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.