6. Korpiklaani - Manala (2012)
Before this album, Korpiklaani had released plenty of solid material. Songs like "Pine Woods," "Tequila," and various other boozy tunes had been blasting from my speakers for years. But like too many bands who follow the "do one thing and do it well" axiom, they did too much of that one thing. Excepting one or two great songs per album, all of their previous material sounds more or less the same. Combine that with the occasional lousy filler song and their albums are less than noteworthy.
That changed with Manala. Seemingly out of nowhere, they put out a full album of (other than the dull instrumental "Husky Sledge") songs that range from very good to great. "Ievan Polkka" is an insanely catchy metalized take on a traditional Finnish tune, and "Uni" has more of what I can only describe as "feeling" than most previous Korpiklaani material.
The band's usual trademark of fun, upbeat material is still present here, but different pacing and moods can be found to avoid the sameness that bogged down their early releases. Additionally, Manala is easily the heaviest album Korpiklaani has released; the guitars drive harder than ever and the drums have a more pummeling, heavy feel to them. The fact that this is accomplished without overshadowing the folk elements is key.
The production, though never bad in the past, also takes a step forward here. Everything's crisp and clear and avoids muddling together, and the off-pitch wind instruments fail to make an appearance.
That changed with Manala. Seemingly out of nowhere, they put out a full album of (other than the dull instrumental "Husky Sledge") songs that range from very good to great. "Ievan Polkka" is an insanely catchy metalized take on a traditional Finnish tune, and "Uni" has more of what I can only describe as "feeling" than most previous Korpiklaani material.
The band's usual trademark of fun, upbeat material is still present here, but different pacing and moods can be found to avoid the sameness that bogged down their early releases. Additionally, Manala is easily the heaviest album Korpiklaani has released; the guitars drive harder than ever and the drums have a more pummeling, heavy feel to them. The fact that this is accomplished without overshadowing the folk elements is key.
The production, though never bad in the past, also takes a step forward here. Everything's crisp and clear and avoids muddling together, and the off-pitch wind instruments fail to make an appearance.
5. Metsatöll - Äio (2010)
Any time I hear a new band (or even a new album by a familiar band), it usually takes a while to grow on me. I'll think "Eh, it's ok" at first and then like it more with every listen. Metsatöll is one of the few bands that didn't take any time for me to love them.
These Estonian folk metal merchants have a raw feel to their music that is hard to explain without hearing it. It's mostly thrash metal, but the vocals are unique and primal and the various ethnic instruments such as bagpipes, recorders, and myriad stringed oddities give this music a folk element different even from other folk metal. The best way I can describe it is this: if you went back in time a few hundred years and gave Metsatöll's instruments to the nearest blood-soaked army of lunatics and asked them to put together some songs about how they were feeling at the time, you'd get Äio.
As I mentioned in the intro to this series, I could have put a few of their albums in or near the top ten if I weren't limiting myself to just one. Given such limitations I narrowed it down to this album and its successor, Ulg, with Äio winning by virtue of having the Estonian Men's Choir providing backing vocals. The choral parts--rather than being the boring Christmas crap that the word "choir" brings to mind--turn these songs into battle hymns.
This album has variety, from the more straightforward "Vaid Vaprust" to the sea shanty "Kuni Pole Kodus Olen Kaugel Teel" and like most Metsatöll albums it has no shortage of material. There are fourteen songs on here and only one is even remotely skippable.
Depending on my mood at the time, this one could possibly find itself in the top three.
4. Nightwish - Century Child (2002)
What can I say about Nightwish? They started off as a technically flashy power metal band and morphed over time into (for lack of a better descriptor) movie-soundtrack metal. This stylistic evolution brought more variety to their sound and more emotion to the music. Century Child is the first such album in their discography.
Tuomas Holopainen (keyboards) is easily the best songwriter in metal and possibly the best in any modern musical style. However, just as Babe Ruth struck out from time to time, Tuomas's genius is tempered by occasionally writing songs that sound like he turned the writing duties over to a hormonal teenager. For the most part, this is their only major flaw and thus it's the criterion by which we decide which of their albums gets to be on my list.
As there are roughly equal quantities of great songs on Century Child, Once, and Dark Passion Play, it came down to which album had the least bad material on it. Other than Tuomas completely laying an egg on "Slaying the Dreamer," this album has no bad songs. "End of All Hope," "Ever Dream," and their version of The Phantom of the Opera are pure gold, and the rest of the songs range from good to very good.
As there are roughly equal quantities of great songs on Century Child, Once, and Dark Passion Play, it came down to which album had the least bad material on it. Other than Tuomas completely laying an egg on "Slaying the Dreamer," this album has no bad songs. "End of All Hope," "Ever Dream," and their version of The Phantom of the Opera are pure gold, and the rest of the songs range from good to very good.
A great album by one of my favorite bands.
Next week it's the top three. Are you excited?
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