Kalevala "Musicanti di Brema" Moonlight Records
Release date: February 12, 2011
Running time: 45:06, 12 tracks
Following Wikipedia, the Kalevala is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral folklore and mythology. I guess that everybody is thinking that I’m going to review a Viking metal or a Pagan folk band. This is not the case. Kalevala HMS are labeled as Folk metal, but I feel that this term is not suitable to define the band. There is plenty of metal guitars on the album, but their music is more than that.
If you are also wondering about the HMS at the end of their name, I have found that there are more bands with the same name, for instance a folk metal band from Russia. But Kalevala HMS hail from Parma (Italy), a well-known place because of its excellent cheese. The line-up consists of vocals (Simone Casula), guitars (Daniel Zoncheddu), bass (Emilano Occhi), accordion (Arjuna Iacci), flute (Dario Caradente) and drums (Tommy Celletti)
“I Musicanti di Brema” (The Musicians from Bremen) is their 6th album. I must admit that this is my first contact with the band, so I guess that they have evolved from a Celtic Rock band to a pan European folk rock band. At least, their previous efforts included a lot of Celtic songs and tunes. But “I Musicanti di Brema” includes 12 songs (one instrumental, one song in French, eight tracks in English and two in Italian) and only two are covers: “Weila Waila” (Irish trad.) and “Ballo in Fa Diesis min”(Angelo Branduardi)
The guest musicians on the album are Anchise Bolchi (fiddle on “Weila Waila”) and Alessandro Stocchi (harmonica on “Living Drome”). The album has been produced by the band together with Dorian Bones. Kalevala’s sound is quite original and it’s obvious that the members of the band really believe in their project. As it has been previously said, there is a great deal of metal guitars, but the band also re-visits French bal mussette, rock from 70’s (Queen, Bowie…), native American chants, Irish ballads, Italian folk music and medieval music.
Check out the following tracks: “Time Bandits” (a rocking number à la Queen featuring great guitar and flute works), “Ride’Em Cowbell” (metal guitars and American Indian chants), “Ballo in Fa” (a brilliant cover with a folkie beginning and a kick-ass end with percussion and flute), “Bouchon de Liège” (accordion mussette with Jacques Brel echoes), “Weila Waila” (top-notch verision, you’ll love it) and the instrumental “Ten Ton Butterfly” (these guys know how to use accordion and flute on rocking numbers).
The packaging is excellent, a digipack with a 12 page booklet and an artwork based on the playing cards (not the Anglo-American deck, but the one with swords, clubs, cups and coins)
Tracklist:
1 - Time Bandits
2 - Building a Cromlech
3 - Ride'em Cowbell
4 - Living Drome
5 - Ballo in Fa Diesis min
6 - Bouchons de Liege
7 - Weila Waila
8 - Necropolitan
9 - Rigmarole
10 - Ten Ton Butterfly
11 - Albumin Vampire
12 - Musicanti di Brema
http://www.kalevalahms.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kalevala-hms/141388365908954
http://www.myspace.com/kalevalafolkmetal
Click to buy the CD:
http://www.kalevalahms.com/disco.html
Review by Kinksmarkham
Kalevala "There and Back Again!" Moonlight Records
Release date: May 5th, 2012
Running time: 32:25,11 tracks
“There and Back Again!” is the follow-up to Kalevala HMS’ 2011 album “Musicanti di Brema”. The Italian sextet has worked together with producer Dorian Bones again and they have mixed and mastered the album at Moonlight Studios too. The artwork is awesome as usual. This time it is not a digipack, but a jewel case with a 12 page booklet looking like an early XXth century newspaper full of ads.
This album is shorter than their previous effort (11 songs instead of 13) and the guests are different: Maurizio Cardullo (Medievala pipes on “Folk Metal, Baby!”) and Yves Casoli (drum leather Scottish snare drum on “Waterloo”). And, what about the music and the sound? Basically they follow the same path, but maybe there is more Queen inspired songs on this new album (“Full Frontal Nudity”, “There and Back Again!”) and even some funky beats (“Glasses, Glasses, Glasses” a Michael McGoldrick inspired number). Songs are sung mainly in English, but there are also songs in Italian and French.
My faves are track no. 3, “Folk Metal Baby!” (a real Folk metal song featuring accordion, flute and pipes), “Come Dio Comanda” (another metal number with great accordion), “Nigel’s Got a Sword” (an awesome beginning based on Celtic sounding percussion and flute in a British folk rock number with more Queen sound) and the track that is sung in French, “Waterloo” (more Irish sounding flute together with great guitar work)
It is not easy to define the music that Kalevala HMS play. Folk metal? Folk-Rock? Hard Folk?. Kalevala’s sound has no boundaries and their lyrics on different languages make them special too. I can find some similarities with the French band Faubourg de Boignard, but I can also find a lot of elements that are different. Therefore, grab a copy of their albums and draw your own conclusions.
Tracklist:
1 -
2 - S'i Fosse Foco
3 - Folk Metal, Baby!
4 - Full Frontal Nudity
5 - Come Dio Comanda
6 - Nigel's Got a Sword
7 - There and Back Again
8 - Glasses
9 - Dinamite
10 - Waterloo
11 - U Golema
http://www.kalevalahms.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kalevala-hms/141388365908954
http://www.myspace.com/kalevalafolkmetal
Click to buy the CD:
http://www.kalevalahms.com/disco.html
Review by Kinksmarkham
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