FINNTROLL Hard At Work On New Material

Finnish folk metal band FINNTROLL is currently working on material for the follow-up to 2007's "Ur Jordens Djup". Keyboardist Henri "Trollhorn" Sorvali states, "It seems we are going to have nine songs on the album, and it will last about 39 minutes. But notice the punctuation on the word 'seems.' Everything can change, as this is FINNTROLL we're talking about."

He continues, "I personally think this will be our best album ever. Overall I can sense there's a lot 'punk' on it, lots of weirdness, a load of *riffs* instead of chord progressions, quite a bit of folkish parts and a lurking, evil atmosphere. In the terms of 'heaviness,' it's propably the heaviest album we've done, at least judging from the song material.

"I could pretty much safely say this sounds like a meaner and more wicked version of 'Ur Jordens Djup' with an occasional hint of the first album. For the dissappoitment for those who were waiting for songs sounding like 'Trollhammaren' or 'Jaktens Tid', I have to say that you propably should pick up the new KORPIKLAANI instead."

FINNTROLL is currently unsigned, having parted ways with Spinefarm and Century Media following the release of "Ur Jordens Djup". Sorvali states, "We're still negotiating with a couple of labels, and it will propably take a month to announce the new home. Right now nothing is certain, so I can't even hint that there's a 90% possibility we go somewhere."

FINNTROLL's fifth album, "Ur Jordens Djup", entered the German Media Control chart at position No. 91. The CD, which was recorded by Nino Laurenne at Sonic Pump studios in Helsinki, is the group's first release with Mathias Lillmåns following the departure of Tapio Wilska (SETHIAN, ex-WIZZARD, former session vocalist for NIGHTWISH) in January 2006.

Ross Empson, TOURETTES bass player and presenter of metal TV channel Rockalarm!, conducted an interview with FINNTROLL vocalist Mathias Lillmåns (a.k.a. Vreth) in December 2008 in Hamburg, Germany. Vreth compares touring experiences in the U.S. and Europe, talks about the current rise of folk and pagan metal in America and the difficulties of performing some of their acoustic stuff on stage. He also chats about the upcoming concert DVD, which was filmed last year in Amsterdam, and the process of writing new material. Watch the chat below.