TONTTU - Le Twisto Gnomique: Remix und Remake

TONTTU is back...Well, not necessarily. It's more or less the guy's army that has come forth to fight the world of gnomes. But, before I get ahead of myself, let me briefly describe this act: It's about a man who calls himself the Tonttufindergeneral. The entire project is based around the destruction of gnomes, who are to blame for all of the world's problems. For example, I had the shits this morning, so I can tell you that a gnome probably poisoned my food and I got a sick stomach from it. Those who stick with gnomes are sympathizers, and those who fight against the gnomes are well-worn and honorable warriors.

Now, Le Twisto Gnomique: Remix und Remake is exactly as the titles describes it to be: It's an album filled with remakes and remixes from various artists. Or, brave people who kept the legend and the propaganda of TFG alive as he went quiet for a time. And these guys are just as passionate about making music as they are killing gnomes.

Intro (Tomtenmaster) was performed by Abysmal Grave and began off with a nice tune to settle you into the folklore of the album. Featuring some vocals that sound like a creature (most likely a gnome), the song slowly rolled in guitar work around the minute mark along with howls from the delinquent from afar.

Remixed by Lupo Von Volpe, Tonttuwasara (Club dei Giacobini-Mix) came in as the second track and sort of followed the set up of the intro. Slowly working in with a few drums in the background as light guitar notes hit the ear with some ambient work, it eventually exploded all out with dominating drums. The static soon followed along with other noises in the background, serving up a nice noise song to boot. The noise went away, and peace soon followed as the song went on its way.

A mix of Suurin Petos hit next, mixed by a fellow named Thomas Jude Barclay Morrison from MU Sound Laboratories. While the sounds of war hit over a nice military marching tune, you can only fear what these brave soldiers have faced on the battlefield against those short but frightening red hatted menaces. Towards the end of the song, some words from TFG are played out, and the song soon ends after that. This song was really well done; great instrumental piece with an emotional attachment that's hard to come by...Even if it is based around a not so serious premise.

Saunatonttu was performed by A Garden of Pomegranates and was hit with a metal remake. Growling, fast drums, along with guitar riffs hit the ear gently. Well done, a bit repetitive, but I liked the sound.

More of a dark ambient song came from Peräseinäjoen Antimateriaydistys take on Ennustus (Äärimmäinen Tappioversio). It really lent to the overall feeling of having something to fear, like a group of kids at a late night fire, where the leader tells a creepy story just to scare the young ones. Nice song, and the intimidating lyrics helped immensely.

The gent at MU Sound Laboratories got another take on the album with Tonttujen Kestit- Alkupalat. While the simple tone of the song, not much went on in terms of instrumentation and was sort of boring. The ending was creepy, though, offering a bit of a folk song to sing along to, but was served out in a spine-tingling fashion.

Lastly DJ Vrhovny gave a spin on the final track, Sotep Niruus (Aftermath). The drum work was wonderful, the ambience of the track deep and heavy hitting, and the change up around the two minute, ten second mark was astonishing to me. This was an absolutely fantastic song in every sense of the word.

So, these hard fighting warriors against the rising gnome problem through music did a pretty solid job at it. Nothing too wrong with the whole thing, a few boring segments here and there, but overall well done. I'm looking forward to when TFG creates another full length release...I wonder what the dormant man will come up with next in this crazy scheme. Jul 26 2014