Having interviewed Finnish archeologist and musician Jarno Nurmi from solo project Serpent Ascending last year (here) and having had a multitude of adult beverages with him in Helsinki last week (drink with Finns at your own risk), I feel that I perhaps may understand, more than most, the essence behind the new Serpent Ascending album Hyperborean Folklore. Jarno lives nine hours north of Helsinki and is an expert on Finnish culture and history. He is also a metal purist and wholeheartedly agrees that Morbid Angel’s Domination album was where the band began to blunder. So, it is no surprise that his new album delves deep into the undiluted foundations of metal and is conceptually connected to his Hyperborean homeland.
The term “epic metal” has been used as a descriptor for Hyperborean Folklore because the songs are of considerable length. However, “epic metal” is too vague of a description. What this album contains is a synthesis of well-known and customary styles of metal put together with a piquancy unique to Serpent Ascending. Instead of solely focusing on death metal, which Serpent Ascending is known for being unquestionably apt at creating, Hyperborean Folklore combines a significant range of influences under an intuitive framework. Red-blooded idiosyncratic riffs develop naturally and cascade into multi-layer expansions that verge on the clamorous and beautiful.
Not unlike the best things in life, there is a piercing acumen which feels derived from beyond the realm of cognition. The template is straightforward and does not convey any unnecessary loftiness. What emerges is some of the most compelling surges of graceful imagination. Passages exist not to be long-winded and “epic” but to express a natural blending and deepening of the forms of metal. The result of which is truly remarkable. In a world where “trueness” is toeing the line, or conforming to specific rules, Hyperborean Folklore instead focuses inward, discards current trends, and betokens a profundity not often found in metal today.
Hyperborean Folklore will be released on June 17th by I, Voidhanger Records.
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