Finnish heavy melodic death metal unit Wolfheart are back with their most commanding offering yet. The four-piece Nordic machine returns with their highly-anticipated new full-length masterpiece, Wolves Of Karelia, set for release on April 10, 2020 via Napalm Records. The album is available to pre-order.
Just as wildlife itself maintains harmony with a violent clash of beauty and unpredictability, Wolves of Karelia explores the band’s previously coined genre of “winter metal” – smoothly bridging a traditional approach of extreme genres with tracks like the breakneck epic “Reaper”, while maintaining atmospheric and acoustic elements on songs such as the bludgeoning wall-of-sound “The Hammer” and grandiose “Horizon on Fire”. Crowned by the deeply stunning instrumental interlude “Eye of the Storm”, Wolves of Karelia could easily go down in metal history as Wolfheart’s most intense record.
In celebration of the announcement of Wolves Of Karelia, Wolfheart has shared a new video for their colossal new single, “Ashes”. Watch the video and get a first taste of Wolves Of Karelia at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o34xBjbhFPQ&feature=youtu.be&utm_source=Press+News&utm_campaign=39d3d2fbf9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_05_24_09_58_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_7e4e555b47-39d3d2fbf9-26334615
Tuomas Saukkonen states: “”Ashes” is the last song of the album and grand finale of the main theme which is Winter War. More precisely the end of the war. The first dawn when the guns and cannons went silent. I was listening to a lot of stories told by veterans of that day. Most heartbreaking and grand was a story of veteran who lost his best friend in the war and his body was never found until just recently in the Russian woods by a team who still tries to find remains of the fallen heroes left behind. He waited 80 years to know the fate of his friend.”
The album’s lyrical and musical content is inspired by the Winter War waged between Russia and the band’s native country, Finland, which took place during the winter of November 1939-March 1940. Finland ultimately managed to stop the Russian troops from invading their country. Wolfheart mastermind and frontman Tuomas Saukkonen was inspired by the personal stories of local veterans, conveying the tales of what they experienced and survived from their perspectives. Somber, frostbitten and heroic, Wolves of Karelia portrays these tales with stunning musical precision.
“I was born in a small village right on the Russian border, about 15km to the border zone from our family farm,” says Tuomas. “There is a hill with a cannon pointing towards Russia where we used to play as kids and the famous WW2 sniper “White Death”, aka Simo Häyhä, was from the neighboring village… so you could say the history of the war is well remembered in that area.
We had 32 tanks against their 3,000 and 114 planes against their 3,800… we had less than 350,000 soldiers against their one million, and yet, still we speak Finnish.”
Wolves of Karelia Tracklist: 1. Hail Of Steel 2. Horizon On Fire 3. Reaper 4. The Hammer 5. Eye Of The Storm 6. Born From Fire 7. Arrows Of Chaos 8. Ashes
Formed in 2013 by frontman Tuomas Saukkonen in Lahti, Finland, Wolfheart initially began as a solo project after he disbanded all of his other projects to begin again with a fresh sound and concept. The project’s debut album, 2013’s Winterborn, consisted of just Tuomas performing all instruments. After being joined by bandmates and releasing three additional acclaimed albums – 2015’s Shadow World, 2017’s Tyhjyys and their 2018 Napalm Records debut Constellation of the Black Light – Wolfheart is back to take another bite out of the scene with Wolves of Karelia, their strongest album to date.
Wolfheart is: Tuomas Saukkonen: Guitar, Vocals / Joonas Kauppinen: Drums / Lauri Silvonen: Bass, Backing Vocals / Vagelis Karzis: Session Guitar