Heritage: 1995-2008 - The Collected Works

To fans of folk metal, Finnish act Moonsorrow needs no introduction. They've justifiably become one of the genre's most famous acts with their surprisingly sophisticated take on the genre, showcasing some of the best clean vocals the genre has to offer and incorporating influence from disparate genres like progressive metal and film scores. Blood Music gave their music a comprehensive box set overview, and there are very few things to complain about here.

This is a truly comprehensive overview of the band's works; everything the band recorded in the studio before 2011's Varjoina kuljemme kuolleiden maassa (excluded because it had already been released on vinyl) is included, minus two tracks that were accidentally erased during mastering and have been lost forever. Significant portions of this material were previously unreleased, and while casual fans probably won't care much about the newly released material, this will prove to be a goldmine for hardcore fans.

The physical presentation of this material is second to none. The packaging has been meticulously designed, with stunning new artwork based on the original album art (which is also included for the sake of completeness), and a gorgeous slipcase format specially designed for the set. Some versions of the collection also included a gigantic poster of Tulimyrsky's gorgeous album art.

If you're reading this review, you probably already familiar enough with Moonsorrow's material to know whether you'll like it or not, but for those who aren't familiar with it, their reputation as one of the best folk metal acts is justified. Even early in their history, such as on Tämä ikuinen talvi, they were already producing much more interesting music than many of their peers were producing, and by the time of releases such as Kivenkantaja, Verisäkeet, Viides luku: Hävitetty, and Tulimyrsky, they were producing genre-defining music that sets a new standard for folk metal. This music is as defining for the genre of folk metal as the works of Enslaved were for the subgenre of Viking metal, or the works of Opeth were for progressive death metal: they may not have invented the genre, but they have certainly perfected it.

None of the bonus material lives up to the standards of the band's best material, but in my opinion, it's all well worth hearing, particularly for devoted fans of the band. Some of the outtakes, such as the Tämä ikuinen talvi outtake "Vasaran viha" and the acoustic version of "Pakanajuhla" from the Tulimrysky sessions, are good enough that I question why they weren't included on their respective recordings. The live tracks are also frequently intriguing; one of these days I will have to see this band live.

My only complaint with the set is down to the audio quality, and to be fair, it's not something that could have been completely fixed. Most of Moonsorrow's material (from Suden uni through Varjoina kuljemme kuolleiden maassa) was heavily clipped during the mastering phase, meaning that the peaks and troughs of the waveforms were removed and rendered completely flat. This results in digital distortion and a "muffled" sound quality that particularly affects the albums' drum sound; it can also cause listener fatigue, particularly if listened to on headphones. Unfortunately, there would have been no way to fix this entirely, because significant portions of the albums were constructed over already-clipped recordings. In short, there are no original tapes from which to reconstruct this material.

There are, however, programs that can "declip" clipped recordings, and Blood Music's engineers did not choose to use them during the remastering phase. They can never perform perfectly (once data has been removed from a recording, you can't restore it), but some of them, such as iZotope or the Perfect Declipper, can produce approximations that many casual listeners will find to be indistinguishable from an unclipped master, while most others will still find to be a substantial improvement. It's unclear whether the engineers simply didn't know about declippers or chose not to use them, but in my opinion, the final product would have been superior if they had been utilised in the mastering process.

This is, however, a small complaint in the grand scheme of things, because the vinyl editions still sound legions better than the commercially available CDs, and barring another remaster of this material, it's the best any commercially available version of it is ever likely to sound. Given the choice between the CD and the vinyl edition, I'd take the vinyl every time, and I suspect nearly every other listener would do the same. The remastering process may not have eliminated the clipping, but it certainly made it drastically less annoying.

The price tag of the set, particularly since it is now available only second-hand, will be a prohibitive factor for many people. Whether it's worth picking up a physical copy of this set likely depends on your budget. For people who have the money to spare, I will unconditionally say that if you like folk metal at all, you shouldn't hesitate to pick up a copy at the first possible opportunity. I most strongly recommend the die hard edition, which benefits from being pressed on clear vinyl, or the die soft edition, which benefits from being pressed on black vinyl. These two formats are generally reputed to possess the best audio fidelity, although there seems to be no consensus on which is better. I sprung for the die hard, because I wanted the shirt and the poster. On the other hand, if you care more about appearance than audio quality, there's something to be said for the splatter set, which is absolutely gorgeous. For what it's worth, I scrimped and saved for several months to pick up a copy of this set during its original sale, and I have no regrets.