Record Label: Century Media
Genre: Humppa/Folk Metal
Band Link: link
Buy on Amazon.com link

Finntroll is the coolest band in the world.

Their first song is a 3 1/2-minute overdramatic orchestral intro, produced and executed like something out of a John Williams-conducted Steven Spielberg summer blockbuster score.

After that uplifting motif, the mmmmetal kicks in, but this isn’t your ordinary metal. This metal is as overdramatic and cinematic as that intro. It almost has like a Broadway show production, and you can just picture a bunch of evil vikings in the Carnegie Hall orchestral pit.

That doesn’t sound cool, but it kinda is. But the kicker is the type of metal Finntroll excels at. They play that sub-sub-subgenre of Scandinavian metal known as humppa. It’s a mix of black metal and Finnish polka. Seriously.

But man, does it work. They execute it flawlessly, and they sound like deranged dwarves and trolls dancing together to klezmer in a forest clearing. And somehow the overproduction and thespian feel add to the outrageous silliness/awesomeness. In a strange way, you could compare it to Oingo Boingo – that bouncy, insane sound structured like a zany film score. And some of their more polka-y songs, like En Maktig Har, sound like something Danny Elfman could’ve come up with if he were a black metal pagan.

Anyway, this shit is retarded and I love it.

Bottom Line: It’s like a black metal retelling of Hansel & Gretel.
Notable Tracks: Sang, Ur Djupet, En Maktig Har
Overall Rating: