45 minutes, 51 seconds

Karjalan Sissit
Karjalasta Kajahtaa

Cross early-period, history-obsessed Der Blutharsch, particularly the albums studded with old 78 RPM traditional songs, with Sophia's pounding neoclassical military onslaughts and you get something very close to Karjalan Sissit. It's essentially the project of one Make Pesonen, and he seems pissed off about the loss of most of the Karelian region of Finland to Russia back during the Second World War.

As with most other martial/neofolk bands, you can make of Karjalan Sissit's politics what you will. ("Karjalan Sissit" translates as "Karelian guerrillas.") The elaborate, artfully prepared CD packaging is sweetly nostalgic, often featuring old (family?) photos from the war years and before. It's a jarring juxtaposition from the musical mayhem Pesonen produces, although his music seems to be all about juxtaposition--the nostalgic and the angry, the pretty and the ugly, the whispered threat just underneath the surface calm.

It's cold, wintry music, and yet here I sit listening to it in the dead of summer. Talk about juxtaposition.

Also today:

45:51 Neun Welten, Vergessene Pfade
45:51 Taxim, Ecclesiophobia
45:50 Cold Fusion, Report
45:49 Gaë Bolg and the Church of Fand, La Ballade de l'Ankou
45:49 The Sundays, Blind
New arrival! 54:54 C/A/T, Point of No Return
45:49 :Wumpscut:, Cannibal Anthem
45:48 Sonne Hagal, Helfahrt
45:46 Autumn's Grey Solace, Over the Ocean