History Music / PoetsOfTheFall

An AlternativeRock band from Finland, Poets of the Fall consists of vocalist Marko Saaresto, guitarist Olli Tukiainen, and keyboardist Markus "Captain" Kaarlonen, who also produces the songs. When touring, the band is supported by three additional members: bassist Jani Snellman, rhythm guitarist/supporting vocalist Jaska Mäkinen, and percussionist Jari Salminen.

* AmuletOfConcentratedAwesome: {{Ambiguous|Situation}}ly {{Implied}} in the video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biZpPNzt3II Choice Millionaire]]," with the [[TheMerch Hopecatcher]] a steel {{feather|motif}} pendant that the subversive DeusExMachina gives a labourer to facilitate escape from the Machine. Still, it is quite literally depicted as a MagicFeather.

** "[[https://youtu.be/GLxb7m0j5Jg?list=PLjACqN5i5sDUo3MfGtqogz7P3u5JUm3c- The Poet and the Muse]]," ''VideoGame/AlanWake's'' folky story-song by HeavyMithril FakeBand Old Gods of Asgard, which reveals the terrible fates of the protagonist's predecessors, and offers a way for him to escape their EternalRecurrance.

* BreakupSong: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3rYhyIk8jM&list=PLjACqN5i5sDV1jkUkrNCzytFOlYdQN8rM The Ultimate Fling]]," a hypercombative song that dares the listener to "give me a reason" for the breakup while dropping references to dialogue from Film/DirtyHarry.

* BalladOfX: "[[https://youtu.be/il3c14eR9C8?list=PLjACqN5i5sDXIEWRmx4uLQDw-yU66E-dh The Ballad of Jeremiah Peacekeeper]]" a {{Western}}-inspired tale about an implicitly {{Messianic|Archetype}}, ReluctantWarrior lawman.

* CulturePolice: In the video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ompevuR1644 Lift]]," an {{Ambiguous|Situation}} interpretation of the Poet County Jail officials conducting MadDreamer "Mark"'s psychiatric evaluation (with which he would agree) is that they find his brand of creativity threatening. The lone female official finishes the evaluation form by checking boxes marked "Illusionist," "Dreamer" and "Menace to society."

** the digital single of "Daze" also includes an unplugged version of ''Carnival of Rust's'' "[[https://youtu.be/-XGIDOP5VKI?list=PLjACqN5i5sDUzZKeWiG7qz4AnUMIjDtpR King of Fools]]" which lengthens the song considerably, turning it torchy and {{Surprisingly Gentle|Song}}.

** ''Temple of Thought Bonus Edition'''s [[BonusMaterial Bonus Track]] and FollowYourHeart anthem "Signs of Life" shares a title with their first full album, a title frequently [[TitleDrop dropped]] in the song's chorus.

** ''Temple of Thought Bonus Edition'' has unplugged live studio versions of love songs "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfVGvY7p1sU Temple of Thought]]" and "Skin."

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]'s" singer Zoltar, a fortunetelling automaton with tatty clothes, peeling paint and tell-tale black-accented white makeup, is a {{Deconstructed}} Pierrot. While genuinely [[SadClown tragic]], pining after the woman in the gas mask who visits the Carnival, he's rendered [[MonsterClown sinister]] because his idea of love is deeply dysfunctional and self-interested, since he thinks it will fix his life[=/=]free him from the Carnival. Though his desperation is sincere, there's a reason his demanding chorus is signalled by a ScareChord.

* AlliterativeTitle: ''Revolution Roulette,'' their third album and its TitleTrack, a song about courting the possibility of FullCircleRevolution.
* AttentionWhore: {{Deconstructed}} in "Save Me"; the singer is developing self-destructive tendencies in his quest for attention. {{Lampshaded}} in the chorus:

* BalladOfX: "The Ballad of Jeremiah Peacekeeper" a {{Western}}-inspired tale about an implicitly {{Messianic|Archetype}}, ReluctantWarrior lawman.

* BreakupSong: "The Ultimate Fling," a hypercombative song that dares the listener to "give me a reason" for the breakup while dropping references to dialogue from Film/DirtyHarry.

** Released in 2015, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biZpPNzt3II Choice Millionaire]]"'s video is set inside "the machine" referred to in the lyrics of their 2008 album's TitleTrack, "Revolution Roulette," while "Millionaire"'s spoken-word outro contains part of the lyrics of "Dying to Live," from their 2010 album, ''Twilight Theater''.

** The video for ''Signs of Life'' track "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ompevuR1644 Lift]]," sees a prisoner declared "Illusionist," and "Dreamer," a reference to "Illusion & Dream," another track on the album.

*** The Ferris wheel is called The Great "Gravity" Wheel, and fragments of its lyrics serve as slogans on Zoltar the fortune-telling automaton's case.
*** The customer's fortune ticket bears a number "4" for "All the Way/4U"
*** The Bearded Lady is being tattooed with the word "Delicious."

* FullCircleRevolution: The general message of "Revolution Roulette": easy solutions after a revolution tend to cause more problems than they solve, setting the stage for another revolution.

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoAoLjEXffo Miss Impossible]]" appears to describe such a woman, and {{lampshades}} her paradoxical nature:

** A short mid-range punctuation is present after a bout of manic laughter and a gasp in "Psychosis."
** High-register, gravelly screams punctuate and highlight the chorus of their HeavyMithril FakeBand Old Gods of Asgard's "Children of the Elder God."
* MindScrew Some of the music videos are really weird, but the best example has to be "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]", where a woman with a [[PostApocalypticGasMask gas mask]] and a lollipop visits a dilapidated [[CircusOfFear Carnival of Fear]].

** {{Downplayed}} in "Carnival of Rust," as the singer Zoltar, an automaton performer in a CircusOfFear carnival, serves as an unusually eerie and foreboding [[CommediaDellArte Pierrot-figure]]. Though a SadClown, his obvious decrepitude and increasing desperation make the air of menace that much thicker.

** Likewise, Kaarlonen soundtracked ''VideoGame/{{Rochard}},'' while the whole band performed its ThemeSong, "Grinder's Blues."

** "The Poet and the Muse," ''VideoGame/AlanWake's'' folky story-song by HeavyMithril FakeBand Old Gods of Asgard, which reveals the terrible fates of the protagonist's predecessors, and offers a way for him to escape their EternalRecurrance.

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3rYhyIk8jM The Ultimate Fling]]" has nods to two of Firm/DirtyHarry’s quotes in its chorus; specifically, "Make my day," and "Do [[BeamMeUpScotty you]] feel lucky?"

* StepfordSmiler: The song "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dYk_9R8yPs Shallow]]" could be the Empty Smiler's Anthem.

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3rYhyIk8jM The Ultimate Fling]]," a hypercombative BreakupSong, shifts into a sparer, less agitated mode when, instead of provoking conflict, the singer honestly asks what the reason for the breakup is, in hopes of getting closure.
** "Revolution Roulette," a song fatalistically musing on FullCircleRevolution, has a lulling, meditative piano bit both between verses, and backing a quieter verse before the final, yelled chorus.
* SubliminalSeduction: Their HeavyMithril FakeBand Old Gods of Asgard's "Balance Slays the Demon" has a small section with reversed, sped up lyrics. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRcLYeuK8ZU Play it the right way round]] and you get [[spoiler:"It will happen [[EternalRecurrence again]], in another town. A town... called Ordinary."]]

** The band's first single, "Late Goodbye," contains multiple versions of ''VideoGame/MaxPayne2'''s SolemnEndingTheme, one of them fully acoustic..

** the digital single of "Daze" also includes an unplugged version of ''Carnival of Rust's'' "King of Fools" which lengthens the song considerably, turning it torchy and {{Surprisingly Gentle|Song}}.
* YinYangBomb: {{Discussed}} in HeavyMithril FakeBand Old Gods of Asgard's "Balance Slays the Demon", as an in-universe attempt by the band to steer the protagonist of ''VideoGame/AlanWakesAmericanNightmare'' toward defeating the game's villain via lyrical metaphor.

* ContinuityNod: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 music video]] for TitleTrack "Carnival of Rust" contains references to other songs on the album. Among them:
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHTKxRjAjqI Fire]]"-eaters ply their trade
** The Ferris wheel is called The Great "Gravity" Wheel, and fragments of its lyrics serve as slogans on Zoltar the fortune-telling automaton's case.
** The customer's fortune ticket bears a number "4" for "All the Way/4U"
** The Bearded Lady is being tattooed with the word "Delicious."

* CallBack: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biZpPNzt3II Choice Millionaire]]"'s spoken-word outro contains part of "Dying to Live"'s lyrics.
* CircusOfFear: The "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]." The Carnival is run down and creepy, and the staff is menacing and vaguely predatory. The video's plot revolves around Zoltar, a [[SadClown depressive]], decaying Carnival automaton with flaking paint, and experiences of the [[PostApocalypticGasmask gas-masked]] female customer who he tries to persuade to stay with foreboding, increasingly desperate pleas and demands for a relationship while [[HostileAnimatronics banging on the walls]] of his case.

** "Revolution Roulette," a song fatalistically musing on FullCircleRevolution, has a lulling, meditative piano bit both between verses, and backing a quieter verse befor the final, yelled chorus.

* TarotTroubles: The video for "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]" has Zoltar the fortune-telling automaton give his [[PostApocalypticGasMask gas-masked]] customer a tarot reading via a pair of trivision-style prismatic signs flanking his case. He considers her "The Star," a good-hearted MessiahFigure, but the second card he pulls (complete with electric guitar ScareChord) is one of its opposites, The Nine of Swords, symbolizing anguish, despair and being trapped. On doing this, he begins the song's chorus, a blatant demand that she love him or he'll be stuck there, all but confirming he's tainting the reading with his desperate WishfulProjection.

* PowerBallad: "The Poet and the Muse," ''VideoGame/AlanWake's'' folky story-song by HeavyMithril FakeBand Old Gods of Asgard, which reveals the terrible fates of the protagonist's predecessors, and offers a way for him to escape their EternalRecurrance.

** "Fire"-eaters ply their trade

* MindScrew Some of the music videos are really weird, but the best example has to be "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]", where a woman with a [[PostApocalypticGasMask gas mask and a lollipop visits a dilapidated [[CircusOfFear Carnival of Fear]].

* MindScrew Some of the music videos for Music/PoetsOfTheFall are really weird, but the best example has to be "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]", where a woman with a gas mask and a lollipop visits a dilapidated [[CircusOfFear Carnival of Fear]].

** The title of their first album, (and later ''Temple of Thought'' BonusTrack) ''Signs of Life,'' is a nod to Music/PinkFloyd’s instrumental of the same name.

* StepfordSmiler: The song "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dYk_9R8yPs Shallow]]" by Music/PoetsOfTheFall could be the Empty Smiler's Anthem.
--> More in my face\\
Than is my taste\\
I grow so weary I'll surrender

** "Revolution Roulette," a song fatalistically musing on FullCircleRevolution, has a lulling, meditative piano both between verses, and backing a quieter verse befor the final, yelled chorus.

* TarotTroubles: The video for Music/PoetsOfTheFall's "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]" has Zoltar the fortune-telling automaton give his [[PostApocalypticGasMask gas-masked]] customer a tarot reading via a pair of trivision-style prismatic signs flanking his case. Notably, he appears to consider the customer herself "The Star," a good-hearted MessiahFigure, but the second card he pulls (complete with electric guitar ScareChord) is one of its opposites, The Nine of Swords, symbolizing anguish, despair and being trapped. On doing this, he begins the song's chorus, a blatant demand that she love him or he'll be stuck there, all but confirming he's tainting the reading with his desperate WishfulProjection.

** the digital single of "Daze" also includes an unplugged version of ''Carnival of Rust's'' "King of Fools" which lengthens the song considerably, turning it torchy and {{SurprisinglyGentle|Song}}.

* CallBack: "Choice Millionaire"'s outro contains part of "Dying to Live"'s lyrics.
* CircusOfFear: The "Carnival of Rust" video takes place in a [[NightmareFuel very creepy]] one.
* ContinuityNod: The music video for "Carnival of Rust" contains references to every other song on the album.
* FakeBand: As HeavyMithril band "Old Gods of Asgard" in ''VideoGame/AlanWake''. Then, just to muddy the issue, they appear as themselves in a cameo; and before playing the Poet's song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f_hewSrAH4 War]]", a radio host compares the two bands, saying the Poets remind him of the Old Gods for some reason he can’t quite place.

* GreatestHitsAlbum: Subverted with ''Alchemy Vol. 1'', as it’s actually a collection of the band’s favorite songs and 2 new songs. They have released a “Best of” album, but only in India for some reason.
* HeavyMithril: As their [[FakeBand fictional personas]] in the ''VideoGame/AlanWake'' games, Old Gods of Asgard, who combine Myth/NorseMythology with Franchise/CthulhuMythos imagery in an eighties metal package, and aid the hero through ThePowerOfRock.
* LiveActionAdaptation: The music video for "War" contains a few scenes from ''Alan Wake''.
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Implied with Miss Impossible from the eponymous song.
* MetalScream: Several times in "Children of the Elder God", with a shorter example in "Psychosis".
* MindScrew: Some of their music videos are rather weird, especially "Carnival of Rust".

** {{Downplayed}} in "Carnival of Rust," as the singer Zoltar, an automaton performer in a CircusOfFear carnival, serves as an unusually eerie and forboding [[CommediaDellArte Pierrot-figure]] Though a SadClown, his obvious decrepitude and increasing desperation make the air of menace that much thicker.
** The [[http://www.poetsofthefall.com/discography/twilight_theater_cover/ album art]] for Twilight Theater introduces [[TragicMistake Hamartia]], the SlasherSmile-sporting jester with a HappyHarlequinHat that terminates not in jingle bells, but a coiled serpent's head.
** The video for ''Jealous Gods''' "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di7NMssrqsE Daze]]" sees Hamartia reappear to sing it, this time as a even creepier Jester-''King,'' with bells hanging from his hair, presiding moodily over a decadent MasqueradeBall until an attendee elects to leave without his say-so. He responds by setting ''everything'' [[KillItWithFire on fire]].
* PowerBallad: "The Poet and the Muse"

* ShoutOut: "The Ultimate Fling" has nods to two of DirtyHarry’s quotes; specifically, "Make my day," and "Do [[BeamMeUpScotty you]] feel lucky?"
** The title of ''Signs of Life'' is a nod to Music/PinkFloyd’s instrumental of the same name.
* SubduedSection: Especially "The Ultimate Fling" and "Revolution Roulette".
* UnpluggedVersion: When performed live, "War" is often played with an acoustic guitar.

Shortly after the band was formed in 2003, Sami Järvi, a friend of Saaresto’s and a scriptwriter working at Remedy, asked him to turn a poem Järvi had written into a song for ''MaxPayne2''; this would turn into "Late Goodbye", which serves as the game’s end credits theme and a recurring motif. Additionally, Kaarlonen had previously worked at a software company, which contacted them to use the song "Lift" in a benchmark program. Both of these helped expose the band to a wide audience. Their debut album, ''Signs of Life'', entered the Finnish charts in the number-one spot and remained in the Top 40 for over a year.

* FakeBand: As HeavyMithril band "Old Gods of Asgard" in ''AlanWake''. Then, just to muddy the issue, they appear as themselves in a cameo; and before playing the Poet's song ''War'', a radio host compares the two bands, saying the Poets remind him of the Old Gods for some reason he can’t quite place.

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: ''Revolution Roulette''

* BalladOfX: "The Ballad of Jeremiah Peacekeeper"

** The title of ''Signs of Life'' is a nod to PinkFloyd’s instrumental of the same name.

* BreakawayPopHit: "Late Goodbye" from ''MaxPayne2'', "Lift" from benchmark software [=3DMark=] and "War" from ''AlanWake''.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Defied. The band founded their own record label, Insomniac, to avoid this.

* NoExportForYou: Their albums tend to be released only in countries around Finland, although ''Carnival of Rust'' was also released in Australia. Fortunately, they’re all available on [=iTunes=].

* BreakawayPopHit: "Late Goodbye" from ''MaxPayne2'' and "Lift" from benchmark software [=3DMark=].

* GreatestHitsAlbum: Subverted with ''Alchemy Vol. 1'', as it’s actually a collection of the band’s favorite songs. They have released a “Best of” album, but only in India for some reason.

* FakeBand: As HeavyMithril band "Old Gods of Asgard" in ''AlanWake''. Then, just to muddy the issue, they appear as themselves in a cameo, and before playing the Poet's song ''War'', a radio host compares the two bands, saying there’s something similar he can’t quite place.

They worked with Remedy again in 2010, on the video game ''AlanWake''. They appeared as the FakeBand Old Gods of Asgard, writing two songs specifically for the game. Additionally, they appeared as themselves in a flashback, and the song "War" was played on one of the in-game radios.

* CircusOfFear: The "Carnival of Rust" video takes place in a [[AccidentalNightmareFuel very creepy]] one.

Shortly after the band was formed in 2003, Sami Järvi, a friend of Saaresto’s and a scriptwriter working at Remedy, asked him to turn a poem Järvi had written into a song for ''MaxPayne 2''; this would turn into "Late Goodbye", which serves as the game’s end credits theme and a recurring motif. Additionally, Kaarlonen had previously worked at a software company, which contacted them to use the song "Lift" in a benchmark program. Both of these helped expose the band to a wide audience. Their debut album, ''Signs of Life'', entered the Finnish charts in the number-one spot and remained in the Top 40 for over a year.

* BreakawayPopHit: "Late Goodbye" from ''MaxPayne 2'' and "Lift" from benchmark software [=3DMark=].

* FakeBand: As HeavyMithril band "Old Gods of Asgard" in ''AlanWake''. Then, just to muddy the issue, they appear as themselves in a cameo, and a radio host compares the two bands, saying there’s something similar he can’t quite place.

* ViciousCycle: The general message of "Revolution Roulette": easy solutions after a revolution tend to cause more problems than they solve, setting the stage for another revolution.