Finnish traditional folk metal pioneers KORPIKLAANI will release their eighth studio album, "Manala", on August 3 via Nuclear Blast Records.
Commented KORPIKLAANI vocalist/guitarist Jonne Järvelä: "'Manala' is the realm of the dead — the underworld in Finnish mythology. Tuonela, Tuoni, Manala and Mana are used synonymously. This place is best known for its appearance in the Finnish national epic Kalevala, on which many of our new songs are based. In the 16th poem of Kalevala, Väinämöinen, a shamanistic hero travels to Manala to seek for knowledge about the dead. On the journey he meets the ferrywoman (similar to Charon), a girl, Tuonen tytti, or Tuonen piika (Death's maid), who takes him across the river of Tuoni. However, on the isle of Tuoni he is not given the spells he was originally looking for and he barely manages to escape the place. After his return he curses anyone trying to enter the place alive."
For those of you who are now afraid of not being able to understand the mystical Finnish lyrics on the album, don't worry: "Manala" will come to you with a bonus CDcontaining the whole album with English lyrics!