Auri

I am usually a sucker for this kind of music. Her voice is extraordinary. But the overall effect falls a little short of magical or mysterious or ineffable and lands in the canny valley instead. Which is to say, kind of boring. The production is too clean maybe? Not enough layers? Like it is on a well lit stage instead of happening in a misty forest. I don't know. But it doesn't get over the hump from good to great for rme.

Auri is sort of an acoustic/no-distortion version of symphonic metal. A folk version of Within Temptation, but with generic songs of far lesser quality. Should we call it symphonic folk or just over-produced bland Disney folk? I don't know, but what I do know is that I don't like it. The music of a song like "Aphrodite Rising" could be on the Frozen soundtrack and that is not a compliment. The lyrics I don't know and I don't care.

Auri I glad I never have to listen to this again

I was surprised to find a Finnish Prog Folk band that I hadn't heard of on this list. I listen to a lot of Finnish, prog and folk music. Listening to this it sounded a LOT like Nightwish without the orchestration. Looking at the band, it turns out it's just Nightwish in a trenchcoat. But the more modern, overproduced Nightwish. Honestly, this one is a miss. I think it's better than the modern Nightwish offerings, but not by much. I listened to the band's entire catalogue and it was all pretty much the same. Really strong 13 year old edgelord vibes.

Sounds like what I imagine getting laid at the ren fest feels like (complimentary)

Wikipedia has a quote describing their sound as ‘rabbit hole music and celestial metal’ which is perfect

Didn’t really dig this melodramatic woodland fairytale soundtrack LP, felt a bit overblown and could’ve cut so much fat out and gotten to the point. Just not my thing, really

This sounds magical. Angelic vocals. Fun music

A real fantasy feel to this album had me imagining quests and wood nymphs such. Interesting… I loved the journey and would happily listen to this again.

Prog-psych-indie-folk - maybe the only album hitting all four of those! Beautifully written, sung and produced, but drags a little towards the end and feels a bit one-paced on repeated listening. A really good collection of songs, which (for me) falls just short of greatness.

Very Eurovision but yet enjoyable.

Celtic/Irish music always scores highly in my book. This was a little samey by the end, but I'm glad to have them.

I liked this one, even though it sounded like a stripped down version of Nightwish. (whom I submitted an album to the list) I definitely will check this one out again and seek out more of their albums.

8/10 not my favorite avant-folk, but I sure did have fun

I wish I lived her voice. Almost Enya good but just some missing spark

Très cool! C’est vrai qu’il manque un peu de texture, pis j’aurais aimé que l’album soit en finlandais, mais ont peut pas toute avoir

There was an earlier offering by related band Nightwish and my review there works well enough for this. That didn't strike me much as metal and this doesn't strike me much as folk. Nothing against it but I find it a little too dolled up and glossy.

A progressive folk album by some of the people behind Nightwish. Never heard of this project before, it’s decent

A little too generic. Not enough Finnish

Game of thrones music. A bit dramatic overall

This sounded like the music from a pretty mid-tier musical. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

Folk progresivo. Ni fu ni fa.

I felt like this is something you would hear on the TV show "Outlander". It started off pretty good, I liked the first few songs but I started to lose interest. I'd give it a "meh." Top tracks: "The Space Between", "The Name of the Wind"

My first thought after a song or 3 was why are all the vocals on quarter or eighth notes? It sounded childishly stilted at times and was distracting... But it gets better, and I do like when the second vocalist enters. Overall an interesting blend of dramatic scandinavian almost-symphonic melodies with a dollop of Celtic shanties ... Honestly not sure how I feel about this but it's just different enough while definitely still being accessible ... i.e. it might not be my favourite thing but I can appreciate it 6/10 3 stars IMO: should be in the book? Maybe

This was actually a LOT more interesting than I would ever think it to be. It was so different and intriguing. Strong 3.

It does kind of remind me of 'Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga' but in a good way. Earnest, Folky/Celtic tunes. It was nice to listen to.

January 24, 2026 HL: "Skeleton Tree", "See", "Underthing Solstice" This band is named after a character in The Name of the Wind... God I read that like 10 years ago. There's somebody named Auri in it? Oh, she's this mysterious waif that lives in the "Underthing", this labyrinth hidden below the magic university. And here's a song literally called "Underthing Solstice". Neat I didn't want to start the second book until there was any promise of a conclusion to the trilogy, which there still isn't a decade later. (It's also very fun to be an ASOIAF fan) Point is, maybe Auri is more important later on; who is to say. That 2nd book continues to gather dust on my shelf. At least we got this agreeable set of Celtic-inspired ditties in the interim between The Wise Man's Fear and, um, the death of the Sun

3.5

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: The space between

Very chill. The vocals are pretty and I like the inclusion of pipes but it doesn't really grip me much in spite of that.

Nice

This was fine. Not my jam but good for the Finns.

It's been a very pleasant surprise to see how many albums in the user generated list have been from non-English speaking countries. Auri is a side project from Finnish metal band Nightwish and it sees them move in a more mythical, Celtic, orchestral direction. That description may either excite you or fill you with dread and either way, you're probably getting what you expect. I liked it and glad it was something that I wouldn't have otherwise been exposed to.

Not really interested

Scandi folk prog. Its a bit wet.

Funny that Apple Music categorizes this as metal. This was more akin to pop music. It’s very much a European album as the band is Finnish and some songs have a sort of Irish rock. It felt somewhat operatic as well and just wasn’t something I thoroughly enjoyed. It wasn’t bad just not for me. 5.2/10

Based on the cover alone - this is a vocal metal album isn't it? No. It's progressive folk, which is like vocal metal but slower. It is, upon listening to it, the most solidly "Two" album I've heard in over 1,500 attempts.

More Disney soundtrack than Finnish folk.

Not as bad as I thought it would be, but it really only sounds like a subdued version of that kind of metal with the far too clean production and instrumentation that is still insanely popular for some reason. Considering the vocalist used to be in a band just like that, I think that only explains the sound here more.

The line between "modern Scandinavian folk music album" and "10 hour royalty free music for your D&D campaign compilation Youtube video" is a very thin one.

Really nothing special. 2/5

How more streamlined, devoid of abrasive textures and utterly bland can you go? Traditional folk shenanigans unfortunately sounding as if processed through AI. Johanna Kurkela has a nice voice, but what she sings is instantly forgettable. A total simulacrum. In other artists' hands, a track such as "See" could have become a Dead Can Dance song. Yet instead of genuine mystery and mysticism, what you have here is indeed the Disney version of those things. Fits with the unchallenging tastes of the user who suggested this. More power to them if that's the sort of soundtrack eliciting epic dreams in their soul. If I had been able to skip this LP and go on to another suggestion today, I wouldn't have had to yuk on their yum, I guess. Go and listen to Lankum if you're looking for gripping, groundbreaking and truly evocative stuff in that recent overall neo-traditional genre. I don't even think it's fair to compare them to Auri given that they're the complete opposite of that sort of ultra-processed dross. But it's not more non-sensical for me to do so than inflicting myself with yet another minute of this album. 1/5 for the purposes of this list dedicated to essential albums 6/10 for more general purposes (5 for the musicianship and "professional" production values + 1 for the artistry) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 83 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 106 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 216 (including this one) ---- Émile, j'ai vu ta dernière réponse. J'essaie de trouver le temps de te laisser la mienne dans les jours qui viennent. Désolé, ça fait longtemps que je te dis ça, mais la situation est un peu compliquée par chez moi en ce moment... Rien de grave, mais je trouve pas beaucoup de temps pour moi. Porte-toi bien

What even is this.