Defenders Of The Faith, le forum Metal

Finnish folk metallers KORPIKLAANI will release their 10th studio album, "Kulkija" ("Wanderer"), on September 7 through Nuclear Blast. The cover artwork was designed by Jan Yrlund (BATTLE BEAST, MANOWAR), who previously worked with KORPIKLAANI on several albums and singles.

Founding member Jonne Järvelä commented: "We've never been as satisfied with a final result as we are with 'Kulkija'. We tried to keep it very natural, and that's what you'll soon be able to hear clearly. Like the wanderer, this album is a journey, one that makes you feel good. Stay tuned!"

Accordionist Sami Perttula added: "'Kulkija' isn't just a collection of songs, it's a 'real' album with a unique atmosphere guiding the listeners through a long journey. All songs were well prepared in advance and nothing needed to be arranged in the studio. Tuomas [fiddle] and I had lots of space to develop and play the folk arrangements."

Järvelä told The Moshville Times that "Kulkija" cannot be compared to any of KORPIKLAANI's previous records. "It is actually a totally new kind of KORPIKLAANI album," he said. "We have a new producer and a new guy who mixes the album. There are 14 songs, so the format will be completely different but maybe there'll be something similar on some songs as well."

Added violinist Tuomas Rounakari: "It will have the music of KORPIKLAANI, it will sound like KORPIKLAANI and it will feel like KORPIKLAANI, but I feel there's a clear continuation from 'Manala' [2012] to 'Noita' [2015] and from 'Noita' to this album. It's really a feel-good album. There's the strong feeling of the stories on most of the songs, which is really important, and I guess that from playing, it's a much more natural feel-good. It's less produced but more musical. That's one way to look at the music. To me, a lot of albums are over-produced. They are over-produced to the point that the music is not alive anymore. Like you can put in the song everything so that it'll be exact technically, in the intonation and all… It ends up sounding like a machine."