Fog is covering everything. I turn and look for survivors but I can't see any...Suddenly the fog splits in two and in the bloodred misty field arise 5 tired warriors, covered with the blood of their enemies, the enemies who dared to defy them. they started running towards me with their swords risen and growling...I grabbed their singer and here you have this interview...Yes!Sometimes reporters duties must be really hard!!! :)))

1.TELL US IN A FEW WORDS THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS OF THE BAND'S HISTORY. WHICH IS TODAY'S LINE UP?

• Moonsorrow was formed in 1995 by me and my cousin Henri. During 1996-1998 we recorded four demos, two of which were released. In 2000 we recorded our debut album "Suden Uni" for Plasmatica Records", in 2001 Sagitarius Productions released a rework of our last demo "Tdmd Ikuinen Talvi" and then we recorded our second album "Voimasta ja Kunniasta" for Spikefarm Records. We are now continuing on Spikefarm, and our third album release is scheduled for winter/spring 2003.
• The line-up since year 2000 has been:
• Ville Seponpoika Sorvali (bass/vocals)
• Henri Urponpoika Sorvali (rhythm guitar/keyboards)
• Baron Tarwonen (drums)
• Mitja Harvilahti (lead guitar)
• Lord Eur?n (live keyboards)

2.WHY HAVE YOU NAMED THE BAND MOONSORROW? I THINK THAT THIS NAME WOULD BE MORE PROPER TO BANDS PLAYING ATMOSPHERIC METAL AND NOT TO AN EPIC/FOLK METAL BAND. HOW WAS THIS NAME INSPIRED AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU?

• Moonsorrow is a name, and in my opinion it suits our music perfectly - our music sounds like Moonsorrow. Perhaps it was inspired by the music we played, and it can mean many things.

3.WHICH ARE YOUR INFLUENCES? LIST YOUR 5 MOST BELOVED ALBUMS OF ALL TIME. CAN YOU REMEMBER WHICH BAND AND SONG IN SPECIFIC MADE YOU REALISE THAT WHAT YOU WANTED TO DO IS PLAY HEAVY METAL?

• The main influences of Moonsorrow are Bathory and some of epic metal, progressive rock and folk music. We all listen to very different kinds of music, and it is hard to say what of it affects what we do. You know, it's fairly impossible to select only five albums that are the dearest to me, but if I had to say something without thinking too much, the list could look like this:
• - King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King
• - Iron Maiden: Somewhere in Time
• - Slayer: Reign in Blood
• - Bathory: Hammerheart
• - Nordman: Nordman
• I don't know which band in particular made me realize that I wanted to play heavy metal, but it was Iron Maiden that got me in love with this music.

4.I READ IN YOUR BIO THAT SOME STRANGE THINGS HAPPENED IN YOUR FIRST DEMO. CAN YOU TELL US SOME THINGS ABOUT IT?

• It really was nothing special: we recorded the demo and accidentally erased a half of the material during mastering (we used cassette masters by then). The demo will never be available because of that, and so be it.

5.I HEARD A SONG FROM YOUR SITE AND I REALLY LIKED IT A LOT. HOWEVER HERE IN GREECE I CAN'T FIND ANYWHERE YOUR ALBUMS. CAN YOU TELL ME WHY? DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM IN DITRIBUTION?

• Thanks! As far as I'm concerned, we should have a distribution in Greece, but it's Spikefarm that handles the business side of it, so I can't be sure. If you can't find our albums, you can order them at www.moonsorrow.net for a relatively reasonable price.

6.CAN YOU TELL US SOME GENERAL THINGS ABOUT THE BAND RELEASES? COMPARE THEM. ARE YOU STILL SATISFIED WITH THEM OR IS THERE ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO CHANGE?

• "Metsd" demo (1997) was our first official release, and it was already true epic heathen metal. The sound is not very good, but many liked the music. The tape version was eventually sold out, and now a rework of the demo is available at www.moonsorrow.net for free, for anyone who's interested anyway. "Tdmd Ikuinen Talvi" demo (1999) was the last of our four recorded demos, and it certainly was the fastest we ever got. The tape version was eventually sold out, and now a rework has been released through Sagitarius Productions. "Suden UnI" (2001) was our debut album, and it firmly set the direction for our brand of epic heathen metal. Unfortunately the album has not been available for quite a while thanks to Plasmatica Records. "Voimasta ja Kunniasta" (2001) was our second album, and it took the epic a bit further with progressive elements and such. Many have said that this has been the best we've released, but of course we're intending to go on improving tremendously for our third effort. In general I'd say that these are all definitive Moonsorrow releases, and in spite of their little differences, they all follow the same lines of epic heathen metal. If I were to compare them, I'd point out that "Tdmd Ikuinen Talvi" is a lot more intense, whereas the others (especially the albums) have left a lot more room for nuances. And as it seems, we're only heading for the most epic of metals from now on. There might be a lot of things I'd like to change, but then again, each release is the best we were capable of creating by then.

7.YOUR SONGS TALK ABOUT THE TRADITION OF YOUR COUNTRY, FINLAND. CAN YOU GIVE US SOME MORE INFORMATIONS ABOUT THE FINNISH TRADITIONS THAT DIFFER FROM THE OTHER SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES TRADITIONS?

• As everyone should know, there was not just one general line of indigenous traditions among Finnish people, but three of them. In the east there was the Karelian tradition, which is often spoken of as the general tradition of Finland; in the very island there was the one that I am not so familiar with, call it Tavastian tradition or whatever; and along the coast there was the "Scandinavian" tradition, which presumably was quite similar to what prevailed in central Sweden by the time. I don't know how much the people of Finland associated with each other, but the basic lines in all traditions were similar, which in fact is quite understandable, because people everywhere had to live side by side with the very same entity called nature.

8.SOMETIMES PAGANISM HIDES SOMETHING DANGEROUS LIKE SATANISM OR NAZISM. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT IT?

• Satanism and nazism have absolutely NOTHING to do with paganism. There are people mixing these ideologies together, but in that they are doing very wrong against the nature of paganism, and thus do not have my respect. Nazism anyway is nothing I would particularly favour.

9.TELL US WHAT IS PAGANISM FOR YOU? DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT THE ANCIENT GODS EXIST OR IS IT A WAY OF LIFE?

• As cheesy as it may sound, paganism is my life, and I can't explain it any better. I don't believe in the ancient gods as flesh and blood, but I can sense their existence within all nature. My beliefs guide me in living my life and relating to the outside world.

10.NOW, BACK TO YOUR MUSIC. I THINK THAT YOU HAVE A MUSICAL STYLE THTA MAKES YOU DIFFER FROM MOST OF THE FINNISH METAL BANDS. WELL, TO BE HONEST...MANY INTERESTING BANDS HAVE POPED OUT FROM YOUR COUNTRY BUT THEY ALL END UP AFTER AN ALBUM OR TWO TO SIDE THE SAME. WHY DO YOU THINK THIS HAPPENS?

• Well, thank you for saying those words. And yes, I know what you're talking about, but I am so sure that this is not going to happen to Moonsorrow. But why to so many others; musical boredom or pressure to succeed? Either way, I'm not the one to judge other people's comings and goings.

11.I' VES EEN SOME PHOTOS OF YOURS IN YOUR SITE AND YOU ARE DRESSED UP LIKE MEDIEVAL SOLDIERS. DO YOU APPEAR ON STAGE THIS WAY TOO? COULD YOU DESCRIBE A TYPICAL MOONSORROW LIVE?

• Don't ask me why, but so far all we have taken on stage with us from those pictures is the blood. Those garments are not our own anyway. A typical Moonsorrow live show is that we bang our heads and play it loud, and you know it's a functional concept.

12.WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WEREN'T ABLE TO COMPOSE MUSIC? WOULD YOU CONSIDER OF BECOMING ACTORS? TAKING PART IN MOVIES WITH MEDIEVAL THEMES?

• I don't think that any of us would be capable of being an actor, but it of course would be nice to take part in such films. Being able to create music is very important for us all, so I sincerely hope that none of us will lose the ability to contribute in Moonsorrow's music in a way or another. But if the band didn't exist, I know I would write... then again, I'm doing it already.

13.HAVE YOU LISTENED LATELY TO ANY NEW BANDS FROM FINLAND THAT YOU FOUND INTERESTING? CAN YOU NAME SOME OF THEM?

• The drummer of Elenium just gave me their demo at last weekend's festival, and I must admit that it's pretty damn good stuff. Apart from them, I will keep mentioning Mother Depth as long as they either split up or are given the record deal they deserve.

14.HOW ARE YOU THINKING OF PROMOTING YOUR WORK? WHICH SONG OF YOUR IS THE MOST IDEAL TO REPRESENT YOUR WORK?

• Luckily, it is mostly record label's business to promote a band; we wouldn't be capable of doing it ourselves to the extent we would expect. Our share is to make good music, record it and play it live. I would not pick a song to represent our whole work, but at least Spikefarm picked "Kyldn Pddssd" for their compilation.

15.TELL US ABOUT YOUR FUTURE PLANS. ARE YOU PREPARING ANY NEW SONGS?

• As the summer's gigs are now safely behind, yes, we should be creating some new material. We already have some ideas of how the new album can turn out, but we'll see about them in November/December when we're in the studio.

16.WHICH IS THE BEST AND WHICH IS THE WORST REVIEW YOU'VE EVER RECEIVED? WHAT HAVE THE PRESS, MAGAZINES AND FANS SAID ABOUT YOUR RELEASES?

• Of course I haven't seen all the reviews written on our work, be they positive or negative, but one of the best I've seen must be Luxifer's E-P-I-C review on "Voimasta ja Kunniasta" at www.metal-rules.com and one of the worst must be that 1/5 for "Metsd" in Aftermath webzine mentioning solely "horrible sounding computer drums, boring riffs and annoying sounds". In general, the fans as well as the media have been frighteningly ecstatic about our work.

17.WHICH IS THE BEST PART IN YOUR MUSIC AND IN THE BAND IN GENERAL AND WHICH THING DO YOU THINK YOU SHOULD CORRECT? WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU NEED IMPROVEMENT?

• In my opinion, the best thing in our music is the unfeigned sense of great epics. I personally am very delighted about it, because it is what I myself would want to hear and listen to. And if there's something I'd like to correct, I'd just say it's not epic enough! As a band Moonsorrow has developed into a unit that has no obvious musical malfunctions, but then again, on the field of performing there are endlessly things to improve. If there's something immediate about it, it must be something concerning my vocal technique.

18.HAVE YOU READ NY INTERESTING BOOKS LATELY? HAVE YOU SEEN AN INTERESTING MOVIE? WOULD YOU LIKE TO COMPOSE THE SOUNDTRACK FOR A MOVIE? WHICH WOULD THAT BE?

• Apart from university course books, not really. I'd like to read more, though. The last study-unrelated opus I opened was "Blood of the Vikings" by Julian Richards, but I haven't finished it yet. It's a very interesting documental book. The last movie I saw was "Spider-man", and it indeed was surprisingly good. As far as the soundtrack-scenario goes, I would not like to compose anything, because it would never be good enough for the movie I would want to write it for; something on the axis of "Braveheart" and "Lord of the Rings" anyway.

19.IF SOMEDAY YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO MEET THE CREATURE THAT CREATED THE UNIVERSE, WHICH WOULD YOUR BIGGEST QUESTION BE?

• "Why me?"

20.IF TIME TRAVEL WAS POSSIBLE, WHICH HISTORICAL PERIOD WOULD YOU LIKE TO VISIT AND WHY? WHAT WOULD YOU MISS THE MOST FROM OUR TIME?

• I bet you expected this, but I would choose the iron age of Finland, and only because I'm so freakin' interested about it. I would really like to see it with my own eyes and experience it with my own body. And if I had the chance to go to such place where all life is so connected with nature, I would not miss much from our time. Perhaps the music.

21.WHAT PROLOGUE AND TITLE WOULD YOU LIKE THIS INTERVIEW TO HAVE?

• Ah, I see. You're trying to get an easy way through your journalistic duties here, but I won't help you. :)

22.THANK YOU!HAVE I FORGOT TO ASK YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?

• I am quite sure you didn't forget to ask anything, but in case you did, you can always get back to me for another shot. There's nothing in particular I'd like to mention here, except the same old babbling about raising your swords and living for metal. Oh and buy our shirts.