Metsatöll, celebrating their tenth birthday at the anniversary of the Republic of Estonia, will present an overview of their activities up to this point with a laser disc collection „Hard as a Bone“. More than five hours of unreleased stuff will be released on two DVDs and one CD.

Ten years is a sufficiently long period for a heavy metal band to pause and take a look back. Metsatöll is sharing their own moments of nostalgia with others by releasing a two DVD, one CD set “Hard as a Bone”, which will include more than five hours of unreleased stuff to watch and listen to. The discs will feature last year’s shows on the Rabarock festival and the “Märkamisaeg” concert, a show at the Finnish club Nosturi (2006), a short film about the recording of the Iivakivi album (2007, NB! – features rudeness), the video of “Creation of the Wolf” (2002), and historic video recordings of a rehearsal in Markus’s basement (2000), from the festivals Green Stage (2000) and Green Christmas (2002), and a gig in the Von Krahl Theatre (2001).

With „Hard as a Bone“, Metsatöll continues its tradition of limited releases by packaging the albums, featuring Jüri Arrak’s painting „Tagasivaatajad“ (The Ones who Look Back, 2002), into embroidered leather bags..

The more impatient fans can complement their CD rack on 13 February in Rock Café, at Metsatöll’s birthday celebration; orders made through the band’s homepage www.metsatoll.ee will be sent out starting from 16 February, and music stores will begin selling “Hard as a Bone” starting from 6 March.

“Hard as a Bone” will be Metsatöll’s final self-financed release, the next four albums will be adorned with the logo of Spinefarm Records.

Release details

The 2DVD/CD “Hard as a Bone” tour:

13 March - Viljandi, cinema Rubiin (Lossi 21, www.rubiin.ee). Special guest: Zetod (www.zetod.ee).
14 March - Tallinn, Tapper (Pärnu hwy 158g, www.tapper.ee). Special guest: Skyforger (Läti, www.skyforger.lv).
3 April - Rapla kultuurikeskus (Tallinna hwy 17, www.raplakultuur.ee). Special guest: Zetod (www.zetod.ee).
4 April - Tartu, Rock & Roll Heaven (Tiigi 76a, www.rocknroll.ee. NB! Now new and bigger!)

Tickets: http://www.piletilevi.ee/est/uudised/?newsID=15370 

On 24 February 1999, three men held a meeting in the basement of a residential building at the borders of the Pääsküla bog, one of whom could play a little bit of guitar, another who knew somebody who could actually play a little bit of drums, and a third who had come up with a sufficiently ancient-sounding name that would be just right for a heavy metal band – ’Metsatöll’. The thought soon became a reality and over the next few days four or five songs were composed, and a couple of months later there was an entire album-full of them.

A decade later, only the vocalist-guitarist Markus Teeäär remains of the founding members. The next senior member is Lauri Õunapuu, who joined Metsatöll soon after the release of the band’s debut album Steel Frozen in Our Souls (1999), bringing with him the Estonian bagpipes, flutes, zithers, and a second guitar. The original bass player Andrus Tins was soon afterwards replaced by Raivo Piirsalu alias Kuriraivo, the drummer Silver „Factor“ Rattasepp handed the drumsticks over to Marko Atso in 2004. At that very year, Metsatöll recorded their second album, Hiiekoda, which instantly increased their fan-base by several orders of magnitude.

The remaining five years include the re-arrangement and re-recording of the debut, or Steel Frozen in Our Souls 10218 (2005), the CD/DVD combo See You on the Battlefield! (2006), the DVD Curse Upon Iron, recorded with the National Academic Male Choir (2006), the next album Iivakivi (2008), a handful of minor releases and more than a hundred gigs in Estonia and beyond, from Europe to the United States, and a recording contract with Universal Music’s heavy metal branch Spinefarm Records.

In reply to the question as to why the original Estonian title of the album has both words capitalized – this is not done in Estonian! – the band members say: „This decision was made especially for the critic Mart Kalvet, so that he would be able to ask: „But why did you capitalize both words?“.“ It is Kalvet’s sharp eye and even sharper tongue that is to blame for the fact that an ever-increasing number of musicians today have a tendency of actually reading what their album covers in fact say before sending them off to print – and sometimes they even do it more than once, or may even ask for a specialist’s help, all just to avoid embarrassment in the future. Which can only be healthy for the Estonian language.

former Tölls:
Andrus Tins - bass - 1999–2001
Silver "Factor" Rattasepp - drums - 1999–2004

www.metsatoll.ee
www.myspace.com/metsatoll