Crimfall – Of Symphonic Folk From Finland

One young Finnish Folk / Symphonic metal band that is slowly gaining recognition is Crimfall, the brainchild of one Jakke Viitala, who's debut album, "As The Path Unfolds", released earlier this year, and has been receiving rave reviews and carving this young band's name in the annals of Finland's new wave of metallic giants. To find out more about this unique outfit, we spoke with Jakke about their creation, the album, and their use of both male and female vocals within their symphonic and intricate music.

Hi and thanks for doing this interview! Crimfall started as a one person project, what was the reason behind its creation?

I have been composing music all my life. Mostly just for fun, without any serious purpose. But once I made the first version of "Where Waning Winds Lead", my friends told me to add some vocals in it. Since I suck when it comes to singing, I asked Mikko and Helena to help me with that. And after we got a record deal with Napalm records, it was time for us to make this "one man show" to a real band.

Soon after, Crimfall was joined with 2 vocalists, male and female. How did you decide on this combination? How did by Helena and Mikko join?

Mikko has been my friend long before Crimfall was even considered. But once I gathered this group Mikko was obvious choice. He writes great lyrics, has the most evil voice I have heard and also is a person people get easily along with. Choosing Helena was a longer road. Once I made the songs for the Demo, I did not even knew if we should have a singer for clean vocals and should it be male or female. But as we do have lots of variation in our material, it was natural to have a singer with as many styles as possible. Then I remembered hearing Helena in her previous band Tacere, where she was doing excellent job. I dropped her a email and asked if she wants to sing some small parts in our demo.

Before the recording, why haven't you recruited more members to play the other instruments and complete the lineup as a band?

There were two reasons for that. First of all I wanted to have the best possible people to perform in the album and secondly I wanted to get to know them better before "hiring" them permanently. By having this so called trial period, I was able to make sure we were working with right people.

What can you tell us of the work process that led you to signing with Napalm Records and finally to the recording of your debut album? Have all members contributed to the writing of the music / lyrics?

Well… I had composed 3 songs I wanted Mikko and Helena to sing. The recording and mixing of the demo took place in various garages and living rooms. Finally the demo was ready and we did about 15 copies of it and sent to various record labels and magazines. Out of the answers we got, Napalm Records was definitely the best one. Before signing to them I had already composed some more songs… so there was not that much to do before we entered to the studio in summer 2008. I basically write all the songs and most of the melodies. Mikko does all of our lyrics; except for "Aubade", where Helena did both melodies and lyrics. She also did some small melody arrangements in other songs as well. I think their role will become bigger in the song writing process in the future while I will be still doing most of the stuff.

Now that you got into the studio, how did you manage to enlist your session members and specifically Henri Sorvali, famed for his work with Moonsorrow and Finntroll, into the recording?

He is also my personal friend outside the studio. So he had heard the material before we even got the record deal. That’s why I think he had the best possible view to give a little extra spice to our material. And in the end he played some crazy bad ass bass lines which really set the music on fire.

Speaking of Moonsorrow and Finntroll, how much influence did they have on your Folk direction? To me it seems that you wanted to continue what both bands did on their first couple of albums (before each headed towards different directions).

As they are like pioneers of folk metal, I cannot deny their influence to the whole genre. But to be honest, for us it is more like unintentional coin incidence than and effort to be like them.

Beside these bands, how much did the Finnish metal scene contribute to your musical ideas? I can hear some early Turisas material as well as some Nightwish.

I cannot say that Finnish metal scene has given me these musical ideas. I don’t even know that much of Nightwish material for example… only a few radio hits … so I don’t see the connection there. Maybe we have some kind of national sound or something… Like for example it is possible to hear which bands are from Sweden.

"As The Path Unfolds…" brings a mix of styles, from Nordic Folk songs, to Middle Eastern Melodies and then to pure Symphonic songs. Was your idea to put everything together? Aren't you afraid it will confuse the average listener?

That’s part of my style of composing. I listen to many kinds of music and try to use as much influences as possible. If I would stuck only in one certain genre I would feel there is much more to give. So if average listener does not like it, Crimfall is not for them.

What inspired such songs as "Sun Orphaned" and "Ascension Pyre"? To me it sounds like something taken out of the "Prince Of Egypt" soundtrack or something, quite different from the Northern mythology themes.

You said it! Soundtracks play the most important role to me as a composer. Most of the time I’m listening music, there is some soundtrack playing. The Inspiration for those specific songs came from "The Passion of the Christ" and "The Mummy Returns".

It seems you are influenced by movies and soundtracks as well. What are your favorite movies and / or soundtracks and why did you decide to throw that into the mix?

I would say the best soundtracks are (not in any specific order): The Passion of the Christ, Hero, Band Of Brothers, LOTR, Star Wars and so on… For me even a crappy movie can be OK with great soundtrack. And also bad composing can take attention away from a good movie as well. The reasons for this movie influence is the fact that I wanted to do a sort of "visual" album and cover lot’s of different human emotions. By using the same methods than the guys in Hollywood, I think we were able to reach that.

Describe how you work on a song – first you do the melodies or the aggressive / metal parts?

First I play the guitars, drums and bass. And when I have this "normal" metal song on my hands, I start to add orchestra on top of that. Then I will rearrange the song for 4-5 times all the way from guitars to orchestra. When I’m happy with the result I’ll give it to Mikko for lyrics. I tell where to scream and what kind of melodies I have planned for Helena. The melodies will come automatically in some point of the composing. Sometimes it is the first thing in the song, but sometimes they were discovered in the studio.

How much of the Melodies and Symphonic parts are programmed and how much is recorded with real instruments? Would you want to use a big orchestra in the future?

Basically all the large instrument sets were programmed and the solos were recorded with real instruments. The solo violin and cello computer samples sound too crappy to be played alone. Real orchestra would be great, but I don’t think it is not value for the money at the moment.

Your debut album is out for some months now, what are the responses for it so far? Were there any comments you expected or didn't expect to hear?

In general the feedback has been great! I was personally happy with the result, but I did not expect as good response as we have got. Since it was the first time for Crimfall in this business, I did not want to think of our reviews and such too much. But as we have now set the record for a Crimfall album, for the next one we want to beat that.

I understand you just completed Crimfall's lineup. What made you change your mind? Who are the new members in the band and will they stay permanently?

As I said earlier, I wanted to have a trial period for the guys before hiring them permanently. In addition to the core members (me, Mikko and Helena), our studio drummer Janne Jukarainen will continue with us. And as you mentioned Henri Sorvali’s other bands (Finntroll, Moonsorrow), we had to replace him because he is too tight up with those. Luckily we found talented bass man Miska Sipiläinen to fill Henri’s shoes.

Are there any plans to go on a tour or some festivals this summer?

Unfortunately there are no tours ahead for us. But luckily the audience can see us on the stage at least in 2 festivals this summer. Radalle here in Finland and Next Generation in Austria.

If you'd be able to choose, which bands would you like to perform with?

This is too hard, there are too many good names. Hmmm.. some band who might have the similar audience and fill up the whole hall. I don’t know… Moonsorrow, Turisas and Ensiferum maybe.

Where do you see Crimfall heading in the upcoming year? Already working on your next album? Performing? Or doing something else?

I’m currently working on the new material, but the next album won’t be ready until 2010. Meanwhile we keep rehearsing and doing shows as much as possible. And hopefully we have given a change to do even some touring.

That’s about it. Do you have any last words to our readers in Israel?

Have a great summer!