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JorKid

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Apart from Demilich, and a bunch of melodeath bands like Insomnium, I am not really versed on the best of Finnish Death Metal.   I do know they are known to kind of have their own sound.   Call it core DM, not melodeath or death/doom (Hooded Menace).

What do you think the top 10 must hear Finnish DM albums are?  Thought I'd create a thread to discuss.

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There's a good bit of Finnish DM in this thread if you feel like scrolling through:

 

Demilich's "Nespithe" is one of my favorites from the scene. A few others to check out:

Demigod - Slumber Of Sullen Eyes 

Convulse - World Without God 

Adramelech - Psychostasia 

Funebre - Children Of The Scorn 

Amorphis - Privilege Of Evil EP + The Karelian Isthmus 

Rippikoulu - Musta Seremonia 

Disgrace - Grey Misery 

...think I linked most of those in that other thread. Plenty of other good stuff in the scene, good demos and stuff. Altar/Cartilage split is really good.

 

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3 hours ago, JorKid said:

Call it core DM, not melodeath or death/doom (Hooded Menace

For the record, a lot of the Finnish death metal sound is very death/doom, or at least tends to work doom elements into it.

From the ones FA mentioned above, Demigod, Convulse, Adramelech, Cartilage, and Rippikoulu are absolutely mandatory. To that I'd add:

Purtenance - Member of Immortal Damnation

Depravity - Silence of the Centuries EP

Mordicus - Dances From the Left

Slugathor - Echoes From Beneath

Krypts - Cadaver Circulation

Corpsessed - Impetus of Death

Belial - Never Again

Swallowed - S/T EP

Winterwolf - Cycle of the Werewolf

Serpent Ascending - Aṇaṅku

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I am familiar with Rippikoulu, as the Goatmaster tipped me onto them many years back.   I also was aware that this sound tends to lean into death doom, but thought that not all of it was full on death/doom, which is ok, just not my favorite.  

You guys gave me some places to start catching up.   Hopefully others will continue and this will become a gateway for Finnish style DM

I did notice some other sites mention Abhorrence.

Also, Demilich is an absolute favorite of mine and got to see them at MDF this year which was killer.  So humorous as well.

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1 hour ago, JorKid said:

but thought that not all of it was full on death/doom, which is ok, just not my favorite.  

Not all of it, but enough that it's a noticeable trend, particularly in a lot of the more recent bands like Krypts, Swallowed, etc. Even some of their deathgrind will sometimes work those big, slow sections into the music.

1 hour ago, JorKid said:

I did notice some other sites mention Abhorrence

Abhorrence is great as well, but their isn't a ton of material from them. Try to track down the Completely Vulgar compilation if you can. it covers pretty much everything they've done that's worth having (recent EP is mediocre)

A few more:

Sentenced - Shadows of the Past (follow up, North From Here, is good too)

Carnifex - Pathological Rites Compilation

Scum - Purple Dreams and Magic Poems (This is Melodic Death, but it's worth listening to)

Vorum - Poisoned Void

Desecresy - Chasmic Transcendence (Picks up from Slugathor's break up. Good band, but not nearly as strong, musically)

Lantern - Below

Ascended - Temple of Dark Offerings EP

Gorephilia - Embodiment of Death

Claws - Absorbed in the Nethervoid

Nerlich - Defabricated Process

Mythos - Pain Amplifier

Vacant Coffin - Sewer Skullpture (deathgrind)

Galvanizer - Sanguine Vigil (deathgrind)

Decaying - The Last Days of War

 

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Phlegethon's stuff is really worth hearing too - early band with Lasse Pyykkö (of Hooded Menace, Vacant Coffin, and others). Creative stuff. I guess I feel like it's more "interesting" than enjoyable, but I hear ideas in their music that other bands went on to use. 

I've only heard the Abhorrence demo with Vulgar Necrolatry that they did before they broke up and Amorphis formed. Privilege Of Evil is better IMO but it's all worth hearing. 

North From Here is one of my favorite death metal albums from Finland but Sentenced sounds so different from what I think of as "classic" Finndeath that they don't come to mind when I'm thinking about the style. More old-school melodeath meets Atheist on that album.

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58 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

North From Here is one of my favorite death metal albums from Finland but Sentenced sounds so different from what I think of as "classic" Finndeath that they don't come to mind when I'm thinking about the style.

Yeah, North of Here showed some early indications of their shift towards total melodeath, but Shadows of the Past is pure Finndeath

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1 hour ago, SurgicalBrute said:

Yeah, North of Here showed some early indications of their shift towards total melodeath, but Shadows of the Past is pure Finndeath

Oddly I never really vibed with that album. And I can't stand their later stuff. Even Amok was pretty lame to my ears... I guess what I want from them begins and ends with North From Here.

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6 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Oddly I never really vibed with that album. And I can't stand their later stuff. Even Amok was pretty lame to my ears... I guess what I want from them begins and ends with North From Here.

It's not my favorite Finndeath album, in fact I tend to forget about Sentenced when the subject comes up, but Shadows of the Past it is my preferred Sentenced album. Anything after North of Here is pretty garbage tier.

The Finndeath album that never really clicked for me was Amorphis's The Karelian Isthmus...it's not bad, but it doesn't stand out on any level to me

 

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16 minutes ago, SurgicalBrute said:

The Finndeath album that never really clicked for me was Amorphis's The Karelian Isthmus...it's not bad, but it doesn't stand out on any level to me

Man, I love that album. I would say it's partly nostalgia - it's among the first batch of DM albums I got into as a teenager - but it's stood the test of time for me better than most. I had it on just the other day and was thinking about how very few albums in my life have held a consistent spot as a favorite for that long... probably got my hands on it 28 or 29 years ago?

I know plenty of people who feel the way you do about it, though. It's not the most heavy, or dark, or aggressive, or accomplished. Somehow it encapsulates what I love about the style anyway.

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6 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

I know plenty of people who feel the way you do about it, though. It's not the most heavy, or dark, or aggressive, or accomplished. Somehow it encapsulates what I love about the style anyway.

It's funny though, because I am a huge fan of Amorphis in general, but that has a lot more to do with their later albums than Karelian Isthmus. I think I just heard it too late...My taste in Finndeath had already been firmly established with Demigod, Convulse, and Adramelech by the time I finally listened to it

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23 minutes ago, SurgicalBrute said:

It's funny though, because I am a huge fan of Amorphis in general, but that has a lot more to do with their later albums than Karelian Isthmus. I think I just heard it too late...My taste in Finndeath had already been firmly established with Demigod, Convulse, and Adramelech by the time I finally listened to it

I followed them up to about Tuonela, but that was it for years. Used to love Elegy, but sadly now it sounds like dad rock to me and I can't make it through. I can still play Tales sometimes - the only other one that maybe belongs in a Finndeath thread - but even there the rock influences set my teeth on edge. It makes no sense; I haven't developed an overriding hatred of rock music or anything; but Karelian is the only one I can put on and really enjoy anymore. I did think Under The Red Cloud was pretty cool (if vastly different) but haven't bought it yet.

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3 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

I followed them up to about Tuonela, but that was it for years. Used to love Elegy, but sadly now it sounds like dad rock to me and I can't make it through. I can still play Tales sometimes - the only other one that maybe belongs in a Finndeath thread - but even there the rock influences set my teeth on edge. It makes no sense; I haven't developed an overriding hatred of rock music or anything; but Karelian is the only one I can put on and really enjoy anymore. I did think Under The Red Cloud was pretty cool (if vastly different) but haven't bought it yet.

I get why their newer stuff probably doesn't appeal to most metal fans anymore. The clean vocals, and the big melodic hooks, it's not too far off from your average Nightwish style, symphonic girlfriend metal, but I can spin pretty much anything they've put out over the years and really enjoy it. Skyforger especially, will always be a favorite. 

Absolutely agree though, that they really have no place in a Finndeath discussion outside of their first album.

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Think it's more a case of there just being a finite number of bands to discuss...last few I think are worth mentioning are:

Desolate Shrine - The Sanctum of Human Darkness

Necropsy - Tomb of the Forgotten compilation

Sadistic Drive - Anthropophagy

Morbific - Ominous Seep of Putridity (mandatory)

Vomiturition - A Leftover

Concrete Winds - Primitive Force (deathgrind)

Deathchain - Deathrash assault

Solothus - No King Reigns Eternal

Unholy -  From the Shadows

Vainaja - Kadotetut

Front  - Iron Overkill

After that, you're probably in for a lot of same bands being mentioned...just different albums being recommended

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/29/2022 at 6:46 PM, JorKid said:

I am a bit surprise Goatie didn't chime in as I seem to recall him liking Fin DM, even though he likes more the filthy BDM bands now.

I love Finnish death metal almost as much as I love Finnish black metal. My optimal formula for death metal would be something like one part Finndeath, one part Incantation and one part evil. Maybe throw a litle grind in too. I just happened to be busy all day last Friday when you started this convo and by the time I got here it looked like Surge and FA had the Finndeath thing pretty well covered. There are only so many Finndeath bands to talk about, it is after all a tiny little country of only 5.5 million people. The first wave of Finndeath was in the early 90's. Definitely some cool records to be found there and I think they've mostly all been mentioned. I'll be honest though Joshhy, I didn't have you pegged as a big filthy Finndeath guy. But if you want my input, I will be happy to give it to you. Some of my favorite Finndeath albums of this century from the current younger generartion of bands would be:

 

Cadaveric Incubator - Nightmare Necropolis

 

Krypts - Unending Degradation, I see you've already found Krypts

 

Lie in Ruins - Towards Divine Death

 

Blood Chalice - The Blasphemous Psalms of Cannibalism

 

Sepulchral Curse -  - Only Ashes Remain

 

Cemetery Winds - Unholy Ascensions

 

Huoripukki - Ikuinen Kamppailu

 

Pimeydentuoja - Hellcrowned

 

Concrete Winds - Primitive Force

 

Cryptic Hatred - Nocturnal Sickness

 

Serpent Ascending - Ananku

 

Winterwolf - Cycle of the Werewolf

 

Festerday - Iihtallan

 

Maveth - Breath of an Abomination

 

Blåådpalt - Sliced to Perfection

 

Ghastly - Mercurial Passages

 

Coffincraft - In Eerie Slumber

 

Psychopathic Terror - 230204

 

Morbific - Ominous Seep of Putridity

 

Desolate Shrine - The Heart of the Netherworld

 

Nerve Saw • Peril 

 

Corpsessed - Impetus of Death

 

Amputory - Ode to Gore

 

Necropsy (Mk. 2) - Buried in the Woods

 

Purtenance (Mk. 2) - Awaken from Slumber

 

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