TALVIKUNINGAS

Personally, I don't enjoy this album, it was clear to me upon first listening. Not because Talvikuningas would be a weak work from CMX, no, but simply because it's very metallic, and metal music has never been my cup of tea. Among fans of this Finnish band with hardcore punk roots and varying amounts of pop, metal and prog in their output (btw, I prefer their more pop-oriented albums such as Aura, 1994), Talvikuningas seems to be one of their most respected albums, even THE masterpiece that is said to demand time to really sink on the listener. So, pardon me for merely sharing my totally undedicated overall impression of this ambitious SciFi concept album instead of giving it more time.

The concept, ie. the story filled with intergalactic wars, satellites, cyborgs etc., has a very intriguing frame in the prologue (which is sadly not put in music): in 2727 a good ruler gave a present for his wife, a garden smaller than the nail of her little finger, yet filled with waterfalls, brooks, bridges and a thousand mechanical birds that sing fragments of the Winter King saga. What a charming image indeed. The music and war-filled lyrics themselves do not contain any of such delicacy or vividly detailed imagery, in my opinion. The SciFi/Fantasy illustrations in the lyrics booklet are admittedly good looking, though.

Last year Svart Records re-released Talvikuningas ("Winter King") again on double vinyl, with the originally separately released single 'Kuolemaantuomitut' / 'Mekaanisten lintujen puisto' as the fourth side. At the time of its original release on a single compact disc, the 62-minute album was promoted/hyped as one epic piece divided into twelve parts. Compare e.g. Whirlwind by Transatlantic. The tracks follow each other seamlessly. However, the suggested singularity in the composition doesn't make my own reception any better. To me this is just a tiresome metal album containing more or less similar sounding tracks, mostly devoid of calmer moments to widen up the artistic dynamics. Even a prog metal fan may be disappointed by a secondary or minimal role of keyboards (played by a non-member).

The best tracks for me are 'Tähtilaivan kapteeni' (= The captain of starship) and 'Quanta', but even they fail to impress me deeper. If you want to concentrate on the proggiest CMX, I rather recommend the double set Dinosaurus Stereophonicus (2000) that genuinely contains a lot of sonic and emotional variety and distinctive highlights. Talvikuningas is primarily for the metal oriented listeners.