Probably Smug.

One half hour is a familiar amount of time. It could be the length of a sit-com episode, a quick trip to the grocery store, or the amount of time it takes Paris Hilton to remember her own name.

When I saw the track listing for Moonsorrow’s new album, I had to get my hands on it. Aside from the fact that Moonsorrow is one of the most respected and consistent Viking metal bands out there, it was actually because this effort has all of two tracks, both of which are about a half hour in length. I’m really not sure how they pulled it off, but when listening to this disc, it seems to make thirty minutes pass by extremely fast. Even coming from someone who has an affinity for the longer song length, somehow I don’t even notice the introduction to the first track and how it almost seamlessly passes by in the first seven and a half minutes.

But the greatness of this album isn’t so much dependent on the epic track lengths. What really actually astounds me about the writing on this disc is the feeling of continuity and various thematic elements that ring true in several parts of one song, and then the other. Not to say that the songs sound exactly the same, but there’s a tinge of meaning and connection between the songs that make sense and are able to relate to one another.

The progression this album has may make the destination quite clear with the listener even at the very beginning. While the songs are of heroic length, there’s never a sense of any overly repetitive riffs. There are several moments where the melodies build upon each other to a peak only to level out preemptively before the next oncoming crescendo. But unlike other epic bands known for their long song length and knack for huge building climaxes, such as Godspeed You Black Emperor, Moonsorrow takes a more direct approach and this results in why I think these thirty minute songs pass by as if they were only ten minutes in length.

Although metal is often reliant on atmosphere, and has a tendency to use more lo-fi recording equipment to help pull this off, the production value on this album is very good, yet does not stink of over-produced techniques or “studio guitar”. There’s a bit of reverb in spots of the album which I believe helps and the album feels as if it might have been recorded in some sort of wooden structure. While this isn’t the first time a band has done something like that, whatever it is, it certainly adds feeling of naturalistic disposition.

One other thing I appreciate a great deal about this album is that, despite the track lengths, there’s not one single moment when the writing takes a direction of “Weird for the sake of weird”, or something that could be passed off as “Avant-garde”. I find this to be quite admirable, and it only reinforces the solid structures and melodies these songs stand upon. The transitions between certain sections move in an elegant manner and if the listener isn’t paying attention, they might not even notice the almost subtle movements or turns they’ll take during these moments.

Although January is not quite over, 2007 is already proving to be a great year for music. If this album is a sign of things to come, I hope the year moves just as quickly as the time it takes to listen to this album.

There’s something to be said about a humble band from the eastern United States who, with limited promotion, has already started building a global fan base after their first and only album release. Rosetta is one of these bands who have shown that accomplishing this takes little more than putting out an album that is worthy of the word of mouth it has received since October 2005. I had a chance to speak with Dave earlier this month, who plays bass in the quartet, about future releases, their 2006 tour, and other things.

I was able to see you guys twice during the Summer 2006 tour, first in Portland, and then again in Salt Lake City. Aside from the tour having to end early for several reasons, how would you say it went over all?

Over all the tour went really well. We had a chance to travel to numerous places we’d never been before and play to people who had never heard of our band before. It was also great to meet people who had The Galilean Satellites but had never had the chance to see us before. We got to play with great bands like Day Without Dawn, Tides and The Heuristic.

I’ve read hints about The Galilean Satellites being released on vinyl. Is that still a possibility?

As of right now there will be a version of The Galilean Satellites on vinyl but I’m unsure of when it well be released.

Do you have any comments on what you’re doing for the next album? Two new songs were played in Portland, and both were pretty solid. Would guys you say those are sticking around for the next release or are you still just testing things out?

One of those new songs is actually on a split with our friends in Balboa that will be out in April on Level Plane. The other song will be on the album. So far we have 3 songs done and have a couple others that still need some work. As of right now we are going to start tracking drums march 17 in Brooklyn with Colin from Dysrhythmia / Behold… The Arctopus / Byla / Infidel / Castro.

The concept of the last album felt tangible in a way where a listener could make sense of not only the story through the lyrics, but the mood and feelings that exude from it thanks to the music. Are there ideas for a concept of the next album, or would it be too early to say?

It’s a little too early to say what the concept for the next record will be. Armines kicking around some ideas but I don’t think he has anything set in stone yet.

Are you planning to use similar methods of recording, producing, and mastering the next album? I remember reading that Matt ended up mastering the final copy himself after some trial and error with other helpful hands.

We are going to do part of the album with Colin and than record the rest of it ourselves. Matt most likely will end up mixing it but he probably won’t master the new album.

What albums have you been listening to lately on your own time?

Intronaut – Void, Day Without Dawn – Demos, Giant – Song, Jeff Buckley – all, Bjork – all, Russian circles – Enter and King Crimson - Beat

You can hear clips of Rosetta’s album on their Myspace page or visit their website here.

Summoning’s latest album was released in March of 2006 and has been hailed as their best work in years. While it holds the traditional styles from the past albums, it also mixes several methods that had been known to distinguish previous albums from each other. Earlier, I had the chance to ask Protector and Silenius some questions about the past, present and future of Summoning.

Now that Oath Bound has been out for a while, in retrospect, are there any changes either of you would like to have made? Or are you still satisfied with the final product?

Protector: I am still 100% satsified with the release (as always after a release). This does not mean that we will stick strict to this way for the rest of our life, sure in futures there will be also slight changes as there always have been from release to release. But we have to work on new songs in order to get new ideas and new tastes in music and sound. This all comes naturally and is never planned or discussed.

Lyrically I’ve felt like Oath Bound is perhaps the most conceptual album Summoning has done yet. Would you agree with this, or have most of the previous ones been just as topical?

Silenius: Yes and no. Maybe you mean this because this time we have more songs referring to the same story but otherwise we again have not made an album with just one concept or just one story.

While you guys don’t play live, do you feel like there ever might be a possibility of a Summoning DVD project? The music is very visual, and could effectively be paired with video for a potentially great experience.

Protector: For now there are no plans like this. Actually this is also a matter of the budget of Napalm Records. As long as we could keep our privacy on this DVD we would not mind any DVD, but there is always the problem if the label considers a DVD as worth the price, cause there are not a lot of shows that would play it nor many people would buy it.

How is the mini CD project coming along?

Protector: For now only 1 songs is existing, that actually already existed before the release of oath bound but which did not have place there as we did not want to make this CD longer than 70 minutes. Apart from mixing this song very fine we did not spend any time with summoning since the release of oath bound. This is what happends adter each release; we simply start to work on our other projects which have for us the same importance as summoning. We really would not like to finish a summoning CD and then right after that start with new songs. For us those rests delaling with totally different styles of music makes the work for each of our projects including summoning much more interessting and fresh and is surely one of the reasons why we are still together and not bored about summoning at all, despite of all those years we are working together.

There’s going to be a release of some Summoning albums on vinyl soon, could you please tell us about that from your perspective? Also, how much are you going to be involved in the final art direction of the packaging?

Protector: Yes i heard about some planned vinyl release in the future, but i don’t know much about it. The layout will be based on layouts of the CDs, there is not much more i know about it. Actually I don’t even have a vinyl player at home and only listen to CDs (and prefer them to vinyl) so I am not the right person for questions like that ;-)

Have there been any instruments or various other elements you’ve been wanting to incorporate into Summoning songs, but have not for whatever reason?

Protector: No cause if we would have wanted we would have done it, but there is no need for it as we are totally satisfied with they sound our keyboards, guitars and vocals can create. Well on “land of the dead” we used a real flute, but rather as a detail not as a future plan. As we don’t want to immitate classical music or sound like it we also have no desire for real orchestras as wel and think that with the samples sound and the better controll over the effects and sound we can achieve much more fantasy styled music than with real instruments that are better for creating a real word not a fantasy one.

One song I’ve always enjoyed has been “Khazad Dúm” from the Dol Guldur album because the primary melody quite literally details what I’ve always imagined being inside Moria might feel like. Do any specific songs come to mind where either of you are particularly satisfied for the same reason?

Protector: Actually I almost forget the older songs after a new album appeared. When I hear them again by chance i am still satisfied with them of course, but normally a newer song simply removes the memories of an older song for me, so I can just talk about oath bound where I personally prefer the song “Across the Streaming Tide” most as it sounds very mighty and slow.

Creatively speaking, can you talk about what the future might hold for Summoning? Any particular hopes or expectations you may have set for yourselves?

Protector: As I already said we never make real plans. But I dont see any reason why in future Summoning should suddenly change the sound drastically. We will keep on making keyboard based epic music of course, and put all our other musical preferences in our other projects and not abuse the music of Summoning for some stupid trendy experiments.

In closing, do you have a favorite passage from any of Tolkien’s books? Perhaps something that might have influenced the incarnation of what Summoning has become?

Silenius: No not directly, but after having read “LOTR” and “The Hobbit” I think “Silmarillion” is the most fascinating book because after having read LOTR you really get hungry and totally fascinated about the word around this book and about the complete mythology of this world and all the answers can be found within the Silmarillion. Although it is of course more difficult to read and all the bloodlines are a bit boring with the time, but nevertheless I think this book is the best and most influencial for me.

You can hear clips of Summoning’s work on their Myspace page and visit their website at http://www.summoning.info

I suppose eventually it was going to happen. Not to say that Tristania has lost their metal edge for the remainder career, but this album is definitely more mellow than anything they’ve released. Part of this is obviously due to the lack of the harsh vocals that were so crucial in past Tristania albums. Another noticeable aspect is Vibeke Stene’s vocals being more prominent now, rather than sharing the helm with two other members like in the previous album, Ashes. Now that Kjetil Ingebrethsen has left the band, two remain. Østen Bergøy’s vocals are certainly on the album, but do not feel nearly as present as they’ve been previously. That’s not to say there’s no shining moments of his cello-like voice.

“The Ravens” and “Sacrilege” are not only some of the strongest songs on the album, they’re also songs that sustain the vocal duet composition Tristania has always seemed to aim for. These may stick out among the rest for several reasons, but I think one of the biggest factors is that they tend to be a bit more atmospheric and hold a consistent direction than some of the others.

Over all, however, the feel of this album seems empty in too many places. One might be able to say this album has room to breathe, but compared to the incredibly well done Ashes album, I would disagree. Many of the songs leave a feeling of “that’s all?”, lacking any type of crescendo or resolve, but rather withering on and fading to silence. “Fate” is one of these songs, but it still holds an obvious direction from beginning to end, and in a way almost feels like a sequel to the track “Shadowman” from the previous album.

As far as I’m concerned, Tristania still remains on the top of the gothic-metal-with-female-vocals heap, but this release is by no means their best work. It is however, something I would recommend to a new listener, as it is fairly accessible and easy to digest. I suppose this might be my main problem, Tristania has always been a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, but for good reason. Aside from a handful of songs, as a whole this album doesn’t seem like it’s making any advances.

There’s some gems on this album that will bring me to listen to it for some time. However, I can’t help but to already be patiently anticipating the next release, hoping for another step forward, instead of what feels like a step backwards.