It can’t be easy being a folk metal band in Finland when folk and battle metal is as common as a chilly morning, but Crimfall have delved into the recipe book and come up with “cinematic folk metal”. Imagine an album crammed with epic choirs, a lung-busting female vocalist, a gruff sidekick, a few fiddles and rolling thunder. There isn’t a lot to warrant the ‘cinematic’ tag except for the odd stylistic twist during The Last Of Stands where it goes a bit Star Wars-y, but Amain is very epic. The four-part Ten Winters Apart is the centrepiece; forgive the cheesy spoken intro – this 15-minute opus soon evolves into an outpouring of Helena Haaparanta’s operatic vocals while Mother Of Unbelievers mashes thrash and Eastern vibes to good effect. A bit of the less-obvious stuff and Crimfall will do well.
Crimfall - Amain album review
Ambitious five-piece attempt to break the Finnish folk metal mould
You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.
