Korpiklaani: Folklore and Superstition

One of the joys about a band who have been around for years is when they bring out a barnstormer of a record and proved their creative tank is as full as it was at the beginning of their careers. KORPIKLAANI have managed that spectacularly over the course of their nine albums, with latest effort Jylhä continuing to push the boundaries of what can be achieved within the confines of folk metal. One would justifiably assume, though, that with each writing process the challenge to keep things at the highest of standards would get increasingly tougher; not so, according to bassist Jarkko Alltonen.

“The songs have been getting, let’s say, more complicated and better constructed – there’s more tiny arrangement hooks than there was the beginning, but at the same time we have become better ourselves in how to work nowadays, and that sense it’s actually easier,” he explains. “Furthermore, the actual studio time was very simple because of the pandemic; with all shows cancelled we had all the time to rehearse and have a proper pre-production session, so I think this was actually the easiest album I’ve made with the band, even though we did more work beforehand.”

This new approach to an album likely goes a long way to explaining why Jylhä is arguably the most diverse album KORPIKLAANI have ever put out. Their folk metal foundations are still very much present in the likes of Sanaton maa and Leväluhta, but there’s some serious classic riffs running through Verikoira and darker subject matters, like existentialism with Meiro or one of Finland’s most infamous unsolved murder cases, as Kiuru delves into. For sheer lunacy though, Pidot – translating as ‘meal’, brings slide guitar into the band’s repertoire and, even weirder, a guest spot on banjo by EXODUS bassist Jack Gibson. Yep, you read that right.

“It’s one of those songs where we don’t kill anyone!” Laughs Jarkko. “We have always trying to expand our music now and then into different directions, and this time, well, it was this direction! It’s a hilarious song, but I’ve learned that it isn’t weird any more. At the beginning it’s a bit strange, but once you’ve finished all the other songs and the album is put together, you don’t even thing that the song is somehow different to the rest of them; it becomes ‘our’ song.”

Jylhä is also the first album since the band’s 2003 debut to feature a different drummer to long-standing member Matti Johansson, with Samuli Mikkonen taking the spot behind the kit as the band’s newest, permanent member. Jarkko explains that whilst the decision wasn’t easy to replace their kitman of seventeen years, it was necessary – and that it had been heading that way for a while. “Matti was an important figure in the band and that cannot be understated, but the new songs needed a better drummer and Samuli was someone we’d known for a long time. Once the very difficult decision had been made to change the drummer we didn’t even consider any other options, and Sam has settled in extremely well. But I don’t know if you know this, but Matti didn’t play on many recent albums, it was a session guy playing the drums, and as the parts got more technical and complicated, he had a harder time figuring those out, so we needed someone else and that was that.”

Jarkko also took time to praise the band’s fanbase – a number of years ago KORPIKLAANI stopped recording and singing songs in English, instead choosing their native tongue with lyrics written by famed Finnish poet and author Tuomas Keskimäki. A move that could have deterred many who enjoyed the ease of singing back in a more accessible language, instead things have turned out for the best. “I like that the heavy metal audience still has an old-school attitude with music, especially our audience. It’s not a ‘Quick, let’s listen to the new single on Spotify’ kind of thing, they actually put their mind into the songs, they study the lyrics, they try to understand and support what the band are doing and what they’re singing about. When you get to a venue and you see all the other people there for the same reason as you, it feels as if you’re part of some sort of secret society, like a brotherhood of metal or something. I really appreciate our audience for that.”

The tribal nature of KORPIKLAANI’s music has gelled well with the vehement loyalty that the metal community often displays at shows or social gatherings, and it’s something that will keep the Finns in great stead for many years. 2023 marks the band’s official 20th birthday, and you wouldn’t put it past them to make it, in some form or other, to their fortieth year of existences either.

Jylhä is out now via Nuclear Blast Records. 

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