Not too much to say about this. Most of the songs in this mix are things that I've heard over the years and just dug, or that Satan commanded me to put there. Only a few tracks really need additional comment:

Daria Theme Song Extended, by Splendora:
A real-life, all female punk band, in case you ever wondered.

Salmon Dance, by Ruth McKenzie:
This is off her "Kalevala" theme album, which centers around a legend from the old Finnish epic of that name. The entire album is the bomb-diggity, bitch, but I figured this particular track would make a good lead-in to...

Oi Dai, by Varttina:
Lyrics in Finnish. This song is a very old cry of homesickness echoing down the centuries. The singer remarks that if only she could return to her distant homeland, the very birds and trees would welcome and respond to her, ect. Listen for the alliteration, which was once used in Northern European and Anglo-Saxon songs and poems (such as Beowulf) in place of rhyme. It often gives northern folk music a hypnotic, droning quality that...ZZZZzzzz. Just kidding.

My Kantele, by Amorphis:
Based on a poem from the Kalevala. The lyrics are in English, but for clarification, a kantele is a traditional folk instrument surrounded by many romantic notions (crafted by the gods out of magical ingrediants, ect). The poem sarcastically dismisses all that deusch-baggery and puts the kantele (and music generally) in the service of what we'd call "the blues".

High Mountains, Low Valleys by Ranarim:
You're on your own with this one. I'm not even certain what language it's in (Swedish?). I just think this chick's voice is incredible.

Words (for Love), by Paul van Dyk:
This is what you call your "Progressive Trance" because it builds to a climax, goes off in 500 directions at once, and then fades away. Since Germans have had a big influence, it tends to be very precise and technical. "Goa Trance" is more psychedelic and spacy (hey, maaan!).

That's it. You're still awake? You need to cut back on the caffeine, Homes.

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"You'll burn for this. Burn in jail!"

The Dark Master has commanded me to say the following things about your mix.

I was surprised to discover that anyone around here besides me and maybe Drexle liked music like Hatebreed. Not that I'd ever heard of the band before, mind you, but it's a style of music I like.

"Natural One" is a song I'd liked when I heard it on the radio, but evidently not quite enough to buy the album. Nice to have a copy of it now.

I like "Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes" quite a bit. It induces much tapping of appendages.

I remember the alliterative style you mentioned from reading Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight in high school. I thought it was pretty cool. I'm finding it's kind of difficult to pick up on that in a foreign language, but I like "Oi Dai" a lot anyway. Great tune, great voice and lyrical style, and just a little bit haunting. I like all the Scandinavian music on your disc, but this one's probably my favorite.

My parents used to listen to "King of the Road" sometimes when I was growing up. A classic.

Kind of ironic that "Words (for Love)" doesn't have any words in it. I usually like music of this general type (as evidenced by the Juno Reactor track on my CD), but it's tough to find things to say about it, so I'll just leave it at that.

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The what mentioned above is total fiction. Please don't take it seriously!

The dark master delivered a copy of this CD (or one similar to it) to me a while back in middle of the night.

Actually, I was more enthused with most of the other songs than I was with the Hatebreed track. My favorite was "Loki", followed by the Daria theme song. I'm such a Daria dork.