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!

New Release: Ensiferum - From Afar

Finnish metalists Ensiferum released their first album in 2001, and I hadn't heard of them until their 4th album was released just 2 days ago. Upon reading up a little, I discovered that they are considered to be "folk metal" or "viking metal," fusion metal genres I've only recently obtained more familiarity with than the simple knowledge of their existence. It sounded interesting, but I was merely expecting something similar to Amon Amarth or other bands of the genre. Not exactly so...