Apocalyptica came to the US this spring in support of their sixth studio album, Worlds Collide, released Sept 17, 2007 in Europe and April 15, 2008 in North America. They’re back in Europe for the summer festival season, but they have announced additional N.A. tour dates including some “more intimate” shows at smaller venues along with some larger shows and at least one festival appearance. Tickets for most of the shows go on sale this weekend.

For those not familiar with the album, Worlds Collide augmented their signature cello-metal sound with guest artists Adam Gontier, Tomoyasu Hotei, Till Lindemann, Dave Lombardo, Cristina Scabbia and Corey Taylor on six of the eleven tracks. They really do put on a great live show and I’m looking forward to their return to NYC. I’ll be there, as close to front and center as I can get.

OK, so I can only speak from hearsay and what I have read, but it seems to me that the Finns fill their long, glorious summer days with music — with tours, of course, and huge annual festivals like Ruisrock and Ankkarock, but also with a flurry of album releases. Paul has already mentioned Turmion Kätilöt’s U.S.C.H.! but here are a few more points of interest from the land of the thousand lakes.

Apulanta are celebrating summer with their 4-track Kesä-EP released June 11 2008. This is sure to please fans of their previous album, Eikä vielä ole edes ilta, and indeed, like most of Apulanta’s recent releases, it debuted at number 1 in the Finnish music charts.

Still on June 11, heavy-metal veterans Tarot released Undead Indeed, their first live DVD (available in a 2DVD or 2CD set), including material from their recent Crows Fly Black tour, interviews with the band and a couple of videos.

Last but far from least, June 11 gave us Marraskuun singlet, a collection of the seven singles with their accompanying B-sides from Viikate’s 2007 releases Marraskuun lauluja I and II. Including gems such as their cover of the Leevi and the Leavings classic “Teuvo, maanteidan kuningas”, this is a must for any fan, or an inexpensive way for the casual listener to get a hold of highlights of two powerful albums.

But more is yet to come! Kotiteollisuus have been in the studio working on a cover-EP Sotakoira to be released August 13 and pop-rock ensemble Egotrippi are releasing their seventh full-length album for which single Hyvästi naiset is due out in July. Finally, I’ve also read something about yet another release from Apulanta planned for August, but I must admit, I have not yet pinned this down (my Finnish is poor and it makes digging for facts a little bit slow).

EDIT: I forgot to mention where you can find these albums. Unfortunately, I have not found any good North American source for Finnish music, so I recommend ordering direct from Finland. Record Shop X has the June releases already in stock (and Sotakoira available for pre-orders) and will certainly carry the others as soon as they come out.