Loosen up the tie...

I just wrote 2 more articles about old Death Metal bands for NoCleanSinging.Com

Class of 1993

Class of 2003



And just in case you missed last years batch...


Class of 1992

Class of 2002

Paulo of 2007

Like Paulo of 2012, but more euro.

Black Sun Aeon (Finland) - "Frozen"

Perfect song for Long Island tonight. Taken from the double cd "Routa", which was a concept album about the epic snowfall in Finland during 2009. I wore this album out during the brutal NY winter of 2010/11 and even listened to it last year wishing for snow during a winter full of barren skies. Be careful what you wish for...  This band is brilliant and deserves some credit.

How to sound smart when you're drunk

A lot of people hate on my boy but 

HE DID THAT, THOUGH.

New Finnish heat in the game, shit is real...

Apocryfal, from Finland, manage to take the traditional Finnish approach to Death Metal - doomy, guttural and distant, and filter it through an updated sense of brutality and rage that, at times, sounds more like 1993 Suffocation than 1993 Amorphis. They do not stop to groove very much at all, and opt to blast and barrage their way through most of the 3 songs, pausing only occasionally for bleak nods to melodicism and trudging double bassy parts that have more in common with marching through snow than stomping out mosh pits. The release itself is produced very well and has better sound than some full length albums. Highly recommended, ladies and gentlemen. Light a cigar to this one.
Apocryfal on Death Metal Invasion

Old Boar / Copremesis split BBQ

Even though I wasn't with my 2004 Team this weekend, I'm glad they were still keeping other traditions alive.

"The pain remains, but frame by frame we make the sickest scene" - Jazzy Jeff

"Raise the fucking Goat Skull"
- traditional

"Iniquity, yo, Iniquity.......Nah, yo...."

"Did you eat all those chips?"

 

"I might have caught Demigod, but I missed Paulos famous Pork Loin. Fuck."

Maryland Slow Fest (formerly Maryland Deathfest) post

"Famous Thai Shrimpcakes"

Just got back from the Maryland Stoner rock and black metal festival, had a great time despite the fact that death metal bands are becoming an endangered species on the lineup these days...
Big shout to "chicken suit guy", "Nocturnus shirt guy"," the grey twins", "Face tat", "short Antimo" and all the other people I don't know but who come back every year, just like me. I didn't see "customized fitted hat kid" or "Filipino Michael Jackson dancer" this year, you guys need to come back hard.


Here are the facts:

-Napalm Death were complete pros.
-Suffocation were complete bros. Made me proud to be from Long Island.
-Luisma from Haemmorhage = best frontman in goregrind now that Antimo's out of the game.
-Morbid Angel pretended the new album never happened and we were all so eager to play along.
- Mortuary Drape played the last set of the whole fest and got me so worked up I wished I could press resart.
-Andrew broke a string on stage.
- Jim cut his hair.
-Kevin Bacon's son sang a song with Nasum.
-Bloody Phoenix has two hot chicks singing for them.
-Backslider repped shit hard. Don't fuck with those little dudes.
-Anvil was fun, but what death metal band lost a spot so they could play?
-Macabre and Demigod should have played much later. I thought it was supposed to be a "Death" fest.
-Scotnick is gross.
- More people know Biolich now than the year we played.
-Tremont hotel = pleasure doing business with you
-Brain Campaign rushed the liquor store for 30 racks of budweiser right quick while crusties were critiquing ales.
- We listened and danced to a lot of Phil Collins this weekend. like a lot.



 I love you, Maryland Deathfest, but if you don't step up your Death Metal and Goregrind game next year, I think we're through.

Jarkko Rantanen - Death Metal Champion

Young Jarkko Rantanen was clearly born to innovate Death Metal regardless of any obstacles that got in his way. Born in Loimaa, Finland (population 7000) - it seems by the time he was ready to jam in 1991, all the other Metal bros in town had already formed Demigod, and he was assed out on his own. Despite being odd man out in the middle of Finland, Jarkko somehow managed to scrape together some friends and recorded a demo that got them signed to Apidocere records. You can read my "anniversary" review of the 7" that followed HERE . Though he never managed to keep a solid lineup, Jarkko and drum/guitar partner Seppo Taatila never let this hold them back - at two seperate points in their career they had to take time off so a member could learn to play drums out of neccessity!. It is also noteworthy that Jarkko's brother, Turkka, wrote all of their cryptic mythologicial lyrics and painted the covers to all of their releases.
 I truly believe having such a varied and chaotic path of converging and ever-changing creative energies infused Adramelech with something special that only comes around every so often in our scene. Don't take my long winded fanboy version of it though - here's the official biography on MetalFromFinland.com
From what I recall, this is taken almost word for word from an old interview that was on their myspace years ago. Also, their Encyclopedia Metallum status lists them as "On Hold"...
 With Demigod playing MDF this year, I can only cross my fingers and hope that their "little brother" Jarkko comes to Maryland next year to once again show who the most brutal and obscure Loimaa band really is...

Yea!

Shots Fired / Free Finnish Death Metal

I was just chillin outside, doing some totally pagan yard work, when all of a sudden the police helicopter swept my neighborhood up and down for nearly 40 minutes. Unfortunately, my camera is temporarily out of order and I couldn't capture images of the ghetto bird over my house, but this link will provide the explanation - a special Thanksgiving triple shooting 5 blocks from where I live - also right in back of the local Catholic Church. Newsday already has the scoop, with a shot of Suffolk County's finest taping off the block...
Triple shooting in Huntington Station

Last night I saw the Huntington Holiday parade in town. It was the first time I saw the Guardian Angels walk the streets of Huntington....

......................................................................................................................................................................


Anyway, while I'm here, might as well hype some Finnish Death Metal...

Because I'm totally necro, I'm marking the chaos by having a drink to Refusal's "Short on Ammo" demo, which I downloaded for free. You can to - they have all of their releases available on their website here :

Refusal (Finland)

In a nutshell, Refusal is raw and forceful. Somewhere between Extreme Noise Terror and Deranged with very little regard for subtlety - just like the Suffolk County Police. These guys would fit perfectly on one of those old Earache Records Grindcrusher compilations. A raging reality check in a world of harsh truths.

See? I don't give a fuck, I'll use anything as an excuse to hook you up with free death metal.

Be Thankful for Free Finnish Death Metal

Fleshkraft. The name conjures up interesting imagery for those of us who grew up with Kraft macaroni and cheese - I'm assuming this wasn't a staple of the Finnish diet for these guys growing up so I'll cut them a break on this one. Watch the video, these guys really don't fuck around. Love the vocalist - this guy was ready for the video shoot. As you will see, Fleshkraft place less emphasis on atmosphere and melancholy than they do on rocking out and kicking ass for Death Metal. They'll let you download their whole album for free here: FLESHKRAFT

Excellent New Finnish Death Metal (for FREE)

Solothus from Finland play very thick, stomping Death/Doom - the highlights of which are the furious, throaty sounding guttural vocals and dirgy funeral march breakdowns that often evoke the feel of classic obscure Finnish bands of yesteryear. A very oldschool Sabbath atmosphere puncuates the whole affair without overshadowing the Death Metal vibe. This is thoroughly Death Metal, only trailing off enough to allow the guitars to flourish over doomy passages, creating a very addictive signature sound. Solothus is perfectly Finnish - raw and brutal enough to please the most hardened death metal warrior, but with that extra touch of heady atmosphere which borders on the psychedelic.  I look forward to listening to this as the first snow covers Long Island this year. Download their 3 song demo, "Ritual of the Horned Skull", from Facebook like a nerd.

Solothus

90s Finnish psychadelic space death metal (not Demilich)

 

There is something about Finnish death metal of the 90s that is so special and dear to my heart. So many bands with their own unique sound, each bringing something different to the table. Though Winterwolf, Nerlich, Slugathor, Deathchain, and many more still keep the proud tradition alive, something about finding an old Finnish band that vanished into obscurity with even less of a historical echo than, say, far from household names Adramelech or Demilich, is for me what smoking a cuban cigar must be like for some rich guy. This is Paraxism, and There's nothing like them. This song is from 1996, but they date back to 1990.