Album Review: Poets of the Fall -Temple of Thoguht-

Temple of Thought- (5/6)

I will preface this by saying I’ve been waiting for this album for a long time, I cannot begin to tell you how much I love these guys.

Poets of the Fall is at it’s core a three person rock band( Marko Saaresto (Vocals)Olli Tukiainen (lead guitar) and Markus "Captain" Kaarlonen (keyboards, production). They have also brought in at least on tour and Temple of Thought Jani Snellman (bass guitar), Jaska Mäkinen (rhythm guitar, backing vocals) and Jari Salminen (drums, percussion)

To say that these guys are a rock band really doesn’t do them justice, their sound is not like any other I’ve heard. I can hear bits of folk rock, progressive rock and classical guitar work in all of their albums. Saaresto’s lyrics are filled with striking turns of phrase and the way he sings them is both innovative and articulate. One of the things I adore about the band as a whole is that they ar constantly innovating, without completely losing their core sound. Saatsto’s voice make’s this most noticeable. Evolving from a simple, lovely tenor to someone with a range from baritone to first tenor and masterful control. Saaresto is particularly good at sensing when to experiment whit sound and where a simple, clean vocalization is best. His diction is amazing.

Musically, their sound runs the gamut from hauntingly simple to ornate sometimes within one song. It is constantly developing but never loses it's surreal quality.

Every album has been utterly poetic and beautiful. Temple of Thought is no exception. It takes the fantastical romance of Twilight Theater and adds the kick of rock that was present in Revolution Roulette in fact you can hear where they blended the pieces of every album of theirs that worked well. In a time where I’ve seen more and more of my pet artists slowly lose what made them so strong to a sound closer to pop, it is refreshing to see an album that very much represents the artists that put their effort forward.

This is one of the very few albums I’ve heard where my finger wasn’t hovering over the skip button.

One of the things that really struck me about this album besides its cumulative nature was the drum work. It is utterly fantastic, particularly in “The Ballad of of Jeremiah Peacekeeper,” there is a steady pulse to the album.

The track that stands out most as completely different from anything else on the album is “The Happy Song.” It was written for the Alan Wake soundtrack. I think it shows off a side to the band that is not often seen-- that is their abllyt to be playful. This is particularly apparent if you listen to the background, Saatesto just kind of goes nuts, frestyling the song’s one repeated line (“I'm a psycho”) in various intonations and at various speeds. Saaresto also has this wicked, wonderful laugh that is infectious and creepy.