I like the new October Falls record. How much do I like it? You’ll have to wait for the next issue of Decibel to find out exactly, or you could completely ignore me (I would) and just listen to the album right here before you can buy it. If you’re familiar with Mr. Lehto’s expressions of woodsy extremity, you will not be disappointed. It strums, it buzzes, it screeches and it sings out gorgeously. If you’ve not heard any previous OF albums, welcome to the fold. After the music player below you’ll find a track-by-track discussion by the main dude himself. Listen and learn!
At The Edge of an Empty Horizon – The album starts with the first non-acoustic instrumental we’ve ever recorded and as it was kept quite short, I thought it would work best as an opener for the album. The original plan was to start with “Bloodlines” and to have it more in your face when the music starts, but eventually I liked it better this way, where the first song builds into the second one.
Bloodlines – This was the first track I wrote for the album and also the one that defined the direction of the new songs, with shorter compositions and more song-oriented material than before. If I should present just one song from the album to someone, this would be the one.
The Verge of Oblivion – One of the faster songs from the record and actually a song that almost didn’t make to the album. There [were a] few demos from [which] I chose one to be finished and recorded and eventually this one replaced another demo-track. Marko and Ville, who was still the bassist at that point, liked the other unfinished track, but it was a bit too similar with the title track of the album, so for the sake of the album, I chose this one instead. The other one was left in the closet, maybe it will find its place in the future.
Snakes of the Old World – Sometimes it’s nice to listen demos you’ve recorded years ago and that’s basically how this song started to evolve. Part of this was already demoed over 12 years ago, but never used for some reason, until now. I think this song is closer to the previous albums than the others, mostly because of the nylon-stringed acoustic guitars.
The Plague of a Coming Age – More riff-oriented piece than anything else on the album and also the first song where we’ve used clean vocals with the exception of some chants on the previous albums. Tomi Joutsen performed the clean vocals for this one and I did the others.
Mouth of a Nation’s Harlots – Again, one of my personal favorites, a lot of harmonies with lead-guitars and very melody-oriented. One of the songs that mold the whole album into more towards a band-sound. The ending theme is something I’ll surely recycle and use for something else too in the future. Drum-wise it’s one of my favorites, as with the whole album, no triggers or fixes, just a solid performance.
Boiling Heart of the North – This one features Tomi on clean vocals again. Originally it was actually an acoustic instrumental intro for the title song of the album, but in the end it became a full song with clean vocals and a full band. Quite different from the other material or anything we’ve done before, but it found its place on the album and gives an extra dimension music-wise.
The Weight of the Fallen – One of the last songs written and deliberately a faster song with blastbeats, so there would be more variation and higher tempos too. When we were recording this, I noticed that I had made a bit of a tribute to Sentenced melody-wise, there’s a slight resemblance to Noose on one part. Sami did an awesome bass-lines for this, so the bass was also kept quite high on the mix, just like in many other parts of the album.
Below the Soils – Ever since the demo for this was recorded, it was an obvious song to end the record. Very mid-tempo through the whole song, a piece that wouldn’t work in the middle of the album at all, but fits perfect as a closure. It’s one of my personal favorites from the album and with the marching snare-drum it’s kind of like a march towards the end.
