lately i’ve been listening a lot to some finnish bands and artists, mainly tenhi (väre, maaäet, airut:aamujen), timo rautiainen ja trio niskalaukaus (kylmä tilä, rajaportti) and eicca toppinen (black ice soundtrack). below you can listen to the fabulous soing suoti from tenhi, a beautiful progressive folk/neofolk piece.

the twentythird video is lumessakahlaajat (german: schneewanderer) by the finnish band timo rautiainen & trio niskalaukaus. it is about the finnish-russian war (though i also read that it is about the yugoslavian war, and the video seems to back this up), when many finnish people had to leave their towns behind and flee into the forests, leaving them with the only two choices of dying or leaving their heimat. a really depressing song. the finnish lyrics can be found here, and the german lyrics here. the video here is the finnish version; in case you want to prefer german: the german version can be found here.

this is metal. you might like it.

i like it because… it is a very sad, very moving story, about the dark side of wars, about the endless suffering of the civilians. i think this is really well delivered by the rather plain, but intensive style of the band.
the band usually makes finnish songs, but they have two german albums, with translated songs. the results are very remarkable, and sometimes pretty strange, especially the first album, “in frostigen tälern”. schneewanderer can be found on the second album, “hartes land”.

this will be the last best-of-list for this year. this time, i want to list the albums which influenced and intrigued me most during this year. this time, in chronological order.

1. moonsorrow: viides luku: hävitetty.
2. moonsorrow: verisäkeet.
3. timo rautiainen & trio niskalaukaus: hartes land.
4. finntroll: visor om slutet.
5. distorted: memorial.
6. orphaned land: mabool — the story of the three sons of seven.
7. swallow the sun: ghosts of loss.
8. bolt thrower: those once loyal.
9. the 3rd and the mortal: tears laid in earth.
10. rage: lingua mortis.
11. kari rueslåtten: other people’s stories.
12. primordial: to the nameless dead.

after making a best of concerts list for this year, i decided to make a best of albums list for all albums i have bought until now. i divided this up into several categories:

• prog;
• punk/punk rock;
• trip hop, alt rock;
• other non-metal;
• metal: atmospheric;
• metal: death/black;
• metal: doom;
• metal: extreme prog;
• metal: folk/pagan/viking;
• metal: gothic;
• metal: power;
• metal: prog;
• metal: other.

note that this list reflects a snapshot of my current interest and remembrance of most of the albums. it could already be different in a few days. but feel free to comment or discuss this with me.

prog.

1. porcupine tree: deadwing.
2. pure reason revolution: the dark third.
3. frost: milliontown.
4. opeth: damnation.
5. porcupine tree: the sky moves sideways.

punk/punk rock.

1. die ärzte: die bestie in menschengestalt.
2. wizo: uuaarrgh!.
3. die toten hosen: kauf mich!.
4. die ärzte: planet punk.
5. die ärzte: 13.

trip hop, alt rock.

1. kari rueslåtten: other people’s stories.
2. radiohead: ok computer.
3. portishead: portishead.

other non-metal.

1. kari rueslåtten: spindelsinn.
2. nine inch nails: the downward spiral.
3. eläkeläiset: humppasirkus.
4. bohren & der club of gore: black earth.

metal: atmospheric.

1. the 3rd and the mortal: tears laid in earth.
2. finntroll: visor om slutet.
3. tool: 10 000 days.
4. anathema: a natural disaster.

metal: death/black.

note that i took out the prog death/prog black (avantgarde) albums into its own category, called metal: extreme prog.

1. bolt thrower: those once loyal.
2. moonspell: the antidote.
3. wintersun: wintersun.
4. amorphis: elipse.
5. childen of bodom: hatebreeder.

metal: doom.

i think this is the category where i could have made the longest list. there are many really good albums missing, for example down and love and death by sentenced, the other swallow the sun albums, sunn o))) and boris‘ altar, some candlemass albums, unholy‘s the second ring of power, and some more.

1. sentenced: frozen
2. swallow the sun: ghosts of loss.
3. type o negative: world coming down.
4. tiamat: prey.
5. unholy: rapture.

metal: extreme prog.

this category is dominated by opeth; therefore, i decided to list the top seven instead of the top five.

1. opeth: still life.
2. orphaned land: mabool — the story of the three sons of seven.
3. opeth: blackwater park.
4. distorted: memorial.
5. opeth: orchid.
6. borknagar: epic.
7. edge of sanity: crimson (part one).

metal: folk/pagan/viking.

1. moonsorrow: viides luku: hävitetty.
2. moonsorrow: verisäkeet.
3. primordial: to the nameless dead.
4. finntroll: jaktens tid.
5. moonsorrow: voimasta ja kunniasta.

metal: gothic.

1. lacuna coil: karma code.
2. tristania: beyond the veil.
3. lake of tears: a crimson cosmos.
4. poisonblack: lust stained despair.

metal: power.

1. nevermore: dead heart in a dead world.
2. nevermore: dreaming neon black.
3. symphony x: paradise lost.
4. communic: waves of visual decay.
5. nightwish: oceanborn.

metal: prog.

1. dream theater: train of thought.
2. the gathering: mandylion.
3. ayreon: the human equation.
4. dream theater: metropolis pt. 2 — scenes from a memory.
5. dream theater: images and words.

metal: other.

1. timo rautiainen & trio niskalaukaus: hartes land.
2. rage: lingua mortis.
3. samael: solar soul.
4. annihilator: king of the kill.
5. apocalyptica: cult.