KORPIKLAANI: 'Noita' Cover Artwork Unveiled

February 9, 2015

Finnish folk metallers KORPIKLAANI will release their new album, "Noita", on May 5 in North America via Nuclear Blast. Recorded at Petrax Studio with Aksu Hanttu producing, recording and mixing again, it is the band's first CD to feature new accordion player Sami Perttula, who played a very active role in the folk arrangements along with fiddler Tuomas Rounakari.

The cover artwork for "Noita" was created by Jan Yrlund from Darkgrove Design, who has created all the KORPIKLAANI covers in recent years

Commented KORPIKLAANI bass player Jarkko Aaltonen: "'Noita', in the traditional Finnish meaning, is different than what people associate it with nowadays.

"'Noita' is a person with wider knowledge and understanding of the nature and who also was believed to possess paranormal or unnatural abilities. These people were often also referred to as Tietäjä, [which] exactly means someone with wider knowledge and understanding of pretty much everything.

"Native American medicine man is pretty much the same thing or actually all the different types of Shamans of the primitive peoples are the same thing. Noita is someone that you turn to when you need help of some kind.

"Finnish Noita had the ability to heal, just like their North American counterparts. They were very respected members of the society. Only later Christianity changed the word to mean something negative since those people were considered rivals by the church. Even in Finland, this turned into a witchhunt (=noitavaino) every now and then.

"Anyway, most people using Google Translate or similar will find the word 'witch' and will probably get a bit wrong idea of the meaning, since most will probably connect it with the black sabbaths, devil marks and such, when a way more correct translation would probably be medicine man or Shaman."

Added Pertulla: "Previously the KORPIKLAANI albums were played with a piano-accordion and now I play with a traditional button-accordion which was more widely used in Finland anyways. In the arrangements you can hear more tonal harmonies and folky accompaniments combined to the power-chords than before. It actually boosts up the uplifting feel of our music."

KORPIKLAANI violinist Toumas Rounakari commented: "This album has more violin solos than ever before. Violin is more in the role of a lead-guitar now just as Jonne had originally intended it to be."

KORPIKLAANI vocalist Jonne Järvelä concluded: "We have finally managed to create the balance between folk and metal in the way I've always dreamt it to be. Thanks to Sami's arrangements and Tuomas's crazy shredding of the violin.”

In March, KORPIKLAANI will headline the Paganfest extended shows and will additionally play a run of European festivals later this year.

korpiklaaninoitacd

Find more on Korpiklaani
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).