Paraxism - Promo 1997

As promised a while back, here is another installment of the wonderful Paraxism. Perhaps the most under-rated and unrecognized metal band ever, or at least to me and my circle of friends. My collection of Paraxism material differs from the info found at Metal Archives HERE so I will just go by what my tape traded tapes say about these demos and limited releases, like this one, that were not properly released and distributed.

So, as far as I am aware this was just called Promo '97, and as far as I know, was never really released or sent to labels at all. I have never seen a cover for it, and no little about it save what the band told me when it was released.

Enjoy one of the finest bands to EVER emerge from Finland. HERE

Decoryah - Wisdom Floats

Finland. What is it with Finland? So many amazing bands, so many in fact, that many are overlooked. Such is the case with Decoryah. In 1995 they released "Wisdom Floats," a truly awesome album that transcends what many believed at the time that metal could be. This, along with Amorphis' "Tales From The Thousand Lakes" truly transformed my vision of the perfect metal album.

Words really can't do this album justice. Just listen. Info HERE and download HERE.

Convulse - Lost Equilibrium

I had this in my queue to post today, and when my good friend Aesop over at Cosmic Hearse blog posted Convulse's 1992 album "World Without God," I was shocked.  He beat me to the Convulse punch.  Anyway, this is a single they released soon after the aforementioned album in 1993.

"Lost Equilibrium" features two tracks that would later be re-recorded for their next album "Reflections" in 1994 and shows a change in style and sound.  Much like many other Finnish bands, they morphed into the Grind Rock sound.

I don't have anything witty to say about this release, so just read about it HERE and download it HERE.  

Disgrace - Grey Misery

Yet another amazing Finnish band.  Disgrace, along with Xysma, Pakeni and a few others, really championed the Finnish Grind Rock scene, but they all started with Carcass worship, well, all but Disgrace.  Their first album, "Grey Misery" is super great and cool death metal.  Don't believe me?  Download and see...

Later on I will post their latter work which is super cool and great grinding rock n roll, Finnish Style!  Info on the band HERE and download the album HERE.  

Legenda - Autumnal

Ever pull out Impaled Nazarene's "Suomi Finland Perkele" just to listen to "Blood Is Thicker Than Water?"  I know I have, and if you are like me, you wish there was an album of songs just like that one.  Well, there are two.  Kimmo "Sir" Luttinen of Impaled Nazarene got together with his buddy Niko Karppinen in 1997 under the name Legenda and released "Autumnal."

Of course it doesnt really sound all that much like "Blood Is Thicker Than Water," but that is a good point of departure for a description.  The band released two albums, this one and then in 1998 they released their last album "Eclipse," both on Holy Records.

This album shows what a great songwriter Kimmo is outside of goat worship and blast beats.  More info on the band HERE and download the album HERE.

Plan E - E For Your Ears / E For Your Eyes

Plan E is the project of Jani Lehtosaari who may be best known as being the bassist for Impaled Nazarene from 1996-2000.  Plan E is nothing like Impaled Nazarene however.  It is bass guitar driven, distorted bass guitar that is, and features electronics, clean vocals and is highly influenced by Joy Division.  The aforementioned label, Solardisk was run by Jani as well, and had a select few hardcore and experimental bands on the roster such as Terveet Kadet and Driller Killer and a few others.  

Plan E released these two 3" CDs in a very limited number in 1996.  After this they released two full length albums "Songs For A Rainy Day" and 'Lost And Found" as well as a split EP with a shoe-gaze band I used to be in called Climb To Zalem, and a few vinyl releases and compilations.

This band has to be one of the most unknown, and yet best bands to come from Finland.  A simple Google search yields barely any results for the band at all, yet they are incredibly powerful, and incredibly innovative.  I think it must be noted that there is no guitar on these recordings at all, just vocals, bass, drums and electronics/keyboards.  

Find their official website HERE.  Later I will be posting more from this band, including the albums, which showcase a more refined and developed soung than these initial offerings.  

Download HERE.

Beherit - Drawing Down The Moon

Beherit has always been one of my favorite Black Metal bands.  They have never been average, typical or predictable and my favorite album of theirs, 1993's "Drawing Down The Moon" perhaps demonstrates their ingenuity best.  When this album was released it creeped out black metal fans, and was laregely misunderstood by their own fan base, as well as the metal community in general.  To this day you will not hear an album that sounds like this.  This is a one of kind.

"Drawing Down The Moon" achieves what many black metal bands fail to achieve, a genuiely creepy and dark atmosphere that is wholly original.   You must listen to this to understand.  Beherit just released a new full length "Engram" that shows once again that Beherit are kings.  

More info on Beherit HERE and download the album HERE.

Pakeni - Celestial Mechanics

Another one of my favorites from Finland.  Pakeni (pronounced Pack-Annie) like so many Finnish Grind Rock bands started out as a Carcass worship style band, and changed drastically to match their fellow countrymen in Xysma and Disgrace.  Pakeni released an EP in 1996 entitled "Detergent Bubble Bath" that had me hooked.  In 1999 Pakeni released their only full length, "Celestial Mechanics" on Napalm Records.

When this album was first released, I ordered it from Napalm, and then a week later they went out of business.  I never got my order.  Thankfully I had known Pakeni singer Q-pias for some years and made him send me one.  Im so glad he did.  I could listen to Finnish Grind Rock for days on end.  I love this style, and Pakeni are one of my favorites.  

Singer Q-pias was also in long running Finnish master-minds Disgrace, and Audio Savant Music Blog will be featuring some of their recordings as well.  Enjoy!

I recently saw one of these CDs on Ebay for 60.00 USD...

  So why not just download HERE.

Paraxism - Selected Works

Paraxism was formed in 1990 and split-up shortly after their fifth release in 1998.  There are tons of quality bands from Finland, and I am a huge fan of the usuals such as Amorphis, Impaled Nazarene, Xysma and the like... but Paraxism may very well be my favorite band from Finland.  These guys are criminally unknown.  They released a 3" CD EP and four demos, and that is it.  They never did a proper full length, or were even recognized in the community for the amazing band they were.

I've always wanted to release their catalogue on a proper CD, and years ago contacted the band about it, but they declined, showing no interest in ressurecting these recordings.  So, I am doing it now.

Today we have "Selected Works" which may be my favorite recording of theirs.  It was their third demo and it was recorded in 1995.  It was released on cassette and I transfered it to CDr years ago, so the sound quality isn't great, but don't let that stop you from discovering this amazing band.  

Go here for their Encyclopaedia Metallum entry.  In future posts I will be posting most if not all of their incredible discography.

Download the demo here.