Ash Nazg Durbatuluk!!!!

FinnTroll's 2003 disc Visor Om Slutet ("Songs of the End") is like The Chieftains and System of a Down scoring a version of the Lord of the Rings where Sauron wins and orcs take over the world, and its not such a bad thing. As with all histories, real or otherwise, it is written by the winners, and if Frodo and Sam had screwed it all up the movie would've been different and this would be the soundtrack.

Finntroll is my proof that there is good in every genre, even death metal. They are what Conan the Barbarian would listen to today if he were pillaging Seacaucus or something. Yes, they grunt and growl their lyrics (in Swedish) and they play their drums and geetars real fast and real loud, but they also convey a sense of ancient grandeur straight out of Professor T and the Elder Edda, of frostbitten northern nights and magic in the deep woods.

Visor Om Slutet is the disc for those who even with all that cant take the heaviness of the "standard" Finntroll music. Recorded on both electric and acoustic instruments, including tubas, kazoos, and such folky stuff, this record is about medieval folk music played by a heavy metal band. It is what Zepp was trying to evoke on songs like "Battle of Evermore" and "Immigrant Song" without losing their metal edge - here, for the most part, this band of dark, hairy Finnish barbarians give up the metal sound and find its soul. Its not a long album and takes some getting used to, but by gum if it aint the perfect music to sit in the candlelit dark of your mead hall on a winters night.

If Grendel had been a rock star, this is the album he would have produced. Brilliant. Weak of heart should not find translations on the web - actually better to listen in the original Swedish to get the effect. The Mole says go forth and conquer. (Theres a link to Finntroll's website over there to your right with some old demos available for download).