 |
| The artwork for Spirit of the Forest Source: Wikipedia |
Album: Spirit of the Forest
Year: 2003
Score: 85/100
“A Good Folk Metal
Album”
Korpiklaani have always been one of those bands that are
generally loved for their fun music and good songwriting. They do have a layer of depth, however,
mainly because of the excellent musicianship and cool atmosphere on their
albums. If you’ve read my review for
“Voice of the Wilderness”, then you know how much I liked that one. “Spirit of the Forest” is the band’s debut
album, and seems to be widely regarded as one of their better releases. It’s moderately long, with 14 individual
songs across the span of the album.
Instrumentally, the album is good. It’s not technical or anything, but the
guitars are prominent and driving.
Something that I was particularly surprised about was that there were
several guitar solos, and good riffs as well.
Even though the songs are comprised around the folk elements (which are
very good, despite being a little cliché), the guitars are still a powerful and
prominent part of the music. The songs
themselves don’t rely on good folk melodies.
Many would still be fine with just guitars. Speaking of the folk portions, they’re very
good. At times, the melodies do come
across as lacking or unoriginal but this is not a huge problem. The individual instruments are not as audible
(from a production standpoint) as on the release that would follow and they do
seem blurred at times. Nevertheless,
they’re an integral and enjoyable part of “Spirit of the Forest”. There’s not much to say about the bass and
drums, because neither is flashy or extremely impressive. I can’t, however, detract this from the music
in general. Maybe if they had been
stronger I would have given this a higher score, but they’re just fine as they
are. Like on many of Korpiklaani’s
releases, the vocals are really good.
They rest on the line between a true harsh vocal and a true clean
voice. I can’t really complain about the
vocals at all. There are some awkward
sounding vocal passages on the album, but it doesn’t really take away from my
enjoyment of the release overall.
The atmosphere of the album isn’t nearly as impressive as
the one that came afterwards. Despite
the less clear production, the album doesn’t give off much of a mood at
all. It doesn’t feel wild or raw or
anything that I’d expect from Korpiklaani.
It’s generally a happy sounding album, but many of the songs simply lack
a great emotional mood. Luckily, this
issue was corrected with the second album.
The only song that really conjures up a good atmosphere is “With Trees”.
The songs don’t feel extremely diverse. Most of them are moderately fast and feature
similar types of guitar riffing. Though
this isn’t a bad thing in and of itself, I can’t help but feel that the album
would have benefitted from a more diverse collection of faster and slower
songs. Diversity was what impressed me
about “Voice of the Wilderness”, and I’m pretty disappointed to find that it
wasn’t nearly as present on this debut album.
Something else notable about the album is that there is an
abundance of instrumental tracks. I
think instrumental tracks can really mar a lot of folk metal albums
(cough…cough…Eluveitie), but Korpiklaani’s instrumentals are generally quite
enjoyable. There are five on the whole album, and all of them are at least
decent. I do, however, think it’s odd
that the band placed two instrumentals back to back in the middle of the
album. It’s almost like listening to one
song. Despite this, I do really like
“Pixies Dance” which is the first song in the pair. Additionally, the closing instrumental
“Mother Earth” goes on for far too long.
“Wooden Pints” is easily a folk metal classic. The lyrics are quite dumb, but the song is
just so catchy! It’s an example of a
great folk metal song. “Before the
Morning Sun” is a more aggressive track, and it’s excellent as well. The guitars at the beginning are fantastic. “With Trees” is one of the most serious songs
that the band has ever made. The folk
instruments in this one sound great. It’s
almost a ballad at some points, though I still find it really enjoyable. “With Trees” is also one of the greatest from
the album, and one of the most creative and interesting from the band in
general. “God of Wind” is decent, but
the chorus is very repetitive and makes the song stand out less than some of
the others on the album. It is a faster
sort of track, which is always good to hear from Korpiklaani. Their fast tracks are always good in some
regard. “Man Can Go Even through the
Gray Stone” is ridiculous. I’ve always
found the vocals on the song to be irritating; they ruin the song as a whole. It’s rather disappointing, because the
guitars and folk instruments are great.
I do like the drums in it.
“Pixies Dance” is my favorite of the instrumental tracks. It never fails to put a smile on my face, and
I can’t complain about that at all. The
rest of the songs are really quite mediocre.
I don’t mind “Crows Bring the Spring” or “Shaman Drum”, but they don’t
really stay with me either. “Mother
Earth” is an instrumental that drags on for way too long.
Upon completion of the album, I can’t help but feel that the
band has left something out here. It
seems that so many of the songs are pointless and lacking a little
substance. I still say that “Spirit of
the Forest” is a good release, but I’m a little disappointed since I had high
hopes from listening to “Voice of the Wilderness”. The album gets an 85/100 because it’s
definitely a great one, but it lacks in some areas. There are many pointless short tracks like
“Hengettomilta Hengilta” and “Man Can Go Even through the Gray Stone”. There are also a few too many
instrumentals. Some of these are really
good, and yet others are either boring or too short. I think folk metal fans will find something
to like on this release. There’s some
good stuff to be found. I would recommend
listening to “Wooden Pints” for people who don’t want to go for listening to
the whole thing. It’s one of the best
and most famous folk metal songs out there.
Best songs: “Wooden
Pints”, “Before the Morning Sun”, “With Trees”, “Pixies Dance”.
Worst songs: “Man Can
Go Even through the Gray Stone”, “Hengettomilta Hengilta”, and “Mother Earth”.
Thanks for reading!
Feel free to leave a comment!
No comments:
Post a Comment