Release Date: September 7, 2018

3 years since the release of their last album, Finnish Folk Metal Superstars KORPIKLAANI offer their 10^th studio release entitled ‘Kulkija’ (“Wanderer”).

Featuring 14 tracks, ‘Kulkija’ is their longest release, but also their best sounding one to date: The band kept ‘Kulkija’ as natural sounding as possible. “That’s what you can clearly hear. It’s closer to how we sound on stage, and we’ll be able to play all the new songs live, that’s for sure,” explains vocalist Jonne. For tracking, the band members mostly used their current tour rig.And the result was definitely worth the wait. From the first to the last tone, a unique atmosphere guides the listener through a long journey. “It’s not just a collection of songs, it’s a ‘real’ album,” states accordionist Sami. Adds Jonne, “It needed many songs to create this atmosphere, and the record’s flow is really good too. You should definitely listen to ‘Kulkija’ as a whole. The more you listen to the record, the more details you can find.”

Also, instrumentally, the band continue the sound they had already established from ‘Manala’ (2012) to ‘Noita’ (2015). “The characters of all the instruments are more balanced than ever before. For the first time, I had the chance to play such a wide range of emotions on a metal album, and didn’t only have to focus on playing everything hard or in a rock style. I could use more of my expressional skills,” comments fiddler Tuomas.

Lyrically, the album deals with the album’s title character, the wanderer. He appears in every song and every single track represents one of his life situations. For example, 'Neito' deals with his woman. “The woman is the road, and as much as the wanderer loves being on the road, he loves his maiden so much,” explains Jonne. In fact, the album relates to the band’s life on the road, far from home, which makes it probably also KORPIKLAANI’s most personal album. Standout tracks include first single 'Kotikonnut' (‘Homestead’), 'Henkselipoika' (‘A Boy In Suspenders’) which is already part of their live set,and the beautiful acoustic ballad ‘Harmaja’ (‘The Grey’).

‘Kulkija’ was recorded at Sound Supreme Studio in Hämeenlinna, Finland with producer/mixing engineer JanneSaksa while the incredible detailed cover artwork was designed by JanYrlund (BATTLEBEAST, MANOWAR), who has been working with the band since their third album.