Band:	Finntroll
Album:	Ur Jordens Djup
Style:	Extreme folk metal
Release date:	March 2007

Disc I [CD]
01. Gryning
02. Sång
03. Korpens Saga
04. Nedgång
05. Ur Djupet
06. Slagbröder
07. En Mäktig Här
08. Ormhäxan
09. Maktens Spira
10. Under Två Runor
11. Kvällning

Disc II [dualdisc digipak edition DVD]
01. Nattfödd [Live at Wachen open air]
02. Det Iskalla Trollblodet [Live at Wachen open air]

Finnish folk metallers Finntroll have really gained in popularity recently with their last two albums and have really helped put Finnish extreme folk metal on the map. After the success of the last album, expectations for this album were high.

The album kicks off with a three and a half minute introduction track that leads up to the first song on the album "Sång". Especially after the introduction leading up to it I was expecting some marvelous explosion of fast-paced extreme folk metal but the bass guitar and drums kick us into a rather dark sounding, very heavy and mid-tempo Finntroll - not what I was expecting at all. The next song comes along with rhythmic drumming and vocal introduction but there is still nothing with the bounce and fun sound as on previous albums. On first impression it would seem that the fun-loving Finntroll have turned into some kind of methodical dark machine.

Track after track passes and nothing jumps out at you like "Trollhammaren" did for example until the seventh track on the album! "En Mäktig Här" is not a high-tempo song but it includes a little more folkish sounds and although still somewhat dark sounding, the song is probably the most enjoyable on the album. The song is followed by "Ormhäxan" which seems to have a little more punch in it and really picks the album up because from these two songs onwards the album incorporates more of the bands trademark folk elements and is much more enjoyable then the relative mid-paced and gloomy first half of the album.

Either Finntroll wanted to change their sound from the bounce of the previous two albums especially or there is just plainly not as much effort put into this album as the previous releases because the first twenty-five minutes of this album (apart from maybe "Korpens Saga") is rather bland and went straight over the top of my head, the second half of the album is much more enjoyable and brought my overall opinion back to a respectable level. On the whole though, I expected much more from these bombastic pioneers of modern Finnish folk metal even though this is still a worth while album.