I have to admit I was quite surprised to realise that this is only the troll’s sixth studio album and they have not delivered anything for three years. It seems like only yesterday that we were clubbed over the head by the manic sounds of ‘Nifelvind’ but yes time has flown by. I guess due to the fact that the band seem to always pop up on tours and festivals keeps things constant and it is difficult not to dip back into their back catalogue once in a while, or hear Trollhammaren blaring out somewhere. Finntroll have definitely left their mark indelibly on the conscience though, or perhaps just their rancour in the form of moonshine enthused piss.
Last album was a lot of fun and let’s cut to the chase here as Blodsvept is if anything even more crazed in the insanity driven, shit eating grin inducing, manic overload, nutzoid stakes. Even the grouchiest of gremlins and the most odorous of ogres could not help cutting a grimace with the laughter lines etching themselves over their scabrous mushes as this gets going with the title track intro sounding like a grizzled forest dweller having a severe reaction to a very hot human vindaloo. From here the humppa swagger is fully enforced like the most delirious version of Nellie The Elephant you have ever heard. This has balls so big it swings and rolls all over the shop with brass accompaniment adding a touch of Tex-Mex spice to it all. The band have managed to keep line-up intact since last album and Vreth’s vocals have never sounded rougher and more monstrous accompanying the driving pace with a hungry ferocity. Again everything is in its native tongue so you are probably quite in the dark about what this lot are on about and if you are on the menu of their camp-fire feast up to your neck in the brown stuff as far as bargaining powers are concerned. A quick course in their tongue (known as cheating via search engine translation) tells me that the album title means ‘Blood Wrapped’ (yeah you worked that one out) and other songs deal with damned people, giants marching, snakes, and witches broth; so another normal day in the life of a troll then!
Militant marching sounds almost on a battle fury sees ‘Ett Folk Förbanna’t stomping in a roughshod manner through the trees and taking in some cheeky melodic guitar peels that you are going to feel you could have heard elsewhere before. There is always a bit of a spaghetti Western theme bursting out and this one is no exception to that rule. Melody is completely infectious and it cuts a wild dervish that is going to really bring any hoedown to drunken life. It’s all metal to the core too and head banging is not a problem to the likes of ‘När Jättar Marschera,’ there’s even a death belch although it may well be simply indigestion escaping. Trumpets really give a good old tub-thumping burst of brass about the rampant ‘Mordminnen’ and by this point you are wondering what the hell can come next over the course of these eleven numbers. Things never stand still for a second and this diablo swinging feast is just typical of the quick fired genre busting exercise of bravado. At times they tend to sound even more like Turisas than Turisas and have really taken things up a notch here. There’s silly chants and noises to be found in the undergrowth and this constantly keeps you on your toes making it impossible to pick a highlight as its all damn good.
After ‘Skövlarens Död’ actually plays things relatively straight we are flung far from it and almost down in the deep South as swampy duelling banjos cut mad tunes out over the swamp swept forests of ‘Skogsdotter,’ all that’s missing is a “yeeehawww” on this case of Cajun Southern discomfort. There’s more than a touch of Danny Elfman on ‘Två Ormar’ along with a splash of ‘Hall Of The Mountain King’ (although I always seem to hear that somewhere listening to this lot). If ever a film was made for a soundtrack like this it would certainly be worth seeing. There’s even some scat sounding vocals and no I don’t mean shit before the song speeds up and literally implodes into the delirious cartoon on acid sounds of ‘Fanskapsfylld.’
If you are hyperventilating by last song ‘Midvinterdraken’ it won’t be that surprising as this is the sort of non-stop action filled album that has you forgetting to do the normal things in life like breathing. We slow down momentarily before stomping onto the final part deep in the territory of where the wild things are.
If you have got a little fed up of all these Finnish folk etched humppa driven bands one listen to this will be just the tonic to put the smile back on your face. I cannot think of an album of this ilk I have enjoyed so much in quite some time and am glad to see the band have a marauding mission in form of tour lined up for May, some of these new songs have made me very hungry for that.
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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