Finnish folk metal superstars Korpiklaani have announced a co-headline tour in North America, with longtime friends Ensiferum, with support coming from Trollfest.  The tour is set to kick off May 6th in Los Angeles, CA and runs through May 29th in New York, NY. Additional dates will to be added to the end of April with Trollfest only.

Korpiklaani are set to release their new album Noita, May 5th in North America via Nuclear Blast. Jan Yrlund, of Darkgrove Design, created the artwork.  Yrlund has created all the Korpiklaani artwork in recent years and once again has come up with another masterpiece.

Noita was recorded at Petrax Studio with Aksu Hanttu handling production, recording and mixing again. It is also the first Korpiklaani album to feature new accordion player Sami Perttula.  Perttula's joining the band has added another dimension in the band's folk arrangements alongside Fiddler Tuomas Rounakari.

The literal translation of the new release's title may be misleading with regards to the album themes but Jarkko Aaltonen provided a summary of the storyline: “Noita in the traditional Finnish meaning is different than what people associate it with nowadays. Noita is a person with wider knowledge and understanding of nature and who also was believed to possess paranormal or unnatural abilities. These people were often also referred to as Tietäjä, which translates as someone with wider knowledge and understanding of pretty much everything. The Native American medicine man and all the different types of Shamans of the primitive people are other examples. Noita is someone that you turn to when you need help of some kind. Finnish Noita had the ability to heal, just like their North American counterparts. They were very respected members of the society. Only later Christianity changed the word to mean something negative since those people were considered rivals by the church. Even in Finland this turned into a Witchhunt (=noitavainot) every now and then. Anyway, most people using Google Translate or similar will find the word Witch and will probably get the wrong idea of the meaning, since most will probably connect it with the black Sabbaths, devil marks and such, when a way more correct translation would probably be medicine man or Shaman."

New accordionist Sami Perttula about his first album with the band: "Previously the Korpiklaani albums were played with a piano-accordion and now I play with a traditional button-accordion which was more widely used in Finland anyways. In the arrangements you can hear more tonal harmonies and folky accompaniments combined to the power-chords than before. It actually boosts up the uplifting feel of our music."

Violinist Tuomas Rounakari adds: "This album has more violin solos than ever before. Violin is more in the role of a lead-guitar now just as Jonne had originally intended it to be."

And vocalist Jonne Järvelä concludes: "We have finally managed to create the balance between folk and metal in the way I've always dreamt it to be. Thanks to Sami's arrangements and Tuomas's crazy shredding of the violin."

In March, Korpiklaani will be headlining the Paganfest Extended Shows and will additionally play a run of European festival later this year.

Tour dates:

May

6 – Los Angeles, CA – House Of Blues
7 – San Francisco, CA – Slim’s
8 – Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theater
9 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon
10 – Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theatre
12 – Calgary, AB – Republik
13 – Edmonton, AB – Union Hall
15 – Denver, CO – Summit Music Hall
16 – Lincoln, NE – Bourbon Theater
17 – Minneapolis, MN – Mill City Nights
18 – Chicago, IL – Bottom Lounge
19 – Cleveland, OH – Agora Theater
20 – Toronto, ON – Opera House
21 – Ottawa, ON – Mavericks
22 – Montreal, QC – Club Soda
23 – Quebec City, QC – Imperial de Quebec
24 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
26 – Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Small’s Theater
27 – Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage
28 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre Of Living Arts
29 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza