light and shade and boring passages meet some fine breaks and interludes from time to time but overall this song can't truly convince me and I expected more here. Even more recent and commercial bands such as Wintersun did better epic tracks on their albums and this can't be called a highlight of its genre for me as it is simply overambitious and long. As a score for a Viking movie, a relaxing background music for role play gamers or a soundtrack to lose yourself into during a walk through the nature, this EP is still a very accurate choice and I can't deny that Moonsorrow have their moments even if it takes some time to find them.

The new versions of old demo tracks have somewhat the same problem. They have a fairly promising structure but the songs are overall too long and not very progressive or epic at all. The keyboard sounds have a certain charm and the blackened vocals have a lot of energy and emotion but especially the guitar riffs are rather mediocre. If the band had decided to cut maybe three minutes of each of those two tracks, the final results would sound much more intense, diversified and coherent. The intense beauty meets the beast track "Taistelu Pohjolasta" is though my favourite track on the record and grows on me each time I listen to it once in a while again.

The two cover versions have pretty much been adapted to the style of Moonsorrow and sound like if they were the band's own tracks. While this fact is interesting and very positive, one must nevertheless compare those versions to the original ones and I thought that they sounded well more unique for their time and got better to the point or the essence of spirit of these songs. I would though not consider these new versions as failed experiments as they fit surprisingly well on the record. The whole EP indeed sounds like an album and has a very coherent structure.

In the end, this record has too many lengths and is a perfect example for the fact that overlong tracks don't always mean to be epic, magic and progressive. The band sounds epic from time to time but I don't feel much magic or originality on here. I would always chose the originals from Bathory to Primordial first but also bands such as Amorphis and Månegarm or even more recent stuff like Arkona or Equilibrium. That means that Moonsorrow are one of the most inaccessible, boring and also overrated ambassadors of this genre that is usually intense, atmospheric and authentic without getting in overlong "wankery" passages like here. This record may still grow on me with the time but this hasn't been the case in the last years and I usually don't change my mind very often. I would suggest you to rather check the bands out I mentioned before and keep this for a time when you want to dig deep into a record and approach this experiment with some much needed patience, time and tranquility. Even though my rating is still rather positive from an objective and fair point of view, you can easily get much better in the large folk and pagan genres with Empyrium, Ulver or Cruachan but also worse like Heljareyga, Eluveitie or Alestorm.

Originally published on www.metal-archives.com on August 25th of the year 2011.