siLLy puPPy The origins of MOONSORROW go all the way back to 1995 when cousins Ville Sorvali (vocals, bass) and Henri Sorvali (guitar, keyboards) hooked up in Helsinki, Finland to form a simple melodic black metal band. Before they would introduce the Nordic and Slavic folk elements to their music they started out as a run-of-the-mill 90s black metal band as heard on this early demo turned remastered EP “Metsä.” At this point the band was merely a duo with the two cousins handling all vocal and instrumental duties.

While the music is the typical atmospheric keyboard drenched buzz saw feedback distortionfest black metal of the era complete with a two minute atmospheric ambient chill out session, there are faint traces of folk influences that would later dominate such as the inclusion of the mouth harp in their otherwise standard Pagan and spiritually themed melodic metal marches. As with all MOONSORROW albums even to this day, everything is totally in the Finnish language, so if you’re not hip to this top dog of Finno-Ugric languages then the meaning will be shrouded in incomprehensible mystery however with screeched lyrics like this it would be impossible to discern any meaning.

In addition to the four tracks feeling amateurish, the production value is fairly weak as well which for some may be an attraction, however the great promise of a melodic black metal band is born here and it’s clear that even though this is hardly an essential edition of their discography that the song structures are decent and the keyboards provide more than just a subdued frosting to the cake and actually contribute a significant portion to the overall dynamics. Many reviewers compare the vocals to a pissed off cat and i couldn’t think of a better comparison myself. Better things were to come but this is an interesting historical artifact for those who like to dig deep.

Phonebook Eater 4/10

"Metsa" is a messy, but still somewhat promising (at the time) EP by Moonsorrow.

Moonsorrow’s first effort as a group has been criticized a great deal by even the most die-hard fans of the band. Mostly, because of it’s ridiculously immature sound that is so distant from the glories to come of the Finnish band.

The production is in fact almost a joke: one of the most lo-fi productions I’ve heard, where the guitar melodies playing are barely recognizable, being extremely noisy and suffocated by the constant buzz. Then, there’s the most controversial element of this demo/EP: the vocals. They really do sound like a cat screaming, and can be really annoying. The crispy keyboards are in my opinion the redeeming characteristic that give the music a strange yet unique atmosphere, an atmosphere however still buried in a wall of noise.

With just three tracks in the course of less than twenty minutes, “Metsa” is still able to build in a somewhat climactic way: after the brief ambient intro, the extremely noisy “Fimbulvetr Frost” kicks in. It’s frankly a mess of a track because of all the details being corroded by the abrasive production; the only things really recognizable are the okay hooks and the vocals. “Hvergelmir” is a slight improvement, although the ten full minutes could have been cut a little: but the melodies and the song-writing are noticeably at a higher level, the vocals are slightly less annoying, and there is an interesting acoustic/folk passage that closes the piece, as well as the EP.

“Metsa” is really something only for the fans, even though it has some occasional bursts of talent, bursts that will be much more frequent in following albums.