Celebrating Anniversary with a European Survey
Right in time for their 20th anniversary, Finnish crossover pioneers Waltari are releasing their 10th studio album "Blood Sample". In the beginning labelled as a punk band in the mid 80s, Waltari started to create something unique quickly: Taking rock music as the common ground, the band based around mastermind Kaertsy Hatakka mixes opera and death metal, powerpop and grindcore, techno and noise rock, catchy metal riffs and eurodance, punk and electro, flower-power and monophone ringtones.
This crazy mixture hit the right nerve with the audience more than once, some of Waltari's biggest successes were the singles "So Fine" and "Atmosfear/Feel" in the early 90s followed by the hit album "Big Bang" which marked the commercial break-through to the European market: Waltari were the first Finnish band ever to hit the charts in Europe. Waltari were never the band to rest on their laurels: After expanding the sound to industrial, more experiments and a creative hiatus the band is now back with a comparatively homogenous rock album with one major topic:
"The theme of the album is Europe today, not politically but the general mood" states Kaertsy Hatakka, "Many of the songs are connected to a country in particular. 'Helsinki' is naturally Finland, 'All Roads' is Germany, (the Beatles cover) 'Julia' is England... and 'New York' is about the relationship and connections between the 'new' and the 'old' world and about our different views on many things."
This musical road trip was recorded in the band's hometown Helsinki, Finland by producer Sami Koivisto, who already worked with the band for "Rare Species" and is known for his rather unorthodox work, with bands like Finnish punk rockers Klamydia or the successful grindcore outfit Rotten Sound. Some of the benefits of recording in the Finnish capital were the drum sound which was handled by Amorphis drummer Jan Rechberger, and the guest list as half of Helsinki's vivid music scene dropped by to say hello and contribute vocals to the choir, extra death metal growls, some turntables or keyboards.
But beware, the music of Waltari is still more than the sum of this parts, so be eager to be surprised and expect everything. Waltari have remained highly innovative and prove they have enough creativity to take them well beyond their 20th year of existence!
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