Juha Jyrkäs – New Twist on an Obscure Sound

Last May I had the chance to educate myself a bit on a sub genre of metal known as Folk Metal, a super niche subgenre within the broader scope of the metal music scene, by writing about Juha Jyrkäs. Folk Metal conveys an aggression and intensity similar to typical heavy metal but with traditional folk melodies, instruments, and themes. Bands like Ensiferum, Finntroll, and Korpiklaani seem to be the bands with the most notoriety in this distinctive genre, from what I gather. I personally had only been familiar with Finntroll’s music prior to writing about Juha the first time. Interestingly enough, Juha Jyrkäs’ approach stands out even within this specialized space, at least by comparison to the “mainstream” version projected by those aforementioned bands. A “maverick,” if you will, to the sub-genre – he incorporates the use of the Kantele (a Finnish traditional stringed instrument) in place of electric bass and guitar. Effectively the pioneer of “kantele metal,” Juha Jyrkäs has not only blazed some trails for other artists who are putting their spin on it, but also helps frame the concept and community around it compiling playlists like this one that specifically features Metal songs that use the Kantele. Jyrkäs released a new single recently, titled “Syntysanat,” on October 10th. Check it out here:

The new track is a precursor of where Jyrkäs will be taking the sound of his music. If you were familiar with his first album, you might notice some key differences in what’s to come with this lead off single to the next album. A bass kantele was incorporated for low-end frequency, and synthesized keyboards were introduced to spaces in the mix. Most interesting of all, was the presence of another traditional Finnish instrument called the Jouhikko, which was manipulated to be distorted for the recording. Jyrkäs teases that the experimentation on this song, is a sign of things to come on the upcoming album.

Performance credits:

Juha Jyrkäs – vocals, bass kantele
Olga Kolari – jouhikko, copper stringed kantele, keyboards
Janne Väätäinen – drums
Henry Kolari – soundscapes

“The new songs started to come more epic and more bombastic. A huge inspiration for me was the old Manowar, old Moonsorrow and Viking-era Bathory. The lyrics – written in Finnish with traditional Kalevala meter, a variation of trochaic tetrameter – derive from Finnish folklore, but they also share some abstract stuff too.”
Juha Jyrkäs