Review: CMX - Talvikuningas

Album

I'm going to take another break from the Bandcamp series for an overdue review of one of my Christmas presents.

Allow me to provide a little perspective: someone you know wants to give you a gift. This person knows you really like music, and may even recognize a particular genre you're into. Clearly, an album of such a genre would be an excellent gift.

In many cases, it'll be a friend who knows you like, say, 1990s alternative, but doesn't know anything about it. So they rely on web searches or the suggestion of the wannabe hipster at Sam Goody (does that store even still exist?). In all likelihood, they end up giving you something you already have, like Siamese Dream. Or worse, anything by Phish. The thought was there, so you thank them and try to figure out if you can exchange the thing somewhere (unless it was Phish, in which case you'd almost rather listen to it than be seen in public with it, and you're probably seriously reconsidering the whole "friends" thing).

Now imagine that instead of a friend, it's your significant other who's been living with you and your music collection for some years. She has unique interests in other areas (say, foreign languages) that might randomly lead to them finding reference to a band or album that you've never heard of and probably never would have. So on Christmas Day, you end up with a Finnish, progressive-metal, sci-fi concept album that's next to impossible to find in the US. Cool! I love you, honey!

As it turns out, CMX is actually very popular in Finland. They started out 25 years ago, apparently as a hardcore punk band (of all things), but rather suddenly shifted to a progressive style after a few years, and generated gold certifications (in Finland that's 20,000 copies) for most of their albums, and a number of #1 songs. Talvikuningas was well-received by most at the time of its release in 2007. As my fiancée discovered, though, it is (and probably always was) pretty much impossible to find in the states. Fortunately, Amazon MP3 came through for her. Yay, Internet!

This is CMX's first concept album, though apparently the primary songwriter (A. W. Yrjänä, the band's vocalist and also bassist, interestingly) commonly uses strong mythological imagery in his writing. Now, I've mentioned before that I'm a sucker for concept albums. I'm also a big sci-fi fan, so hearing that "The Winter King" (as the title translates to) tells an epic story set in the distant future, I became even more interested. I loved the album on a purely musical level before I knew anything about the story (I don't understand a word of Finnish), but I wasn't yet prepared to write a comprehensive review. So, after some searching, I eventually found all of the lyrics, and through the magic of Google, I had a rough translation to go on. But of course, there are a number of words that didn't parse, which throws off entire sentences. And what of all that symbolism that probably gets completely lost in translation? All is further complicated by the fact that the album isn't chronological; apparently, the booklet that accompanies the CD states that the songs are war anthems and folk songs (of the future) and such. Not only that, but they are excerpted from a yet-incomplete book by Yrjänä; the album doesn't even tell the full story. So we have bits and pieces of symbolism-laden accounts of fictional events, that don't translate well and are in no particular order whatsoever? Shit, this is going to be hard.

To my delight, a translation found here filled in some of the blanks for me. (Thank you, "da_apz," although I'm wondering what happened to posting your own interpretation of the lyrics.) Armed with that page, my very literal Google translation, and the determinations of other people online, here's how I am interpreting the album's content, in a nutshell.

The Winter King, a brutal, warmongering ruler, rises to power in a world whose resources are nearing depletion. He recruits soldiers for an army to take to space and conquer colonies throughout the galaxy, promising them glory and reward. The soldiers (or perhaps just the elite among them?) instead actually become cyborg slaves to the king for the ensuing wars. Most of the songs on the album are the stories of individual characters (the cyborgs, ship captains, etc.) over the course of what appears to be a 230+ year war. During this time, the king goes mad with power, and actually loses his mind at some point, which is eventually his undoing.

UPDATE!! (2011-04-06) Thanks to Ville for a much better synopsis of the album's plot! Read it in the comments below for some important clarifications.

Now, whether I'm interpreting the story correctly remains to be seen (or we may never know), but it feels about right to me, based on the mood of the album. It also fits with elements of the classic sci-fi formula. There's an enemy that personifies evil, the futuristic tech elements (cyborgs, spaceships), an epic battle, and evil eventually failing, with some sort of profound message about society (absolute power corrupts absolutely, or some shit like that). It also utilizes the fun literary device of using the antagonist (the evil king, in this case) as the primary character. What makes a truly great concept album, though, is to take a classic formula like this, come up with the somehow appealing specifics to complete the story, and write a bunch of songs to tell the story without actually coming out and saying any of it. As near as I can tell, most of the lyrics use quotations, expressions of feelings, symbolism, and other bits and pieces that imply the overall story. And that makes it pretty damned interesting.

The music itself is a monolithic statement of versatility. The tracks vary greatly in style, yet blend seamlessly in what some have labelled a single song (although remarks calling the individual songs "hymns" and "anthems" and the non-chronological organization make that seem more of an aesthetic decision than a structural one). The opening track is a ten-minute prog anthem par excellence, setting the tone for the album perfectly with its shifts between styles and time signatures. The band's punk beginnings surface in songs that suit the style, such as the second track, whose title translates to "A Matter of Resources," which I believe to be a sort of panic over the world's depleting resources. The rest of the album follows suit, and doesn't really have any boring or low points. The guys are as fluent in their respective instruments as I've come to expect from prog bands, and the outstanding production brings a balance to them, placing slight emphasis on the vocal track when present. If I were to compare the sound to another band, I'd be inclined to say it's most like Symphony X, but with a more dynamic range (better execution on the softer stuff, and a little more of an edge on the harder stuff).

If you decide to give this album a shot, search online for [the few] other people's interpretations of the individual songs, or grab a translation of at least the song titles and decide for yourself what the music conveys. In my opinion, the instrumentation tells this story (with a little help from the rough translation) as well as English lyrics could. A fine piece of work on that basis alone. Add in the unique style ranging from modern prog to hints of the band's punk roots, executed with talents developed over the last 2-1/2 decades, and you get a very enjoyable concept record. Hyvää työtä, gentlemen.*

*[I really hope that means what it's supposed to mean.]