HOLY LAWS OF PAIN

I post somewhat regularly on here about various old school Swedish Death Metal and every now and then the odd current Finnish band sees an inclusion as well, but I don't think I've ever really covered anything Finnish pre 2000. My knowledge of the scene there isn't massive I admit, but there are a handful of what I consider to be 'entry level' bands that I really enjoy. Convulse are one of them. As are Helsinki's Abhorrence. A band for roughly a year over the course of '89/'90, in their time they managed to officially unleash one demo tape and a s/t 7". This is the new discography 2xLP released this year in their name by Svart Records. Featuring those two official releases, bonuses also include two other previously unreleased demo recordings and then some padding with a live recorded gig from some time in 1990. Finnish Death Metal is epitomised by the sound captured on this bands EP. With a sound that could be considered less tuneful than that produced by their neighbours in Sweden, these guys, along with a handful of other early bands can certainly be held responsible for creating the typical Finnish Death Metal sound. Less reliant on fancy recording conditions and guitar tones, all you get here is rough, driving death metal peppered with plenty of blast beats and guttural growls. Great stuff.