Sammal - Myrskyvaroitus (2015)

Seguimos con notables discos desconocidos de bandas finlandesas, y acá va otro disco de Sammal, banda actual pero de sonido muy setentero y con muy buenas canciones psicodélicas que presentamos ayer. Excelente rock bien setentero y en finlandés "en una generosa vuelta de tuerca se sacan de la manga este estratosferico e impronunciable álbum, una master class sobe como facturar ritmos y melodías eficientes e inmemoriales, un submundo sonoro personalizado, donde la psicodelia, el rock progresivo y los sonidos arrebatados al tiempo pugnan por salir a la superficie envueltos en una asombrosa armonía". Muy recomendable... yo no diría que imperdible pero sì muy interesante.

Artista: Sammal

Álbum: Myrskyvaroitus
Año: 2015
Género: Rock psicodélico
Duración: 48:36
Nacionalidad: Finlandia

Lista de Temas:
01. Stormvarning
02. Jarjen Ohimarssi
03. Samaan Arkeen
04. Kohtaaminen Yon Vyolla
05. Muurahaisen Paivauni
06. Aika On Alkamassa
07. Sulle Haavan Tein
08. Kohti Pintaa
09. Heratkaa!

Alineación:
- Jan-Erik Kiviniemi / Vocals, Percussion
- Lasse Ilano / Bass Guitar
- Tuomas Karivaara / Drums
- Juhani Laine / Guitar, Organ, Piano, Synthesizer
- Jura Salmi / Guitar, Piano, Synthesizer

Acabo de darme cuenta que esta banda, con solo dos discos, se ha hecho bastante conocida en tierras escandinavas, debido a la calidad de sus discos, tanto el que presentamos ayer como este de hoy. Los tipos están tocando en varios festivales y recitales y sus discos se venden bien a pesar de ser una banda independiente.
Musicalmente, el disco contiene un sonido setentero descarado e incluso acercamientos al jazz, sin embargo, sus ganchos pop son claros, los coros, las melodías, los estribillos, sus atmósferas espaciales ligeras, viaje psicodélico hipnóticos en un rock por momentos casi bailable y que ocasionalmente alcanza el sonido oriental o de nostálgica melancolía, un hard rock pop psicodélico finlandés suena particular, y lo es, todo ello conforma un combo no muy diferente a lo que conocemos pero sí con un estilo definido y particular.

Lo de Sammal acaba siendo algo así como un movimiento increscendo perpetuo, una bola de nieve ladera abajo que va engrosando su volumen de manera exponencial a cada giro. Sus dos anteriores albumes eran literalmente para enmarcar, en especial su Nº2 de 2014. Ahora dos años más tarde en una generosa vuelta de tuerca se sacan de la manga este estratosferico e impronunciable álbum, una master class sobe como facturar ritmos y melodías eficientes e inmemoriales, un submundo sonoro personalizado, donde la psicodelia, el rock progresivo y los sonidos arrebatados al tiempo pugnan por salir a la superficie envueltos en una asombrosa armonía.

microminusculo

El disco es refrescante y para nada ambicioso, estos finlandeces hacen lo que les gusta y a su forma y estilo, pero con una paleta de sonidos lo suficientemente variada y amplia como para tener un resultado por demás satisfactorio, y es por ello que aparece en el blog cabezón para alegría de más de un cabezón.

For their third album Sammal have declared a “second coming”, declaring that they want to be themselves and shake off any comparisons with Black Sabbath or Uriah Heep. My personal recollection of listening to Sammal was of a retro progressive listening experience. Helpfully they have now said who they consider to be influential in their music and it’s an interesting mix: Vangelis, Moody Blues, Scandinavian jazz and Turkish progressive psychedelic music.

Vamos con algunos comentarios en inglés, pero sepanq ue este disco casi no tiene comentarios, es bastante nuevo y muy exótico. Recuerden que tambièn lo pueden comprar y escuchar en su espacio de Bandcamp.

Lovingly pinched from Sea of Tranquility: You might remember a year or so ago we covered a little EP by a Finnish band called Sammal, who sing in their native tongue and pay homage to some of the great prog and heavy rock bands of the ’70s.
That debut EP collected some early songs of the bands career, and with this latest Svart Records release the entire group collaborated on all new material of sparkling, heavy progressive rock that is sure to thrill any fan of the genre.
Once again, the vocals are front and center, sung in the Finnish dialect, but that doesn’t detract from the overall listening experience as they are soaring and quite melodic, reminding at times of the quality that we’ve gotten used to with many of the great Italian prog singers over the years.
Musically, as with the debut, plenty of blistering guitar and commanding Hammond organ permeate the arrangements, tunes such as ‘Samaan arkeen’ and ‘Stormvarning’ bristling with majestic passages as well as moments of hard rocking fury. Both ‘Järjen ohimarssi’ and ‘Kohtaus yön vyöllä’ are a must for Deep Purple / Uriah Heep fans with their grand keyboard /guitar interplay, while the heavy riffs of ‘Muurahaisen päiväuni’ recall early Black Sabbath but tossed with some sensational vintage prog rock styled keyboards.

roadburn.com

For me as a Finn, much of the best new music of 2014–5 has come from Finland. This doesn't mean that I am a fucking patriot, and I don't think it means that Finland is a new Mecca of popular music. Instead, many countries may have their own equivalents for Jukka Nousiainen, Ville Leinonen, Iida Umpikuja and the likes, but usually, no one ever hears about them outside the domestic scenes. Of course in the case of the aforementioned, one main reason is the language, which is Finnish of course. But why are they singing in Finnish if their music is good enough to conquer the world? The unfortunate answer is that they know they have no chance to make it internationally, because their music is alternative music. It is not the kind the global capitalism wants or needs. Furthermore, these artists usually don't want or need the global capitalism to sell them[selves to]. So this is the Brave New World where we only know the international crap and a few domestic treasures. Weird.
Sammal is also a new, quite 'alternative' band, operating in Finland and singing in Finnish. Except that the opening track of this album, "Stormvarning", is sung in Swedish. Of course Swedish is the closest to the imagined Scandinavian lingua franca ('skandinaviska') that one can get, but no: this song is evidently (and intentionally!) sung in Finnish Swedish. The language is the same as what most people speak in Sweden but the pronunciation is very different – like the Swiss 'Schwyzerdütsch' compared to German. The rest on this album is sung in Finnish excluding two brief instrumentals, of which "Kohtaaminen yön vyöllä" is actually quite good. "Stormvarning" is a fine prog rock song as well, while "Samaan arkeen" is not bad at all either. The rest varies from average to decent. Thus, Sammal is not going to be worth Jukka Nousiainen or Ville Leinonen in my opinion, not a domestic treasure (definitely not meaning 'national treasure'), but I like what the music sounds and feels like. Songs = 3.0, musicianship and sound production = at least 4.0. So let the whole be 3.5, generously.

fairyeee

You might remember a year or so ago we covered a little EP by a Finnish band called Sammal, who sing in their native tongue and pay homage to some of the great prog & heavy rock bands of the '70s. That debut EP collected some early songs of the bands career, and with this latest Svart Records release the entire group collaborated on all new material of sparkling, heavy progressive rock that is sure to thrill any fan of the genre.
Once again, the vocals are front and center, sung in the Finnish dialect, but that doesn't detract from the overall listening experience as they are soaring and quite melodic, reminding at times of the quality that we've gotten used to with many of the great Italian prog singers over the years. Musically, as with the debut, plenty of blistering guitar and commanding Hammond organ permeate the arrangements, tunes such as "Samaan arkeen" and "Stormvarning" bristling with majestic passages as well as moments of hard rocking fury. Both "Järjen ohimarssi" and "Kohtaus yön vyöllä" are a must for Deep Purple/Uriah Heep fans with their grand keyboard/guitar interplay, while the heavy riffs of "Muurahaisen päiväuni" recall early Black Sabbath but tossed with some sensational vintage prog rock styled keyboards. "Aika on alkamassa" is like The Doors on steroids, while the dreamy "Sulle haavan tein" mixes pastoral prog, folk, and jazz, again reminding of some of the vintage Italian acts like Banco or PFM. The closing 10-minute "Herätkää!" is a pure prog/fusion number, a slow builder that kicks off with atmospheric, spacey passages before steadily morphing into an upbeat, almost funky slice of melodic jazz rock, complete with shuffling rhythms, electric piano and tasty guitar.
Prog rock fans who simply can't get enough vintage '70s styled sounds will certainly be drawn to all that Myrskyvaroitus has to offer. Sammal have done a wonderful job recreating adventurous heavy progressive rock from a glorious era, and with that have signaled their arrival in a big way. Recommended.

Pete Pardo

Sammal are yet another modern "proto-prog" Scandinavian group to reach back to the glory years of 1970 to 1974 for inspiration. The instrumentation is entirely analog, as are the production techniques. We recently featured another such group from Finland - Malady - and the results here on Sammal's second album are very similar. The indigenous tongue is also quite important for the overall product to be successful (and thanks to Fairyeee for the cool explanation about 'Stormvarning'). For us Americans, who almost have no chance of understanding Finnish (or even figuring it out), we'll miss out on the meaning, but the sound of the language is integral to the presentation, and quite enjoyable to the ears. The end result is something akin to a Finnish Uriah Heep, circa 1972. It's a familiar recipe with a unique preparation. So if bands like Kalevala, Nimbus, and Haikara put a smile on your face, so shall Sammal.

ashratom

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/sammal/myrskyvaroitus.p/
https://www.discogs.com/Sammal-Myrskyvaroitus/release/7890651
http://www.sammalmusic.com