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This is a collection of early material and puts most of its focus on the classic Tales From The Thousand Lakes and Elegy albums, though there is material from other works like The Karelian Isthmus as well. Those first two albums are among the best metal albums of the 1990s, in this reviewer's opinion, and are the logical albums from which to create a compilation around.

There will be some people that find this an unnecessary move and there's no denying that the metal fan should already own those discs. However, if one does not own those particular albums or is looking for a slightly different take on some classic tracks, this is an excellent album to check out. Some of the band's best tracks like "Black Winter Day" or "The Castaway" from Tales From the Thousand Lakes or "My Kantele" and "Against Widows" from my personal favorite Elegy are here in all of their glory. Now, it may be better to experience these songs on the original albums than have the styles of them both clash here, but it remains interesting to hear them redone slightly regardless.

Fans itching for something new would probably rather have a new album than this, however, and I had to take this into account as well. Also, I wish there would have been a few more tracks taken from Elegy, though Tales is an excellent album as well. Great songs like "Weeper on the Shore" or "Elegy" are missing, unfortunately. However, this is still a large piece of the puzzle of the foundations for one of the great metal bands. The songs here are all memorable treasures from the past and the vocals are great as always.