It appears Finntroll have been out troll’d.

With Finntroll becoming a bit less ‘trolly’ on their latest effort Blodsvept, dumping the fur and bones in favor of a steam-punk meets Pirate of the Caribbean visage and branching out into more symphonic, circus-ish and experimental realms and less polka/humpa inspired fun (though still a fine album), Norway’s Trollfest is here to up the troll and fun factors both to 11 and potentially claim the throne for over the top, humpa and polka drenched black metal.

Make no bones about it, Trollfest are ripping off early Finntroll and proud of it. But they are doing it with such flair and intensity it’s hard not to like if you are a fan of Finntroll’s earlier works as they take that same impish playfulness and crank it up a thousand fold. We are talking, at times, hyperspeed (think Wintersun’s faster moments) polka metal here and its fucking awesome. Don’t believe me? Go to the opening title track’s first minute (those fucking bee samples had me going crazy though), the carnival-ish blasts of second track “Böse Tivoli”, and particularly, third track “Illsint” and hold your breath for a three minute accordion laced whirlwind hyperblast.

But within these whirling trollish dervish tracks are oodles of fun folk romps and ditties that will bring a smile to your face, if you are as into this stuff as I am. After those three wind sucking openers, things settle down with the drunken campfire shanty of “Hevlete” and the sterner bounce and thrash of “Finsken Norsken og Presten” which have could come from any of Finntrolls first few albums. The albums lead off single “Trinkentroll” is a rousing singalong bar song sandwiched between the intense and meaner “Apis Mellifera” and the somber, almost flamenco styled ballad “Verboten Kjærleik” which derails the mood a bit.

There’s a couple of other oddities on Brumlebassen, even with the band’s tongue firmly in cheek such as the acoustic ballad “Mystisk Maskert” which somehow wormed its way into my head or the intentionally named female vocal-led balled “Sellout”, which is as the name implies compared to the rest of the album. Still though another classically Finntroll-ish number, “Brak” and personal favorite and arguably one of my favorite folk metal track of the last few years the short but sweet “Rundt Ballet” bring the album home on a positive note. Seriously, if “Rundt Ballet” does not get you off your ass, you simply don’t like metal. Or fun.

Though released back in 2012 on NoiseArt Records, Napalm Records is giving this a redo, and its a sure fire year end list release for me, and I think I’d die if I could see “Rundt Ballet” live at this years Paganfest, but I’ll settle as naming it easily as one of my favorite folk metal releases of recent memory.

[Visit the band's website]

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