Metal Shock Finland (World Assault )

Photo by Teppo Ristola Photography

Finnish melodic and progressive metal band Notio released their second studio album Worldview on March 8th 2024 via Inverse Records. 

LISTEN to Worldview on streaming services: https://push.fm/fl/notio-worldview

Albert Olli comments:
“Worldview is a story-driven concept album, just like its predecessor Lucid Dreams For Sale (2019). The album’s themes are dealing with future threats and the resulting anxiety, accepting one’s own mortality and limitations, and man’s relationship with himself and his environment.

The story of the album focuses on the Protagonist, a person who suffers from world-weariness (weltschmerz). The Protagonist claims to have seen a prophecy according to which the Earth intends to use its natural forces to destroy Homo sapiens and the societies it has built. Earth has had enough of Homo sapiens and now it’s time for a deadly counterattack. The Protagonist tries to convince his loved ones and others close to him about the prophecy, but no one listens to him and he is declared crazy. The Protagonist decides to save himself by running away from the inevitable.

The listener can interpret the lyrics of the songs and their meanings as they wish. However, I wrote the album’s lyrics in such a way that the listener can look at the lyrics from two different perspectives. The first point of view is that the Protagonist’s pain grows so great that he loses touch with reality and, accompanied by his delusions, ends up taking his own life. There will be no counterattack of nature, only the Protagonist’s pain will end.

Another point of view is that the Earth is a living being and it feels pain and suffering like all other living beings and to get rid of its suffering, it destroys the cause of pain, i.e. Homo sapiens. The prophecy comes true. The Protagonist does not take his own life and he survives the counterattack of nature. Of course, both scenarios can happen at the same time, so the album’s lyrics are like a continuous dialogue between these two different options.

The purpose is to encapsulate in the album the anxiety that I believe many, especially young people, experience in today’s world. The world is a scary place, and the 24/7 updated (fake) news stream on the screen of a smart device does not make the situation any easier. Climate crisis, natural disasters, loss of biodiversity, economic crisis, capitalism and consumer culture, wars and global pandemics make the future look dark and uncertain. Death is constantly present.

The flood of stimuli and constant images of threats keep the hunter-gatherer’s brain in overdrive and inevitably shape and challenge everyone’s worldview in one way or another. At the same time, however, the brain of a good mind strives to create a slightly more positive image of reality, in order to maintain the person’s ability to function. The question arises, what should we believe and what is the truth in the end? Are we heading towards the end of humanity or is man just afraid of the end of his own life?

This album was really challenging to make, but I believe that all the effort can be heard in the end result. We started recording the album in June 2020 and the final version of the album was completed in September 2023. There were long breaks between the recording sessions, because I wanted to practice all the songs in advance as well as possible. In the end, there were a total of 14 actual recording days. Thinking about the synthesizer/piano patterns and mixing the album also took its own time, because I wanted everything to sound like it should. I am more than satisfied with the end result and each song has its own place in this whole.

If I had to sum up the album in one sentence, I would say that this is one person’s inner journey towards accepting the finality of death in this uncertain world, and that journey can be extremely colorful.”

CD available here: https://bit.ly/notio-cd 

Notio – Worldview (album 2024)

Track list:

1. Propagation Process
2. Solipsism
3. Curtain of Ignorance
4. The Need to Fear
5. Absurd
6. A Ladder to Nowhere
7. Temporary Pain
8. Inevitable Outcome
9. Vis Major
10. The End Is Beautiful

Album cover by Petri Lampela
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Pasi Löfgrén

Line-up:
Albert Olli – Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Drums

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