Korpiklaani - Ukon Wacka

November 8, 2011

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There’s really no way to win anyone over with Korpiklaani’s music. Jerry Garcia once compared the music of the Grateful Dead to being like licorice: either you really like it, or you think it’s disgusting. Korpiklaani are much the same way, although one could take the licorice flavoring metaphor further and compare them to absinthe (given their renowned alcoholic intake). Those who like Korpiklaani think they’re insanely fun and will joik and dance to their music for hours on end, whereas those who dislike their music will almost always dismiss them as being farcical and ridiculous.

With the title track on this release presenting a slow Finnish chant before giving way to the Korp’s trademark fast Finnish folk superimposed over a polka/Hellhammer beat, it’s clear that Korpiklaani are not out to reinvent the wheel. They simply do what they do, with no frills attached, out of the interest of entertaining. Jonne Jarvela’s bark is much the same as it was in 2003, Hittavainen’s fiddle playing still holds sway over the band’s melodic side, their drummer tries to work with as many variations of the basic polka beat as possible, and so forth.

And for all this, one has to give them credit. It would be easy to descend into irony with a band whose music is as odd as Korpiklaani’s, but instead they handle their situation with a good old fashioned sense of gentle humor, which comes into focus on “Tequila” (get it? It’s Finnish folk metal about a Mexican drink!) and “Vaarinpolkka” (it’s a “grandpa polka”! And it’s just an instrumental! Get it?). Korpiklaani is what is best described as a stalwart band: never ironic enough to be a straight parody, never serious enough to devolve into pretension. As a result, they are able to produce a product of consistent quality and sound every time.

However, as much as this album seems to recap Korpiklaani’s past career and straightforward ethic, there are ever-so-subtle signs of expanding horizons. This album is the first they’ve ever released to be sung entirely in Finnish (who says regional scenes are dying?). Furthermore, this album is conceptually more complex than their other albums: the album’s title derives from a sacrificial festival towards the Finnish god Ukko, and some of the songs, when translated, are quite uncharacteristically dark. The closing track’s title translates as “Death”, and sounds oddly like Amon Amarth or Ensiferum with Jonne’s vocals providing the only discernible difference, whilst “Tuoppi Oltta” struts along at a march-like cadence that is generally not present in Korpiklaani’s songs.

Most of the tracks still sound much the same, though it is clear that Korpiklaani don’t intend to stand still. Rather, they are maturing slowly, much like fine liquor: as time goes on, their basic sound does not change, but small elements of it ultimately do over time. Seeing as how Korpiklaani were one of the pioneering bands of the 2000s folk metal explosion, this strategy seems to work for them. Unable to out-folk or out-metal many of their contemporaries, Korpiklaani would seem to be devoted to simply staying the course through its logical progressions and providing the subgenre with a steady foundation for other bands to build upon. Frankly, I feel this is to be commended. Cannibal Corpse has done this with death metal and Darkthrone with black metal; both are bands where not every album is essential but the mere existence of their sound is important. Ukon Wacka reveals Korpiklaani to be doing much the same thing for folk metal. This may not be an important album to buy, but it is a necessary album to exist. For that alone, I feel it’s worth a listen. That, and the fact that it’s fun as hell.

— Rhys Williams

HEAR UKON WACKA

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