Song of the day: “The Forest Of My Soul” by Marrasmieli
Marrasmieli is a Finnish black metal band founded in 2018 by guitarist, keyboardist and violinist Zannibal (Paisaunt, Sammale), vocalist, keyboardist and drummer Nattvind (ex-Raatola, ex-Organ Grinder) and bassist Maelgor. Their name is made up of two terms in Finnish: “marras“, which translates into English as death and “mieli” which translates as mind or mood, two concepts that could easily describe their musical proposal perfectly. The band debuted in 2018 with a self-titled EP composed of two songs that were released in digipak CD format limited to 200 units under Naturmacht Productions.
The first full-length released by the band is titled Between Land And Sky and was released in 2020 by the Naturmacht Productions label, who was also in charge of the physical edition of it. Like his first album, Marrasmieli‘s second full-length titled Martaiden Mailta was released in April 2022 by Naturmacht Productions with several editions on CD and vinyl, among which an edition in A5 digipak or longbox stands out, both albums garnered good reviews from the specialized press.
As for the musical content, I could say that Marrasmieli‘s proposal does not differ excessively from old school black metal except that the band does not make excessive use of blast beats and its music is much more elaborate. The Forest Of My Soul is the song that opens the album Martaiden Mailta after a bombastic introduction like Frozen, Far North that places the listener in the particular ancient forest of the frozen Finnish mountains. Marrasmieli is able to demonstrate his great potential in the ten minutes that this excellent song lasts, which at times reminds me of Windir and which at times seems to have certain reminiscences of early Emperor or even the first Ulver albums, bridging the gap between both bands.
The Forest Of My Soul is an excellent combination of transcendent melodies and great guitar arrangements that manage to create an oppressive and sinister atmosphere where the forest and its ancient secrets are the total protagonists of the work. Not only do we find references to nature itself but there is also mention of Prince Pwyll and the other world known as Annwn, which are elements of great importance in Welsh mythology, this is probably one of the most attractive aspects of the album since it explores elements of other mythologies that do not normally appear in this type of bands.
