by Finnish folk metallers, Korpiklaani, are set to release their 10th studio album, Kulkija (Wanderer), on September 7, 2018, via Nuclear Blast. The band will return to North America (w/ Ensiferum, Trollfest) after over a three-year absence. Russian pagan/folk metallers Arkona will be joining them as direct support. All dates can be found here.
With 14 tracks, Kulkija is their longest album, but also their most natural sounding one to date explains Jonne:
That’s what you can clearly hear. It’s closer to how we sound on stage, and we’ll be able to play all new songs live, that’s for sure.
For tracking, the band members mostly used their current tour rig.
Sami stated:
It’s not just a collection of songs, it’s a ‘real’ album.
Added Jonne:
It needed many songs to create this atmosphere, and the record’s flow is really good too. You should definitely listen to Kulkija as a whole. The more you listen to the record, the more details you can find.
Sami Perttula explained further:
We really took our time and recorded it piece by piece. All songs were also well prepared in advance and nothing needed to be arranged in the studio like sometimes before.
Lyrically, the album deals with the album’s title character, the wanderer. He appears in every song and every single track represents one of his life situations. For example, “Neito” deals with his woman. “The woman is the road, and as much as the wanderer loves being on the road, so much he loves his maiden,” explains Jonne. The album can even mostly be transferred to the band’s life on the road, far from home, which makes it probably also Korpiklaani’s most personal and emotional album.
The mastering skills of renowned engineer Svante Forsbäck (Rammstein and others.), who already worked with the band on Live at Masters of Rock (2017), gave the record its unique sound. Kulkija was recorded in November 2017 at Petrax Studio (Hollola, Finland) and mixed at Sound Supreme Studio (Hämeenlinna, Finland) with producer/mixing engineer Janne Saksa and the final result presents the band as you’ve never heard them before.
The corresponding detailed cover artwork was designed by Jan Yrlund (Battle Beast, Manowar, and others), who has been designing their covers since their third album, and shows a beautiful landscape, based on a real photo taken by Jan at Huhtalan torppa, Kuhmoinen, Finland.
Rock Hard \m/
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