Tag: Ensiferum

COLDBOUND – Winter Is Coming

By Carl Begai

Launched in 2012 by Finnish multi-instrumentalist Pauli Souka, Coldbound is a symphonic / progressive doom metal project that has taken on new life with the addition of former Theatre of Tragedy vocalist Liv Kristine Espenæs and former Ensiferum keyboardist Meiju Enho to the creative team. Coldbound has released a new single, “Slumber Of Decay”, offering a taste of what’s to come on the forthcoming full length album. Following is a brief interview outlining Coldbound’s vision as they gear up to finish and release the record.

Carl Begai: Coldbound was launched as a project solely under your control. What do Liv and Meiju bring to the creative process that you couldn’t achieve on his own?

Pauli Souka: “That’s a very interesting question. For this album recordings I’ve had the priviledge and honour to work with almost 43 people; 43 wonderful musicians and fantastic personalities. Some of these people had a huge impact on the way I see music. Two of them were definitely Liv Kristine and Meiju. The main reason I brought them into this is that I knew I could trust the project in their hands 100%. The results I received left me speechless, as the sounds they created were unique and definitely beyond any expectations I had. To be able to co-exist in the same project with these two fantastic ladies is a huge honour. They’re both unique and exceptional in their fields.”

Continue reading COLDBOUND – Winter Is Coming

BraveWords Interview: METSATÖLL – Be Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolves

By Carl Begai

Every so often an album comes along that forces you to give your head a shake and re-evaluate your opinions. Folk metal bands in 2014 are a dime a dozen; some are good, some not so much, and very little new ground has been broken since Moonsorrow kicked things off way back when Finntroll, Ensiferum and Korpiklaani clawed their respective ways to join them at the top of the heap. Long-time Estonian headcrushers Metsatöll – an ancient Estonian euphemism for “wolf” – have been plying their trade since 1999 and remained under the radar for most of the journey to all but the diehard folk metal fans. Their new outing Karjajuht is bound to change that if and when it reaches the ears of the right people; basically, anyone that gets off on crushing tribal-assault violence in their music.

Metsatöll 1

It’s been a long trip getting to where they are now, but the Metsatöll quartet are anything but frustrated at not having become a bigger deal sooner.

“Everything happened naturally for us, almost by itself,” says Lauri “Varulven” Õunapuu, sporting what can only be classified as a booming Viking-esque voice. “And I can’t say that it is only because we worked hard. Sometimes it was because somebody said to somebody ‘I know a band that uses Estonian bagpipes…’ and that would get us the attention. People had never heard of such a thing and wanted to hear and see it for themselves. The music that we’re making, when we use traditional Estonian instruments and making metal music, it’s interesting almost by itself even for the innocent bystander (laughs).”

Interesting isn’t the half of it. When the band pull out all the stops on Karjajuht it’s an ominous display of power. If anything, the folk metal label Metsatöll has been stamped with offers up a false sense of security, suggesting a certain elvish elegance that only exists in (very short) fits and bursts on the new record. Nope, Karjajuht is more like the soundtrack to a high-spirited barroom brawl started by Amon Amarth. Continue reading BraveWords Interview: METSATÖLL – Be Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolves