Pro Patria Finlandia

Patriots of all countries, unite! Here comes “Pro Patria Finlandia” with its great artwork and will make your day - as long as you enjoy lyrics like “after raping (all of your sisters) we shoot them dead”. I cannot deny my patriotic feelings I have from time to time, but the aforementioned line leaves me disturbed. Well, maybe I should not put the focus on national emotions any longer. Let’s scrutinise the music of Impaled Nazarene’s result from 2006 instead.

In all honesty, it’s somewhat disappointing. I. N. is among those bands that have released a lot of albums which do not even come near to their early masterpieces. Their debut was something very special and more or less unique. “Ugra-Karma” hit me in the face because of its cold violence combined with musical excellence. “Pro Patria Finlandia” does not fall victim to the compositional aberration that broke “Suomi Finland Perkele”, because it does not dish up lukewarm rockers. But its harsh, straight and strict tracks have no surprising, alarming, sick or eccentric details. They are more or less predictable and that’s probably exactly the word I. N. do not want to hear when it comes to their music. (Of course, Mika Luttinen tortures his vocal chords again in an unhealthy manner, but that’s also nothing new, right?)

This does not mean that the songs are bad. “Something Sinister”, for example, connects vehemence with a modicum of melodies in a coherent manner. The closer offers one of the best riffs and some lines about Satanic ass cancer for all of us, not bad, I must say. “One Dead Nation Under Dead God” is powered by the restless double bass and it would be a really strong track without the inadequate and energy-killing instrumental section in its mid-part. Yet there are also some pieces that remain on a pretty low level. Their mediocre riffing and the absence of outstanding ideas make them to songs one can listen to without getting skin rash (or Satanic ass cancer), but that’s it. Especially the lack of dynamic is quite annoying. I. N. are not able or willing to integrate effective tempo changes and the lively guitars that show up in “Kut” are rather the exception than the norm.

Imagine a death metal vocalist growling to the songs of “Pro Patria Finlandia” instead of Mika and the result is another “modern” Terrorizer album – if you are of the opinion that’s thrilling, I am sorry to inform you that you are alone in this. Maybe one can label this music as black metal, but to me it sounds like death metal with some punk influences (which we can find on each and every work of the combo). Freely speaking, I am pretty bored. Even little highlights like the crazy solo of “Psykosis” cannot save the album in its entity. Yes, its production makes it sound aggressive, string and possessive, but the song material destroys any hope of a high rating. Dudes of Impaled Nazarene, you can do it better. And you, my dear patriots, can go home.

Impaled Nazarene is a Black Metal band formed in 1990 in Finland by vocalist Mika Luttinen. This album, Pro Patria Finlandia, is their ninth studio album. If you know Impaled Nazarene, you will probably know what to expect, a brutal mix of Black Metal, Speed Metal, and Grindcore.

For me, when i listen to this album there is really only one thing i can think of to describe it and that is the end of the world. This album is so fast, so heavy, and so chaotic you might not realize what's going on. There is one way of drumming on this album and one way only......BLAST BEATS. The drummer's name is Reima Kellokoski and he just doesnt stop on this album. Now that you know that this whole album is fast as hell, you probably know what to expect from the guitarists. The guitarists, Tuomo Louhio and Jarno Anttila, tear this album up with extremely fast and melodic riffs and some brutal tremelo picking. As for the bass on this album, you can't really hear it which is really the common thing in Black Metal. It is audible at times, but overall its basically non-existent.

The vocals on this album are extremely well done. Mika does the Black Metal style, but its more of a low pitched shout than a raspy scream. Over the years his vocals have changed and on this album they've changed for the better. On songs like Weapons to Tame a Land and I Wage War he shows he can be versatile and hit some high screams and on songs like Something Sinister and For Those Who Have Fallen he shows off more of a Death Metal growl for some parts.

Lyrically this album, and the band in general, show off a lot of dark humor. Songs like Something Sinister, Goat Sodomy, Contempt, and a couple others should not be taken seriously. Other songs such as One Dead Nation Under Dead God and For Those Who Have Fallen are more about serious topics like war. Even though this band can be serious at times, they are very humorous throughout this album.

If you're someone who takes listening to Black Metal very seriously and have no sense of humor, you're definitely going to want to stay away from this one. On the other hand, if you're someone who wants a little bit of a change from the serious side of Black Metal and wants something that is humorous, but can be serious at times, i would say get this album. Overall this album is excellent there's not really any problem with it except lack of variety throughout.


Recommended Tracks:

Weapons to Tame a Land
Goat Sodomy
One Dead Nation Under Dead God
Kut
Contempt
I Wage War

The 2006 release of Pro Patria Finlandia is quite possibly one of the best metal releases ever, black metal or otherwise. Why? Because Mika and crew play black metal the way it was intended. It is fast, raw (but not cheap sounding), and intelligible! How about that a black metal band that has vocals that does not sound like a cat being boiled in water? It’s about time if you ask me. The other great thing about this album and Impaled Nazarene is you can hear everything clearly on the album. The guitars, bass, drums, and vocals are all distinct and not a distorted wall of noise. Every song on the album comes like a panzer division at full throttle with guns blazing at you. And these guys take no prisoners. This style of black metal is closer to grindcore than most would consider black metal. These Finns play some of the fastest metal while not being sloppy. That is what I love about this album.

Highlights
Every single song stands out and is solid. They do not jumble up and each song does not sound just like the previous one. The riffs are solid as hell and Mika has the best vocals in black metal today. I tried to find something weak or out of sorts with this album but there is not one thing wrong with it.

My favorites are Weapons To Tame A Land, One Dead Nation Under Dead God, For Those Who Have Fallen, and I Wage War. The lyrics deal mostly with war and violence. The other songs are full on aural assaults and there are even hints of humor which I appreciate as well. They do not take themselves too seriously all the time.

Impaled Nazarene is a polished band who knows how to write, play, and produce a solid metal album. This is one of the best produced albums I have heard in the underground metal scene. That alone makes it stand out for me. Anyone who wants to play black metal needs to own this album and listen to it a hundred times; it is that good. There’s no reason to not listen to Impaled Nazarene. You will thank me for it.

It took a bunch of albums, but Impaled Nazarene finally settled into a fairly comfortable style of black metal. You know, the punky, melodic, occasionally grinding variety they seem to have a trademark on. 'Pro Patria Finlandia' is the eightieth or something album from them, and it's pretty good. It's exactly the sort of album you'd expect from the band at this stage in their career. Not particularly experimental or driving in any one of their various directions, but a pretty moderate combination of everything so far, making for a not particularly daring but still fun release.

The only real thing that this album suffers from is a rather tepid second half which is pretty lacking in memorable songs. The first half is very solid though: 'Weapons To Tame A Land' is a really memorable and epic opener, 'Goat Sodomy' is good and brutal (plus you get to scream 'GOAT SODOMYYYYYYYYY'), 'Neighbourcide' has a great little melodic portion, and 'One Dead Nation Under Dead God' is probably the most melodic and epic of the tracks on the album. The production is clean, heavy, and bombastic, and all the performances are great, particularly in the drum department. The riffs are something of a mixed bag; I've always felt that Impaled Nazarene is at their best while being unrepentantly melodic, so their more straightforward black/thrash riffs leave me a bit lukewarm. There's enough melodic stuff to keep me amused, though.

Second half... not so much. Little of consequence happens. The tracks are more fundamentally brutal and straightforward than the first set, and most of the enjoyment I get from them is based off some of the more absurd lyrics, like on 'Contempt'. The tracks here aren't terrible, but they feel like padding because the band had a full-length in their contract instead of an EP. Anyway, there's not much to say about music like this. If you've heard previous stuff from the band, you'll probably dig it. If not, you won't. There's a lot of tremolo riffs and anger.

For the past two original LPs they've put out (All That You Fear (2003), The Absence of War Does Not Mean Peace (2001)), many people have considered Impaled Nazarene to be in something of a slump as they have been continuing to digress from their black metal roots since their 2000 release, Nihil. Since then, Impaled Nazarene has been abandoning the raw black metal sound that they used to be known for, in exchange for a blackened thrash sound with a considerable number of power metal and crust punk influences, filled with lots and lots of tremolo picking, often repeating the same few riffs over the course of several songs. Sure, it's black metal, so that's to be expected for the most part, but ImpNaz has always been known for their originality and surprisingly complex song structures. So to many, the release of Pro Patria Finlandia was looked forward to with a wary eye, especially with other black metal acts putting out disasters in 2006 all around the same time (The Cult Is Alive, Fuck You All!!!!!, Now Diabolical, and so on), and yours truly was one of them. And I can assure you that Pro Patria Finlandia does not dissappoint, and is certainly not another The Cult Is Alive, thankfully.

As soon as you pop this CD in and hit Play, you'll know that you're in for a treat as your ears are greeted with a powerful (blackened powermetal-ish, to the dismay of some) riff and some ferocious blastbeats as the CD takes off with "Weapons To Tame A Land." The recent display of powermetal tremolo picking ends shortly after the intro riff, however, as Antilla and Louhio go all out and keep at it for the duration of the album with some incredible, refreshing, distinctly black metal riffage.

Each song is its own masterpiece, played in typical, and ever-surprising, Impaled Nazarene-fashion, but now, with solos!! ImpNaz has never been very big on guitar solos, but Pro Patria Finlandia is littered with them, and one has to wonder why they've been absent for so very long. These guitarists really know what they're doing, as can be easily heard by the numerous amazingly fast solos they play throughout each song.

Reima Kellokoski, as always, does not disappoint. He's no Flo Mounier, certainly, but the man can certainly play fast as hell, with both hands and feet. The blastbeats are amazing and never sound forced, as they often do with lesser drummers. And the speed of his hands is incomparable at times, in tracks like "Neighbouricide", where he has to be playing at, at the very least 15 bps per hand. It's incredible, and adds a lot to the music, instead of being just a senseless display of talent with a drumkit (The Berzerker?).

Pro Patria Finlandia is amazing, blasphemous, aurally orgasmic, revolutionary, and just all-around incredible - everything you've come to expect from an Impaled Nazarene release. Primarily for fans of thrash and black metal, this CD is an absolute must-have, especially for anyone who felt let down by their last two LPs. In an unfathomably shitty year for music, as well, this album is all the more amazing.