Two Witches

Easily the best Finnish Death Rock album you never heard. Bleak, yet full of pomp, melodic yet infused with an ennui that can only come from Finland. Strange that the band would title their debut Agony of the Undead Vampire part II, but that is hardly the oddest thing at work here. This dropped in 1991, which strikes me as a bit late for this type of thing, but goddamn if this doesn't scratch that maudlin Goth girl itch inside of me. Every song here is a delectable morsel of Scandinavian sullenness, with the peak being the lugubrious lurch of the track "Winter." If this doesn't resonate with you, you are most likely undead yourself.

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From the Womb to the Grave

Massacre's 1986 album From the Womb to the Grave may be a bit late to the punk party but it remains hands down one of my favorite bits of Finnish teen angst. If you don't like this album, you don't really like Finnish Hardcore and you can take off that stupid shoe string headband thing that you wear to all the shows.

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Anguish

Finnish Death Metal, You can't get enough. I hear your cries, your weepy, miserable bedtime prayers for more disgusting, dyspeptic dirges from the land of cell phones and reindeers. Even though I despise you, I can't deny your pathetic pleas. Here is Anguish and their 1991 EP Ground Absorbs. Get bent, plebeians.

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Grey Misery

After some really icky and mandatory demos, Finland's Disgrace sort of cleaned up their act and eked out a great, but somewhat polished (compared to the demos) album, called Grey Misery. Don't get me wrong, this album still vomits forth plenty of purulent riffs and nauseating vocalizings with a reckless Finnish fury, and stands as one of my favorite Scandi-scum pummel buddies. Anyways, this rules. Just get it.

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Another World

One of my favorite Death Metal demos of all time, Finland's Necropsy were such a stellar band that really never got out of the demo barn. Someone may have had the good sense to release all this rare bloody gold into one abhorrent anthology but I am not certain. I do know is that Necropsy were a skilled group of youngsters that packed a certain clinical crispness to their bludgeon. Another World contains four absolutely mandatory tracks.

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Stormcrowfleet

Skepticism, like Esoteric, formed in the early '90s with the intent of creating some of the most deconstructed dooooom the world has ever heard. After and EP and a demo, the band oozed forth this massive shoggoth of sonic bludgeon titled Stormcrowfleet. While the focus seems to be on mammoth tones and unfathomably slow tempos, there is a certain despondency to the material that works incredibly well. The production is sepulchral, conjuring images of vast landscapes, unfathomable dread, and insurmountable sadness. Skepticism are often lauded as the originators of what is called "Funeral Doom" and for good reason, Stormcrowfleet is a monument carved in stone that will survive the ages, forever reminding us just how fucked up things can be. Absolutely mandatory.

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Amputory

This whole resurgence of retro Death Metal is more than okay by me, and Amputory are definitely a band that deserves your ears. These feral Finns recall the bludgeon of bands like Dismember and Entombed but also incorporate some Carcass like surgery and vocalizing in the three songs on this demo. Great riffs and tones, I think this is another young band to watch for.

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Right?

Releases like this, with their blurry photos of corpse painted youth, illegible logos in red, and what I presumed was a typo ("right" instead of "rite" but as Dan Fried pointed out, is actually "night") hold so much promise and so often fail to deliver. Well, while Azazel weren't the greatest Black Metal band in '96, The Night of Satanachia isn't terrible, even if it is terribly generic. This most Satanic night would be the band's only full length release, although the members of Azazel remained active in the scene.

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Aira Csum Atin Ama

Some stirring, throbbing sounds from mysterious Finnish ambient project Kaniba and their tape Aira Csum Atin Ama. This is kind of like the audial equivalent of travelling through a large dark cave and entering into a chamber of irridescent light. Kind of comforting at times, unnerving at others. Play in the dark.

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Monumental Despair

As far as I can tell, the name Rautarutto means "Iron Pestilence," which is a pretty heavy name, right? The band Rautarutto hail from the bullshit town of Kuhmo, a town known mainly for chamber music. The band so far has released four interesting demos, Monument of Despair is the last and was released in 2005. Rautarutto play a sort of dissonant and plodding Black Metal that reminds me of trudging through snow. The band rarely blasts, but they never seem to resort to the Burzumic melancholy of the slower Black Metal bands. And while Monument of Despair doesn't exactly have top notch production values, it does have some great tones and atmosphere in its sound.

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Abhorrence

Abhorrence was the pre-Amorphis band of Tomi Koivusaari, and there are few Death Metal eps from the early '90s that can top this one. All the fuzzy hiss, staccato blasts, and low end knuckle drag is present and accounted for in just four outstanding tracks. Absolutely mandatory.

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Horna

Finnish orthodox Black Metallists, Horna, have released quite a few records but it is Kohti Yhdeksan Nousua that stands out as the pinnacle of their most blackened expressions. It is a very efficient work that encompasses all Black Metalisms in a scant half hour run, blast beats, mid tempo headbanging riffs, melodic tremolo picked hooks, harsh vocalizing... They have logo that incorporates goats, inverted crosses, a pentagram, a three 666s, and even a candle. The thoroughness of Horna alone is enough to make them interesting, but they actually sweeten the deal with great songs and atmosphere. You may see it as generic, I see it as perfection. If you have a friend who has never heard Black Metal and wonders what it is about, Kohti Yhdeksan Nousua serves as a fine primer.

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Virgin's Hooha

Is their anything more precious than the home-spun blasphemy of teenagers in the early 90s? I think not, and Reborn In The Promethean Flame, the first demo by the Finnish band, Virgin's Cunt, is just overflowing with the raw enthusiasm of freaking people out by talking bad about Jesus. Primal proto-Black Metal/Death recorded in 1993. In 1994 the band changed their name to the decidedly more fruity Darkwoods My Betrothed, I guess it's hard to be so evil for very long.

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Mitä on Drunk

As far as I can tell, the name Maho Neitsyt translates to mean "Barren Virgin." The EP is called Mitä on Punk and it is a scant five-and-a-half minutes of sloppy, drunken Finnpunk with great slurring, wet-brain vocals. Finns have a rep for drinking a bit, and Maho Neitsyt were considered pretty loaded even by Finnish standards. Drink this in.

Panna Humalassa

Äpärät

Häiriköt Tulee, the first and only real release by Finnish punkers Äpärät was unleashed in 1985, and it remains one of the greatest Finnish punk records of all time. Like many of their contemporaries from the land of cell-phones and reindeer, Äpärät add rather depressive melodic quality to their punk/hardcore hybrid. You won't understand the lyrics about anarchy and the scourge of religion, but what does that matter, you already know that Reagan is a dick.

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Inmitten Des Waldes vs. Mortualia

Not so much a bout but rather a sad-off between two Black Metal bands favoring a more sorrowful and somnambulant style of kvlt and nekro. Already I come into this with a serious bias, Inmitten Des Waldes is the work of N. Schner (Valium, Namelezz Projekt,) who I believe to be one of the more interesting characters in the South American scene. However Mortualia's Shatraug is no slouch. With an impressive resume including Horna, Sargeist, and Behexen (among others), I was eager to hear Mortualia. Inmitten Des Waldes start off with a fluttering melancholic piano intro and then lurch into the track "Supreme Tragedy of All the Times." The band follows a more crawling Burzum approach, not terribly unlike fellow countryman and Hearse favorite, Draugurz. Mortualia also prefer the more lethargic tempos, but while Inmitten are depressed and forlorn, Mortualia is just plain snapped. Weird desperate shreiks over menacing, meandering riffs. This one is almost too close to call, both bands are simply mesmerizing, but I might have to give it to Mortualia for their closing track "Paine Sortie..." which makes me want to cut my wrists in a bath tub full of breast milk.

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Mythos

Mythos hailed from Finland, played crushing primitive Death Metal, and in 1993 they vomited forth this repugnant demo titled Moulded in Clay. The band self released 250 copies and caught the attention of Evil Omen records who released a few of these tracks on a four-way split with Expulsion (Sweden,) Mysthical (Spain,) and Unexpected (Holland.) Moulded in Clay is easily one of the best non-Swedish early Death Metal relics. Monstrous. They went on to release a few disappointing records, but I don't mind, this rules.

Moulded

Majesty

There have been dozens of metal bands calling themselves Majesty, so finding any real info on this obscure band pretty futile. However, that doesn't detract from how epic this 1995 demo (titled The Natural Architect) is. I know that this Majesty was from Finland, and they bring some serious downer doom ala Vitus or Forest of Equilibrium era Cathedral with a very obvious drum machine. The sentiment is right on the money though, this is a fantastic listen. Did they release anything else? Anyone?

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Beneath Lucifer's Eye

Finnish purveyors of raw and uncompromising Black Metal, Syopa, released two grotesque demos in 2005 and then called it a night. Beneath Lucifer's Eye was the second of the two. Syopa ("cancer" in Finnish) have rather traditionalist approach to Black Metal, favoring lyrics about Satan, and blaspheming the name of Christ at every available opportunity. This kind of rigid adherence to evil and just pure, unfiltered, Black Fucking Metal is at times more refreshing to me than "groundbreaking" or "forward-thinking" bands. There is a simplistic beauty to Syopa's orthodoxy. I'm sure Lucifer was pleased.

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Ancient Kings and the Pain of Mountains

Here we have a brilliant cassette titled Tuskanvuorten Valtaistuin by Finnish Black Metal band, Muinainen Rhutinas. The band doesn't dabble in any kind of experimentation or strange instrumentation, Muinainen Rhutinas offer up well-played, well-written Black Metal, and nothing else. Fanatastic riffs and atmosphere. Highly recommended.

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