Convulse – Inner Evil EP
The past 5 years have witnessed the upheaval of the lifeless… the true zombie apocalypse if you will, where the once dead and buried bands have clawed their way out of their graves to walk amongst the living. Instead of brains, these glistening corpses crave the riffs of long forgotten songs they never had the chance to play. As cheesy as it sounds, it’s true, from washed up and irrelevant thrash bands like Defiance (did they really need to come back?), to an endless list of death metal acts seemingly encouraged and inspired once again by the Swedish Death metal book and its popularity, it’s like they are getting a new lease on life… a chance to relive the glory days killed too soon by an exploding black metal scene. Finland’s Convulse are among the living and have returned to see if round 2 exhumes a few more folks that care. Featuring the original singer, guitarist and bassist, it’s good to see that these guys have retained a solid core of their founding members, which ensures that the old spirit just may indeed live on. It has been a long time since I have spun their full-length debut, “World Without God”, so for comparison, I toggled between the music on that album and the 2 songs on this EP. To my amazement, the new material thankfully sounds just like the old, just with a more lively production. The riff styles are the same. Quick, though blast beat-less tempos. The singer sounds like he never lost a step vocally with his hollowed out and guttural growling style. To make this an even more saluted return to form, there were no pro-tools tricks or patchwork recording techniques used to capture the 2 tracks on this soon to be unveiled vinyl/CD/Digital release. The band sounds tight in the studio and ready for another go after 18 years of hibernation. I never did hear their “Reflections” album due to some negative reviews in the press when it came out, but “Inner Evil” ignites with a uniquely Finnish, and very dark death atmosphere where creeping riffs lurch out of deep chord progressions, into tremolo melodies that are as memorable as they are fierce. Among the rounded off death tones that dominate both of these tracks, “God is Delusion” on occasion dips into an energetic thrash pace and feel in the guitar work to truly show the age of the guys behind the songwriting process who wear their influences on their sleeves. Even though the vocal/lyrical placement can be a bit too glued to the verse riffs they are embellishing, this is a common beef of mine when it comes to vocalists who also play guitar. It’s hard to split your brain to belt out vocal “harmonies” (this is death metal after all) independent from the music. Knowing this, I make note of my minor annoyance, and quickly not let it bother me further. Like any good band and EP, Inner Evil acts as a fine teaser to a more substantial album which is hopefully in the works. Convulse are a good band worthy of closer inspection and I hope their expectations aren’t set too high, for times have changed greatly since the early 90’s. It has come down to bands getting their payment in the love of creating and performing their art for all who choose to enjoy it. If they seek fame and fortune, they might as well slink back to Finland and check the oil in their wives minivans. -Marty
Svart Records
Worm Gear 