metsatöll äio

Released: 03 March 2010 Label: Spinefarm

My first encounter with ‘folk metal’ was with Skyclad videos being played on much missed late night ITV show Raw Power back in the early 1990’s and for a long time it was a very inventive sub-genre, albeit one occasionally mocked for its use of “non-metal” instrumentation. These days, of course, folk metal is pretty much ubiquitous and there seems to be a never-ending production line of increasingly interchangeable bands jumping on the bandwagon and adding a hurdy-gurdy or an Armenian nose flute player to their line-up in an effort to make their second rate metal riffs a bit more interesting.

Estonian’s Metsatöll though have been around for a little over a decade and this is their fourth full-length so they should have a little more to them than most of the Johnny-come-lately’s. Sadly though, if they do, I really can’t see it. There’s all the “traditional folk instruments” that you may expect and the lyrics are all sung in the band’s native language but sadly it’s backed up by some excruciatingly dull prog-metal riffs that have neither the personality of Týr or the inventiveness of Vintersorg’s excursions into the more progressive end of folk metal.

It’s not until eleventh track Roju that there’s a truly memorable riff and the incredibly scratchy violins that start even that song are just about as painful as someone repeatedly scratching nails down a blackboard to listen to and none of the vocals are particularly strong. There’s the odd nice melody and a couple of catchy riffs here but in all honesty I found Äio a chore to listen to through its approximately one hour / fourteen song duration. There’s currently a surfeit of folk metal doing the rounds and I can’t see Metsatöll really doing anything to stand out from the crowds at all.

by Neil Woodfin