Back in February, Poet of the Fall fans were treated to a minute-long snippet of an early demo of Carnival of Rust, posted in celebration of twenty years. For those who were hoping for the demo song, you're in luck! A few hours ago, the band uploaded the track in full to their YouTube channel, complete with visual commentary.
2026 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Carnival of Rust and the incredible song that gave the album its title. Perhaps their best-known collection, the piece remains a particular standout in the Finnish music industry two decades later.
Their songs usually go through two to thirty iterations before they're fully completed, and with Carnival of Rust, they hit gold on the fourteenth version.
If you're wondering why we're talking a lot about Poets of the Fall this year, you may know them by their alter ego, Old Gods of Asgard. Their collaboration with Remedy began in 2003, when their debut song, "Late Goodbye," was featured in Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. Later, they took on a different form, adopting the in-game name of Old Gods of Asgard for Alan Wake, Control, and Alan Wake 2.
Check out the full video from Poets of the Fall, HERE!
Poets of the Fall - Carnival of Rust (Early Demo Version) Visual Text
00:00 - Does this sound familiar?
00:10 - This is an early demo of Carnival of Rust from around 2005.
00:21 - The main riff is played with an electric guitar.
00:31 - The tempo is also slightly faster, and the key is E. It's a semitone higher in the final.
00:40 - The lyrics already contain many familiar phrases
00:45 - But we bet you can spot a few differences too.
00:55 - This kind of sounds like the chorus we know, but not quite?
01:15 - This part would eventually become the 3rd chorus in the final version with some lyric changes
01:34 - But overall, the song structure is already getting there. With some parts moved around or combined in the final.
01:53 - The 2nd verse lyrics changed quite a bit.
02:11 - …but this sounds again more familiar.
02:33 - Typically, each song goes through about 10 to 30 iterations until it's done.
02:53 - This demo is version 1. Being the first "proper" studio recording. The released track is version 14.
03:12 - The differences between versions can be subtle, like re-recording a single vocal phrase.
03:25 - …or the song might get a complete makeover between versions 8 and 9. You never know.
03:43 - This guitar riff is very much like the final one. Just in a different tempo & key.
04:05 - …but this vocal part didn't make it.
04:26 - We do get the acoustic guitar riff in the very end!
(We added additional punctuation for the transcript that wasn't included in the stylised visual text. This was done to ensure fellow fans using text-to-speech software could follow.)
