Impaled Nazarene – Pro Patria Finlandia
I will admit, after really connecting with every Impaled Nazarene album through the punked out and clanging “Latex Cult”, the band really lost me on subsequent albums as they tried to inject more of a traditional metal strain into their core sound (even enlisting Children of Bodom’s wank master, Alexi Laiho). The experimentation just seemed off to me. Finally getting back on track with the sadistic punk attitude meets raw simplicity, “All that you Fear” was for me, a true return to form for the band. A homecoming that finds Impaled Nazarene continuing to find satisfaction with on “Pro Patria Finlandia”. It’s a formula that you just know is coming as soon as you hit play, but for some reason, it clicks in all the right ways for this band. Mikka’s maniacal and unique screams are just as sharp as they were on the debut album, which is quite a feat for someone who has built a longstanding career out of excessive liver and vocal abuse. With the proclamation of goat lust tearing through the air, the music alternates between clever riff ideas that effortlessly walk the line between dissonant and scraping underground blackness, simplistic punk structures and even some powerful moments of melody creep in that add a lot of color to an otherwise bloody balls out servo of blistering intensity. A great production really allows the listener to feel like they are standing in the middle of this firestorm as razor sharp tremolo picking and technically clean blast beats ravenously consume all organic matter within earshot. The catchy, hook laden, even verse/chorus nature of this album, doubled with the point blank attack really makes “Pro Patria Finlandia” seem like it flies by. Seldom these days does one with so much material in their catalog possess the ability to come out with something new that maintains their voracious legacy while sounding just as fresh as when they were young and hungry. Impaled Nazarene are such a band. “Pro Patria Finlandia” is a definite church burner that’ll leave you feeling winded as the final notes of “Hate-Despise-Arrogance” hammer off into obscurity. Hail the Finnish dogs of nuclear terror! -Marty
OSMOSE PRODUCTIONS
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