(written by Islander)
We have a very unusual song for you in this premiere, one that will carry listeners through a variety of sensations and musical traditions (some much older than others), and one whose head-spinning and heart-pounding experiences are vitally connected to the band’s inspirations and ambitions for the album that includes it.
That album, Laulut tulen ja jään, is the third full-length from the Finnish band Paara, and it will be released by the Dusktone label on October 30th. Once again, it reflects Paara’s sense of place and of history, vitally connected to the brutal yet beautiful landscapes of the cold North they call home and the dark myths spawned there, but the album has other meanings as well, as Paara explain:
Laulut tulen ja jään is an allegory for death, depression and loss. In simplicity it’s a hero’s journey – war breaks, our hero needs to end the suffering and heads out to face death in the underworld. The album paints a dark picture of this mythic North with gods of old. You could also say that the album is esoteric, because it’s filled with hidden meanings, mythology and folktales. So, it’s more complex than what it first seems. It beckons for the listener to come back and dig deeper.
What we have for you today is the premiere of a Finnish-language lyric video for a song from the new album nbamed “Kylmään kylään“.
Photo by Teppo Ristola
We have this statement from Paara about how the song fits into the album’s allegorical narrative:
In “Kylmään kylään” the hero is answering the call of death. Kylmään kylään means “a cold village” which is used here as a metaphor for death – or more specifically the moment of death. It’s like arriving in a desolate cold village, alone. This song is about dealing with death, loss and disconsolation. How do you face the final frontier? How do you choose to deal with past events and your mortality? It’s also a song about overcoming immense obstacles, surviving the long darkness that we call depression.
As mentioned above, the song includes many facets and changing sensations, and they reveal themselves in unpredictable ways.
It begins raucously and riotously, with sudden bursts of harsh voices yelling, guitars maniacally roiling, and drums punching and hammering. You might think you’ve been thrown into a crowded tavern that should have turned off the taps hours ago. But just as suddenly the drums lock onto a simple and steady beat, a gloriously sparkling guitar solo flies high, and clear choral voices sing a moving and somewhat melancholy folk melody.
And all that happens in just slightly more than the first minute. From there the band continue spinning listeners around, renewing their wild black metal assault, unfurling their glorious guitar soloing again, and trading off between the gritty harsh howls and the choral voices. The music also expands to panoramic breadth, as the majestic backdrop for even more extravagant choral singing and another guitar solo that’s epic yet plaintive in its mood.
The choral singing is tremendously passionate and stirring, and its exhilarating effects are amplified by vivid bass lines and electric drum-fills. The fervent throat-straining yells also return in tandem with soaring, wordless voices as the music panoramically swells to a final heart-in-your-throat finale — one that does seem to capture the overcoming of immense obstacles and resilience in the face of daunting disconsolation.
PAARA is:
Zvartus: guitars, vocals, keyboards & programming
Helmouth: vocals & soundscapes
Hahtezan: vocals
Trangoth: bass
Waara: drums & percussions
Laulut tulen ja jään was produced by Zvartus and Helmouth and features cover art by David Thiérrée. It will be released by Dusktone in two different vinyl editions and on CD and digital formats. For more info and to pre-order, see the links below. Also below we’re including Paara’s video for the album’s first single, “Pohjolan“.
PRE-ORDER:
https://www.dusktone.it/
https://dusktone.bandcamp.com/album/laulut-tulen-ja-j-n
PAARA:
https://paara.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/paaranmaa
https://www.instagram.com/paaraband/