clawfinger is a swedish rap metal band. in fact, they are one of the first band combining rap with metal. i already presented one of their most famous songs, nigger, on spielwiese. the first song i want to present here is two sides, a very critical song on religion.

the second song is biggest & the best, about a completely self possessed person.

there were two more songs i wanted to embed, which unfortunately cannot be embedded. they are both from the a whole lot of nothing album. the first is burn in hell, a song about someone whose god is money. the last song is vienna, a cover of a ultravox song. the clawfinger cover is one of my favourite clawfinger songs.

timo rautiainen & trio niskalaukaus (timo rautiainen & the headshot trio) was a finnish metal band, having five members despite their name, led by timo rautiainen. usually they made songs in finnish, with two exceptions. a friend convinced timo to make an album in german, called in frostigen tälern (in frozen valleys), and later the band produced a second album in german, hartes land (tough land). the german of in frostigen tälern is not very good, making parts of the lyrics somewhat comical, even though they are very serious. the following is a song from the former album. the song is called liebe ohne grenzen (love without boundaries) and tells the story of a farmer, left by his wife and kids, who tries to commit suicide, unsuccessfully.

the next song, fernfahrer (long-haul truck driver), is about a truck driver, stranded far away from home, his driver licence apparently taken away, thinking about his wife, his kids, and the new husband of his wife.

the third song, also from the same album, is called russlands waisen (russia’s orphans).

the next two songs are from the second album in german, hartes land. the first is hartes land, a song on the death of a father, which means that his property is split up among his two sons. one gets the house, the other the frozen land, the beloveth land. listen to its sound.

the last song is zeit der steigenden säfte, about the crazy son of a couple. mocked by the others, and finally taken away.

(the strings were played by eicca toppinen of apocalyptica.)

while browsing around my back then favourite music store, the guy working there tried to sell me an album by negură bunget called om, which was supposed to sound “similar to moonsorrow”. well, that’s kind of a strong statement, but there is a bit of truth in it. but the main thing is, this made me experience a great band i haven’t heard of before. negură bunget is a romanian experimental black metal band. let me start with the first full song from the om album. this song is a beautiful stream of heavy guitarwork, great riffs, a awesome intertwine of almost spherical music with sounds of nature and black metal. i just love this.

the second song is the second to last song from the om album. beginning with 22 seconds of black metal, it evolves into a folk/ambient song, which eventually starts to get heavy again. a really crazy song.

the third song is the first part of the ‘n crugu bradului album, a concept album containing four songs about the four seasons. this song is about spring (and unfortunately, the youtube version is crippled; the beginning is chopped of by over two minutes :-( ). this song is, as is the whole album, very experimental, dark, technical, diversified.

unfortunately, two of the three band members left negură bunget in 2009 after some “differences”, and the remaining member found some new bandmates to continue the band. since the two members who left were responsible for many parts of the unique music of negură bunget, i consider the new lineup as a different band. maybe i’ll write something about them in the future…

moonsorrow is a finnish pagan metal band. i first saw them easter 2007 in the z-7, which was also the first time i heard anything from them. going there was a good idea, in fact i liked moonsorrow so much that it almost instantly got one of my most favourite bands. (i also mentioned them several times on spielwiese.) using elements from folk and black metal, they produced a variety of different, but almost always very good songs. the first song i want to present is pakanajuhla from their 2001 suden uni (wolf’s dream) album; it is a good example of moonsorrow‘s more folkish sound:

the second song i wanted to present is the balad sankaritarina from the 2001 voimasta ja kunniasta album. unfortunately it cannot be embedded, whence you have to listen to it here.

the next song is from their 2003 kivenkantaja (stone bearer) album. its a mostly instrumental piece, only featuring some heavy parts. a real beauty.

the last song is karhunkynsi from their 2005 verisäkeetalbum. this was one of the first of their albums i owned, and especially this song, which is the opener of the album, made me want more. its a beautiful mix of folk and metal, and finally ends with a black metal thunderstorm. a true masterpiece.

after verisäkeet, they released their album viides lukiu: hävitetty in 2007. it consists of two songs, each having around 30 minutes. its a fantastic album, and i already raved about it here. since its hard to rip something out of this album, i won’t embed a sample here. go listen to it completely. there’s also another album coming up, varjoina kuljemme kuolleiden maassa to be released tomorrow (or a few days later, depending on where you live). i’m really looking forward to that one…

today i want to write about the norwegian symphonic gothic metal band tristania. at least, about its beginning. tristania, founded 1996, combined melodic death metal with keyboards and choirs, creating a highly complex, wonderful gothicesque soundscape. later, the complexity of the songs reduced, and i stopped listening to them.

the first song i want to present already appeared on their demo, called tristania, and was also contained on their debut album, widow’s weeds.

the second song is from their album beyond the veil, called heretique. a beautiful, complex and highly melodic mixture. never boring, always carrying the listener along.

the third song is from the same album and is called opus relinque. an interesting soundscape, and similar to heretique, never boring. i think beyond the veil is probably the best tristania album ever.

the last song is from their 2001 world of glass album, called the shining path. before this album, morton veland left the band and founded sirenia, who continued the “old” tristania sound, while tristania started to change their sound.