Review - Nattfodd (Night Born) by Finnish Folk Metal Band Finntroll

• Tapio Wilska: vocals
• Mikael Karlborn: guitars
• Samuli Ponsimaa: guitars
• Sami Uusitalo: bass guitars
• Henri Sorvali: keyboards (he is also the producer of the album along with Uusitalo).
• Samu Ruotsalainen: drums

Finntroll are a folk metal band from Finland. That means that they mix Finnish black metal with folk music to create an interesting and enjoyable combination of music. Their 3^rd album Nattfodd (Night born) is their 3^rd album and one of their best. It was released in September 2004. I had the opportunity to see them play live back in 2007. It was released through Spinefarm Records in Finland and Century Media outside of Finland. The band sings or rather growls in the Swedish language for the album. You don’t need to understand Swedish to enjoy this album. The album provides 37 minutes of music that is haunting, enchanting, well-written and beautiful! I am writing the song titles in English whenever possible. This is done with the intention of making it easier for readers. I did this same thing for the Mokoma album reviews. If you enjoy albums that are short yet have beautifully written songs that will keep you wanting to hear more, this album is a great choice.

1. Windtravel/Human Plague
2. Eliytres (definite folk metal influence in this song)
3. Fisherman’s Enemy
4. The Trollhammer
5. Night Born
6. Ancient Mushroom
7. Market Tune
8. The Icecold Trollblood
9. Children of the Cave
10. Smoke (instrumental)

The album begins with the captivating and beautiful song called Windtravel/Human Plague. It has some growling vocals that stretch for a while. In the middle of the song there is an awesome melodic part that is one of the best things this band has ever composed. It is so beautiful that it still leaves me amazed even after so many listens. The beginning of this song is in a way similar to Catamenia’s song Verikansa but instead of battle sounds, this song has some shouting in the background followed by what sounds like cold air blowing. The song builds up slowly into an elite folk metal song as the song lyrically tells us of the story of humans bring attacked by trolls. Hence, that may be a reason why this band’s name is Finntroll.

Night Born is full of good songs!

The Trollhammer is a song that uses organ and creates that definite folk music that Finland is known for. The excellent fast song called Ancient Mushroom has a great keyboard sound. It makes you want to get up and dance! Make sure to get those endorphins released when you can! Ancient Mushroom is a song about wild beasts dancing around as a fire burns in a forest. They are looking to someone called the Ripfather for advice about what to do. They are supposed to drive fear into the hearts of men. Market Tune starts with some chanting style vocals before presenting the listener with some growls in the song.

The album ends with the excellent instrumental called Smoke. The song has simple acoustic guitar yet it is so beautiful that words cannot describe it! There are no bad songs in the album. This is one of the finest moments in the career of Finntroll for sure! When any band includes a soft instrumental song in an album, it adds variety to it and makes the album stronger. It shows a willingness to explore other aspects of music. This writer gives the album a score of 90 out of 100 points. However, as is the case with albums with lyrics in languages other than English, getting recognized for bands like this outside their home country is a very challenging task. I remember seeing these guys LIVE in concert back in 2007 and that serves as a nostalgic event. I did say earlier that fans of metal did not need to understand the Swedish language to enjoy this album but for some fans, this language difference may be a problem. Even though the album’s title is Night Born this does not mean that the album is better if you listen to it at night. Night Born the song has a nice acoustic guitar section followed by one of the most impressive guitar parts in the history of this band. Even so, the beautiful acoustic song called Smoke (depending on the translation tool that is used) is one of the best endings to any heavy metal album ever. The reason is that this song is so finely constructed that describing it probably would be very tough. A masterpiece is what this last song is and it makes up for any imperfections that this album may have!