Viimeinen Kolonna "Irvikuva" CD
[Hardcore Holocaust]
From Finland returns this vicious hardcore unit with 15 tracks in barely 18 minutes. Expect forceful vocal yells, pounding rhythms, a good dose of tempo changes with a tendency towards tasteful speeds, and short tracks that leave a mark. This time around I'd say there's less of a metal influence happening, and in fact a lot of the tracks remind of the more aggressive side of American hardcore from the 80's (not youth crew stuff) but with a heavier sound, and the vocal patterns sort of have a Portuguese ring to the delivery on some level. There's still some metal to tracks like "Viimeisten Päivien Portot" with a harder hitting slant to the chord progressions, or the thrasy "Varoituksen Sana" and "Suuri Babylon" (especially the breakdown in the latter), but for the most part it's all out hardcore/punk with just enough variety to keep things moving, but enough consistency to kick ass straight through. The production is fine by me. It's pretty thick and a tad muddy on the low-end, but the bass presence is really important, the guitars have a bite to 'em, the vocals sound great, and the drums don't bother me. I'd maybe like to hear the vocals drop back in with the music a little, but that's no big deal here. The layout's minimal and to the point, with a killer illustration on the cover, some band photos and additional artwork on the back covers, and the lyrics packed into the center spread. All of the songs are in Finnish, with English translations provided, and the content is incredibly brief and actually a lot more abstract than most of the genre tends to be. "Seven seals are opening, The four are released, The moon had turned blood red, The stars have fallen down, The hatred of the lamb, Who could last out?" This is a killer EP. I like it a tad better than their last release on Hardcore Holocaust, and if they keep this up they'll definitely crush everything with their future work. Definitely grab this, this isn't your average generic Scandinavian hardcore band by any means. These guys are definitely doing something different. Awesome. (8/10)
Running time - 17:56, Tracks: 15
[Notable tracks: Viimeisten Päivien Portot, Amerikkalainen Painajainen, Ensiapua, Varoituksen Sana, Suuri Babylon]
Hardcore Holocaust - http://www.hardcoreholocaust.com

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