If you’ve read my staff picks for 2005 I’m sure there’s no doubting my partiality towards this album. From Mars to Sirius is at once menacing, brutally heavy, ambient and introspective. From Mars to Sirius is the definition of massive; massive melodies, massive heaviness, and massive riffs and beatdowns. And now you get to hear [...]

Dedication (n): getting up at 5.30am to interview one of the most exciting bands in Finnish folk metal who unfortunately (for me) happen to reside in an entirely different time zone. Then finding out one of you must be on daylight savings and consequently staying up until 1.30am interviewing one of the most exciting bands in Finnish folk metal. Korpiklaani literally translates to ‘Forest Clan’, and they play an exciting and novel form of organic folk melodies and traditional metal. I conversed with bass player Jarkko Aaltonen regarding the bands roots, their live act and their future endeavours.

So the mighty Swedish super-group (as much as the band is loathe to avoid that term, it’s rather fitting) return to follow up their widely lauded and critically acclaimed full length debut Resurrection Through Carnage. There have been some big changes in the band since their last recorded outing. The mighty Dan Swanö has shifted [...]