...SIŁA I PIĘKNO MUZYKI TKWIĄ W JEJ RÓŻNORODNOŚCI.
..::OPIS::..
Debiutancki album z 1996 roku legendarnego fińskiego zespołu postrzeganego jako młodsi bracia DEMIGOD.
Reedycja z trzema dodatkowymi utworami i nowym masteringiem.
Jedna z najlepszych deathmetalowych płyt lat '90-tych. Klasyka!!!
Re-issue with 3 bonus tracks and remastered sound of the 1st album from ‘96 by this legendary finnish band, considered the small brothers of DEMIGOD and hailing form the same town. This is one of the best finnish Death Metal albums from the 90’s!! A classic!!
In my humble opinion, one of the best death metal albums that have ever been released in Finland, and going further, on a global scale, one of those albums that could easily hit the podium of the most dehumanized and stuffy positions in the trend of death metal. Before "Psychostasia" was released, Jarkko Rantanen's group was gaining momentum quite slowly. Firstly, by two, very underground sounding demos, and then through two eps, i.e. "Spring Of Recovery" and "The Fall", gaining the appropriate clarity and shaping their unique style. Fortunately, the expectations until 1996 paid off, because - as I have already mentioned - the effects turned out to be phenomenal, and the quartet also received quite good support from Repulse Records.
They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but to be honest, it's not possible here! The graphic design by Turkka Rantanen perfectly reflects the entirety of the music - it's strange, mysterious and really insane. And it's no different in practice. Adramelech's debut is dominated by very dingy riffs, mid-tempo rhythms with occasional blasts (Jarkko is also responsible for these parts), "whispered" growl, surprisingly sophisticated solos and an extremely stuffy atmosphere mixed with a slightly melancholic melodies. For this reason, on "Psychostasia" there is no question of weaker or less distinctive songs. This is a complete album from A to Z, where identifying the best moments can be very problematic. Because I can mention "Mythic Descendant", "Heroes In Godly Blaze", "Across The Gray Waters" or "The Book Of The Worm", but I don't know if it makes more sense. The deadly atmosphere breathes from all the songs equally, and absolutely each of them maintains an ultra-high level. Anyway, even the production side is attractive - with considerable selectivity, but without killing the naturalness.
Together with "Nespithe", "Psychostasia" is therefore one of the best Finnish death metal albums and a perfect template of this type of stuffy music. The bigger is my (but probably not only) misunderstanding that such material was lost in underground. Because there was definitely something to conquer the biggest stages with.
Hames Jetfield
If there is one bad thing about underground music scenes, it's that it's possible for absolute gems to fall through the cracks. The early to mid-90's death metal scene sadly was one which misplaced a lot of great music, and Adramelech's stunning debut could be the biggest loss of the lot. Psychostasia is dripping with originality, passion and vision. Every minute of this album is filled with an unmatched style of strange yet uncompromising riffing and a unique and instantly memorable sense of obscure melody. It fuses the awkward, alien riffing style of Demilich's legendary debut Nespithe with a healthy dose of vitriolic and vicious traditional Finish death metal. The resulting combination delivers the best of both worlds, making Psychostasia an album suited for any death metal fan.
One of the keys to Psychostasia being so interesting is that it has two distinct styles. One which is the odd Demilich inspired strangeness, quite a bit more aggressive in fashion, but missing none of complex fretwork and song structuring. This is mixed in with a lot of straight up death metal riffing and Dismember-like use of melody, which gives the album a sense of power and violence that shames their fellow countrymen. Adramelech simply never give you too much of one thing, there's elements of technical death metal, old school Finnish brutality and doomy heaviness, all displayed with an airy, almost black metal atmosphere. There are so many ideas on offer that it never gets stale.
This atmosphere is driven by the roomy production with no instrument dominating the sound, and the by the unconventional throaty grunts of the Jarkko Rantanen. Every instrument is audible and clear, leaving enough space to show off the various technical elements that make up about half this album, but without turning it into an in-band dick waving contest. The vocals are quiet and the bass is loud, but this seems like less of a mixing mistake and more of a conscious decision. The loud bass helps drive the grooves through what could otherwise break down into a mess of angular rhythms, and the strangely distant vocals add to the alien quality of the music. This is much like how Antti Boman's burps aid Demilich's atypical sound, but these have the same effect whilst not seeming quite so 'silly', and pack quite a bit more punch.
Musically, Psychostasia is a reasonably technical affair, about a 3rd of it is straight forward old school DM and traditional melodies, so it avoids the technical death metal tag, but the album is quite a challenge to digest fully. It has layers and layers of complex rhythm work to go along with the speedy fretwork to keep an inquisitive minded listener interested for years, and enough stomping riffs to keep your casual headbanger more than entertained. Tempos rise and fall frequently but they do so smoothly, without ever resorting to moronic stop-start “song writing”. This is where the majority of the low end technicality lies, the drumming is not packed with crazy fills, but Rantanen's use of various beats ranging from simplistic old school pounding rhythms, to polyrhythmic double bass patterns, to off-time beats, to blasts and his transitions from one to another are just as impressive as the most complex of fill players.
That isn't to say that the leads and riffs aren't absolutely top notch, because they are, but it's the compositional skills which bring it all together which makes this album so good. There simply isn't anything this strange that flows this well. With that said, the leads are all exceptional, usually melodic, but filled with the trademarked off centre melodic patterns, and full of technical flair, again giving the album yet another level that it can be appreciated on.
Adramelech's debut is an absolute gem that was somehow lost among the masses of quality output from Finland during the early/mid 90’s, and one that will hopefully be able to thrive with the internet. It's got all of the quirky charm of other obscure albums which have been dug up over the last few years, but it's still fast, catchy and aggressive at the same time.
lord ghengis
..::TRACK-LIST::..
1. Heroes in Godly Blaze 04:11
2. Psychostasia 04:06
3. Seance of Shamans 03:27
4. The Book of the Worm 06:11
5. Thoth (Lord of the Holy Words) 03:10
6. Mythic Descendant 04:19
7. As the Gods Succumbed 05:02
8. Across the Gray Waters 03:59
Bonus Tracks:
9. Intro - Heroes in Godly Blaze (live) 05:51
10. The Sleep of Ishtar (live) 03:56
11. Seven (live) 04:18
..::OBSADA::..
Jarkko Rantanen - Drums, Vocals
Jani Aho - Guitars
Mikko Aarnio - Bass
Seppo Taatila - Guitars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E038fmGfk5A
SEED 15:00-22:00.
POLECAM!!!
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