WOODEN THRONE “Under the Moon They Wander Until Fading Away”
By Octopi Mills
This seems to be a new project by "OCTOBER FALLS main-man" Mikko Lehto. It is said by those in the know that this is his way to explore themes of the night, moon, and cosmos, which is a noble undertaking. Who has not? Lovecraft has; Howard, Poe, the good Roberts Burns and Frost, respectively...even Uncle Monty Withnail has under the nightfall at Crow Crag. And oh how no moon is the same to the observer nor does the night lend greater the same gaze through her gossamer, night dew scented gown a sameness to all..oh, how the mirror of lake reflects the gazer or seer, and how...I must muzzle my passions and play the old part of liar and not shine as the dead thing shines.
In an age where some think of the moon as a hologram, we must not rewrite our poetry to suit such things nor should we forget the old thing. After the first song flies by me and fails to fully capture me as I keep an eye out for the moon, nearly full, and at rise, I catch the fading sands of time in "The Raven's Cross", a song that waxes it's melancholy night air and turns like a wanderer into the soft opening of "Withered at Sunrise". Here Mikko Lehto is having his time at a nostalgic black metal affair with those old feelings, sombre and dark things. One can sense a sincerity in the man's attempts, where perhaps shades mire with youth and old age alike in that great darkened cove where wanderers are made same and leveled against time itself in the awful and great sameness. The title track whittles away into itself, a melting candle beset by a shame of starry skies and deep things to the man or men who are composing the music. The use of some sort of piano is employed here and there and one is reminded how it is one of man's extensions; here "Into Forests Calm".
The cheeses of moon and the air of night’s wine meet in my mind as "Return to the Shadows" sets flight, blowing away softly in the skies like a kite, wing torn and proud in affair...producing a wave-like rise darkly tall. "Timeless Fields" sets an ending where ends must surely come. How great the album was I may never know unless I revisit it again on a dark night outside somehow but I must commend the calm flow and flutter of it's flighty pace and the fluid way it evokes the night and it's things- night birds, night hikes, and night sky.