Jaktens Tid

"The Time of the Hunt" is what this title means. Time of hunting, of killing, of blood....This is all what the members of Finntroll want to bring to our minds with this album. Is not a new one, but definitely the album itself is considered by many fans as their best, featuring a mix of folk and Viking metal aspects, such as traditional joik singing. I don't really know why, but it's quite addictive.

They combine elements of extreme metal with Finnish polka, called humppa. Finntroll's lyrics are in Swedish, one of Finland's two national languages, because "Swedish just sounds damn trollish", according to the band's first vocalist, Katla (whose native language is Swedish). Finntroll means "Troll from Finland" or "a spotty troll" since the word for spot (acne) and a finnish person are the same in Swedish.

Finntroll was founded in 1997, by Teemu "Somnium" Raimoranta, guitarist of Impaled Nazarene, and Jan "Katla" Jämsen. Their first demo, Rivfader, was recorded about a year later, in 1998. After the demo recording, the other members of the band, Samu Ruotsalainen (from Barathrum, Shape of Despair and Rapture), Samuli Ponsimaa, Henri Sorvali (from Moonsorrow) and Sami Uusitalo joined the band.

The next step for Finntroll was this album,Jaktens Tid, which was released in 2001. This album managed to climb to rank 20 of the Finnish album charts, exceeding expectation of band and publisher alike. The following wave of popularity attracted the attention of Century Media, which began promoting Finntroll for the rest of the world. The following summer, the band had their first time playing on open air festivals in Finland and other countries.

The year after the release of the album Jaktens Tid proved to be a misfortune for Finntroll: some tours had to be cancelled, and in the aftermath of his problems, vocalist Jämsen had to retire from the band due to a viral-based tumor in his vocal cords which could not be removed surgically; he retired after the release of the album Visor om Slutet (English: Songs about the End).

Shortly before the release of Visor om Slutet, Raimoranta died by falling off a bridge in Helsinki after having consumed too much alcohol, according to the official story.

Finntroll didn't dissolve after losing one of their founding members, but decided to go on, touring for two weeks in Europe, supported by the group Katatonia. The guitarist Mikael Karlbom was hired as a replacement for Raimoranta.

In 2004, the band released an EP, Trollhammaren (English: The Troll Hammer), and an album called Nattfödd (English: Nightborn). Trollhammaren is one of the most asked songs by fans in concerts, hence one of the most populars.

On January 29th, 2006, Tapio Wilska, vocalist of the band since 2003, was fired from the band.

A new album, titled Ur Jordens Djup (English: From the Depths of the Earth), was released March, 2007. This fifth album put more emphasis on epic keyboard riffs with very loud but melodic guitar. The album is the first to feature vocalist Mathias Lillmåns. This and other factors appear to contribute to a darker, more trollish black metal feel.
You're welcome to talk about your favourite Finntroll album's, or some other kids of music if you prefer!

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I'm still alive!

It's strange to be back...it's been quite a long time without writing here and I've felt like if my "little child" was abandoned. Summer has passed without many incidents and I hope I'll be able to keep this blog alive for long :) just to give some clues, next post will be about WHY is this blog titled the way it is? so stay tuned ;)

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