One evening I was surfing the net trying to find new bands of interest. I wandered on to NEST's homepage and looked at the band links there when I noticed the link for OCTOBER FALLS. The description said "acoustic atmospheric music" which was already enough for me to check the band out immediately. Luckily there were some mp3s available from the MCD "Tuoni" because I found out that this is the kind of music I've been trying to find for ages. I remember the first time I heard the song "Tuoni" I had to stop everything I was doing and just close my eyes and let the tears come for the song had touched me so deeply with its beauty and still does. It is something not many songs have ever done to me and believe it or not but this CD is filled with such songs. They are perfect in their beauty and deep melancholy. The songs drift slowly and shroud the listener in deep sorrow that feels like a heavy weight in the heart. Like an autumnal dark forest in the magical light of the full moon "Tuoni" stirs something deep inside oneself. That unexplainable feeling that you're witnessing something unique, something perfectly beautiful which makes you silently scream of joy but at the same time scars your mind for it is but a fleeting moment that can never happen again. In the case of "Tuoni" however, one can actually relive those moments whenever you allow yourself to be swept away by the music. There is just something so profoundly divine about this MCD that I cannot help but write such vaguely deep descriptions of it. If you still require some more hands on information then I can tell you that OCTOBER FALLS is the solo project of one Mr. M. Lehto. "Tuoni" is intended to be the first instalment of a trilogy which will grow with every release and should include vocals (I forgot to mention that "Tuoni" is purely instrumental) and more instruments (there's only a guitar, flute and piano on this one). The closest bands that resemble OCTOBER FALLS are TENHI, NEST, EMPYRIUM and ULVER ("Kveldsanger") but there's also an evident OPETH vibe on the last song "Epitaph". On a special note the professional looking digipack is graced with black and white photographs taken in a forest. They brilliantly serve as a visualisation of the dark music found within. Currently this MCD is sold out but it should be re-released on vinyl later this fall and there should also be a full-length on its way. It is planned to include some songs from this MCD as well as some new songs. This full-length should be released by Corvus Records with whom OCTOBER FALLS signed a deal recently. Some of you might know Corvus Records as the same label that released NEST's brilliant "Woodsmoke" album last year. But anyway, "Tuoni" is a piece of musical divinity you just have to hear for yourself to believe. That's about it then. The only thing left to say is that I now possess the closest thing to perfect music I have come across on my journeys and it has scarred my mind forevermore. - Jari Huusko