Member of Immortal Damnation - [Album ’92]
01. Intro
02. Black Vision
03. Deep Blue Darkness
04. Lacus Somniorum (inst.)
05. The Lost Memories
06. A Dark Cloud Arises
07. In the Misty Morning
08. Reality Isn‘t Disappeared
09. Misery of the Rebirth
10. Crown Waits the Immortal
11. Joh. 3:16 (outro)
Crown Waits the Immortal - [7"EP ’91]
12. Apparition of the Mist
13. A Dark Cloud Arises
14. Crown Waits the Immortal
Purtenance Avulsion - [Demo 1 ‘91]
15. Necropsy of Festering Body
16. Cadaveric Mutilation
17. Inside the Crematory
18. Cannibal Souls
Comment:
Finally available, after 19 years, the mythic 1st and only album from '92 by these finnish masters of dark and heavy Death Metal. A sought after release for which is being paid a fortune on eBay!! Now re-issued with their demo & 7"EP as bonus and a complete presentation!!
En uno de mis viajes a primeros de la década de los 90 a Madrid, si no recuerdo mal para asistir al concierto de Guns n´Roses + Faith No More + Soundgarden en el verano de 1992 (el sábado 4 de julio en concreto), el cual finalmente no se celebró por aluminosis del Estadio Vicente Calderón; tuve tiempo de pasarme por la tienda de discos Hard Vinyl y comprarme el vinilo de “Generator” (1992) de Bad Religion y el recopilatorio en cassette “Defaced Compilation – Volume Two” (1992) editado por el Sello por aquel entonces de Dave Rotten (Avulsed), Drowned Productions. En la copia original número 244, que aún guardo muy bien conservada, había temas de Death Metal de bandas nacionales como Unbounded Terror, Rotten Flesh, Suffocation, Sacrophobia, Chococrispis… alternándose con internacionales como Demigod, Severance, Monstrosity, Dark Tranquillity, My Dying Bride, Dissection… y Purtenance. Creo que fue mi primer contacto con los fineses, aunque es posible que antes hubiera leído algo de ellos en alguna de las Metali-K.O. que fielmente compraba (junto a la Heavy-Rock y la Metal Hammer). “Cadaveric Mutilation” era el tema elegido de los finlandeses, de su demo “Purtenance Avulsion” (1991). Cuando surgieron en 1990 en la localidad de Nokia, Purtenance Avulsion fue el nombre que adoptaron, pero tras un ensayo grabado en cassette el mismo año 1990, y después de editar la demo, eligieron llamarse simplemente Purtenance.
Las relaciones de Purtenance con Dave Rotten y Drowned Productions eran bastante buenas, ya que antes, en septiembre de 1991, se editó la demo “Crown Waits The Immortal” en una edición limitada de 500 copias en vinilo de 7 pulgadas. Y después el álbum “Member Of Immortal Damnation” (1992), tanto en vinilo como en CD. Si “Neury” no me falla, creo que Purtenance, junto a sus compatriotas Demigod, fueron de los primeros grupos extranjeros que vieron sus discos publicados por el Sello madrileño. Con el tiempo me compré el CD de Demigod, los vinilos de los mallorquines Unbounded Terror, y los sevillanos Necrophiliac… (todos ellos editados por Drowned Productions), y aunque más de una vez estuve a punto de agenciarme el de Purtenance, no sé por qué no lo hice. El quinteto finlandés: Timo Häyrinen (voz), Toni Honkala (guitarra principal), Juha Rannikko (guitarra rítmica), Pasi (bajo), y Harri Saro (batería), después de la edición del disco se separaba por diferencias musicales, estando más interesado el guitarrista Toni Honkala en Convulse, su otra banda por aquel entonces.
En 2009 “Member Of Immortal Damnation” fue reeditado en picture disc por Letargo Records, con una tirada limitada de 200 copias con póster y las letras de los temas. Además de aparecer el mismo año “MCMXCI – MCMXCII” por Dark Symphonies, una edición de 300 copias con un doble vinilo en el que en el primero incluían en su cara A la demo de 1991 y en su cara B el EP de 1991, y en el segundo vinilo (150 unidades en negro y las otras 150 en amarillo) el álbum; aunque en 2011 The Crypt lanzó otra tirada de 500 copias de “MCMXCI – MCMXCII” un poco diferente. En julio de 2011, el actual Sello de Dave Rotten, Xtreem Music, reeditaba en CD “Member Of Immortal Damnation”, remasterizado, incluyendo, además de los once cortes del álbum, los tres del EP “Crown Waits The Immortal” y la demo “Purtenance Avulsion”.
En este 2012 la banda finlandesa ha vuelto a la actividad en formación de trío, con los veteranos Juha Rannikko (guitarra) y Harri Saro (batería), acompañándoles en esta reciente etapa Ville Koskela (bajo y voz), procedente del grupo Purpose, en el cual estaba junto al batería Harri Saro. El trío (con la aportación de algunas guitarras por parte del antiguo componente Toni Honkala) nos presenta el EP “Sacrifice The King”, editado por Xtreem Music, contando para la portada de nuevo con el afamado Chris Moyen, el mismo artista francés que realizara la portada de su primer disco hace veinte años.
Death Metal clásico, pesado, con incursiones veloces… como en el pasado, pero perdiendo sus partes lentas y oscuras para soltar mucha más brutalidad, es lo que nos dan en los cuatro temas que han grabado para este EP, con una “Intro” y una “Outro”, ambas instrumentales relajantes, la segunda al estilo de “Lacus Somniorum” de su primer álbum. Pocas cosas que ofrecer nuevas en los temas, aunque de entre ellos me quedo con “Demon Gods”, una composición que suena atronadoramente acongojante y brutal, en gran parte por la labor vocal de Ville. Las demás: “So Many Years Of Fear” (quizá la que guarde más la esencia de los primeros Purtenance), “Maniac” y “Sacrifice Of Your Life”, no están nada mal, aunque es prácticamente más de lo mismo de lo que se hizo hace décadas en Finlandia y en Escandinavia, obviamente con mejores artilugios a la hora de grabar y sin el encanto y magia de aquellos tiempos.
Habiendo desde hace años un revival del viejo sonido del Death Metal, Purtenance, como otras formaciones de finales de los 80 y principios de los 90, han regresado para intentar dejar las cosas bien claras en los terrenos del clásico Death Metal.
This old-school death metal unit from Finland first released this album in 1992, before their 1994 split. This re-release also includes some of the 1991 demos for this album. This is their only release and it changed the death metal world, with its well-structured intricacies leading it open to any death metal fan.
The dual guitar wielders seem, at times, to echo each other perfectly, in-tune and in with the feel of the song. This dark and depressing album is only made more so by the slow, hypnotic drum-beat that occasionally changes, but not often and only for one note. The guitars are fitted onto this slow, depressive pace perfectly as all complement each other. The deep, guttural gruff vocals are not always the most important thing, as the near 3 minute intro to Black Vision shows – the vocal come in and they are as deep and dark as you could get. The drums then build to meet with the rhythm of the vocals and the buzzsaw guitars cut the air between both the instrumental and the vocal perfectly.
This album is as dark and depressing at the winter in Finland, and maybe this is what they are trying to grab. At times, it’s more doom metal than death metal – and seems to manage both at the same times, although one can take over the other at times and add to that depressing feel.
“Member Of Immortal Damnation” es un clásico dentro de los clásicos, por supuesto hablo de una de las bandas finlandesas más carismáticas y extraordinarias del underground extremo, una pequeña maravilla entre las pocas que surgieron de ese frío país, y supieron destacar sobre el resto, PURTENANCE.
Tengo que remontarme a una frío día invernal de 1990, cuando sale a la tenue luz del crepúsculo de la escena underground finlandesa una formación llamada PURTENANCE AVULSION, que bajo este nombre consiguen auto editar una Demo con tres temas “Rehearsal ´90”. Al siguiente año vuelven a editar otra Demo que es una nueva grabación de esos mismos tres temas, pero dándole el nombre de “Purtenance Avulsion” de 1991.
Ese mismo año la banda se acorta el nombre pasando a ser definitivamente solo PURTENANCE y fichan por la mítica firma discográfica “Drowned Productions”, editando un Ep con el nombre de “Crown Waits the Immortal”, tres nuevos temas con su sello personal más auténtico el cual plasman de forma virtuosa dejando entrever lo que vendrá después.
Es por fin en 1992 cuando su larga duración “Member of Immortal Damnation” ve la luz negra del horizonte mortuorio que les espera, creando uno de los discos clave dentro de la escena finlandesa, este álbum está lleno de un Death Metal con un sello propio y auténtico, diferente a lo que se hacía en la época, en cuanto a técnica y brutalidad, sin llegar a ser excesivamente acelerado, pero muy contundente y mordaz, con mucha potencia explícita.
El disco cuenta con un trabajo vocal cercano a unos míticos CARNAGE, pero sin llegar a imitar, más bien innovar, porque esos registros vocales llegan al límite mismo de la capacidad gutural necesaria para crearlos, la cual es mucha, al igual que el juego de guitarras que se fusionan perfectamente en riffs prodigiosos y elaborados, que junto con las partes de bajo y batería, hacen que cada canción tenga cualidades únicas como solo los maestros saben crear.
Pero es ahora 19 años después cuando (y de nuevo sorprendiendo a todos una vez más) Xtreem Music se encarga de editar una nueva re-edición de “Member Of Immortal Damnation. (Re-édición.2011)”, un lujazo sin contemplaciones, bajo la marca propia de la casa llamada “Xtreem Cult Series”, y sin necesidad de explicar que todo está remasterizado con una calidad extraordinaria, difícil de encontrar hoy día.
Por supuesto esta re-edición viene muy completa, a parte de los 11 temas que componen el álbum, incluye el Ep editado por “Drowned Productions”, y su primera Demo, con un sonido excelente, realzando sobre todo el gran trabajo que hay tras los primeros temas compuesto por PURTENANCE, gracias a la buena producción, la cual pone todo en su sitio y todo suena como debería.
El Death Metal de la vieja escuela finlandesa puede volver a fluir por tus canales auditivos, merece la pena sentarse a analizar su música y sentir todo lo que PURTENANCE están dispuestos a enseñarte, como solo ellos saben hacerlo.
Anybody who knows a little bit about Finnish Death Metal should have this album by short-lived act PURTENANCE in his collection – either as the original release on Drowned Productions (1992) or the ’09 The Crypt vinyl version. Now, Xtreem Music have done a proper CD re-release, just like they did for FUNEBRE, DEMIGOD as well and “Member Of Immortal Damnation” now also features the three tracks from the “Crown Waits The Immortal” EP plus the demo from ’91 originally released when PURTENANCE still had the AVULSION in their band name. While I never considered PURTENANCE as fantastic as DEMIGOD, CONVULSE, FUNEBRE, early SENTENCED, DEMILICH it’s still mandatory stuff for all you old school lunatics out there as it is simply wrong to not have it. Even now, tracks like the dramatic ‘Black Vision’ (the guitar melodies and the growl at 3:47 are still pure gold!), ‘A Dark Cloud Rises’ or ‘The Lost Memories’ never fail to do the trick and apart from some sick melodies PURTENANCE had a straight forward aggressiveness to offer that made them differ from their contemporaries. Though the latter had better productions back then compared to PURTENANCE, this remastered version sounds fine, remains true to the original and even the EP and demo songs come across great. If you don’t know the band – check it out on the net and then buy this – if you know the band you’ll buy it anyways, hehe! Just as a little tip for everybody, Xtreem Music has a killer old school compilation online to commemorate its 10th anniversary, download it for free at the link below and put some decent shit on your ipod:
www.xtreemmusic.com/compilation
After Purtenance Avulsion released their demo in 1991, they changed their name by dropping the ‘Avulsion’. With this name change came their first official release, the ‘Crown Waits the Immortal’ 7” on Drowned Productions. This EP was a clear indicator that Purtenance intended on keeping the vile nature of their demo intact while making refinements at the same time. This bumped them up even higher on the list of best current death metal bands (well, back from when it was good, at least). A short while later, Purtenance released their magnum opus, the ‘Member of Immortal Damnation’ LP, ranking them up there with Rippikoulu, Depravity, Demigod, and other classic Finnish bands. This album is a perfect, and I mean perfect, example of the preeminence and mastery that bands from this country were achieving at the time.
The production does wonders for the band, as not only does it enhance the filthiness that was already put in place by the music, but it also highlights every instrument, giving each one a proper place in the mix so nothing has an overpowering effect. The vocals aren’t extremely upfront in the mix like a lot of death metal albums. They are somewhat buried, and blend in with the barrage of darkness flawlessly. This kind of gives the same effect that the vocal mix gives Molested’s ‘Blod Draum’ LP in that it becomes another instrument rather then a dominating everything that’s going on (but of course stylistically the two sound nothing alike). The guitar and bass have a pretty equal balance, and both are playing with some extremely hideous tones. The drums are also given their fair share of space in the mix, and are prominent enough to keep the bus moving forward but not to the point where drown out anything else going on.
After things get started off with an intro comprised of a heavily reverberated guitar lead, the bludgeoning begins with the crushing doom-laden opening riffs of “Black Vision”. This element of doom metal keeps appearing throughout the album, but not quite frequently enough to deem this death/doom. These morbid, sludgy sections work as the perfect contrast with the mid-paced sections as well as the faster, blasting sections, which keeps things moving along at a nice enough pace to pull the listener in and not let go. Now of course this is certainly nothing new, as lots of bands from Finland at the time were doing the same thing, but like the previous reviewer mentioned, there weren’t too many doing it quite as well as the mighty Purtenance.
The vocalist, Timo, has a good, powerful growl that you can tell comes from the deepest part of his gut, and maybe picks up some of the shards of glass this guy eats with his cereal every morning. It stays in the mid-lower range, sitting somewhere between Swden’s Crematory and Carnage. The riffing, as I said, alternates between doom-laden devastation and grinding death frenzies, always staying on the low-end of the fretboard and tuning down to somewhere near A or B. The leads are actually more melodic and coherent then you would expect from a lot of other bands, especially during the slow sections. However, sometimes, where the pace picks up and a solo comes in, then it might resort to whammy-abusing atonality, which is never really a bad thing, but it’s just refreshing to hear a band who can fuse melody with sinister evilness as well as these maniacal death metal masters. The guitar tone and bass tone mesh perfectly, as both have equal amounts of filth and putridity caked on top of them, creating a huge wall of towering decay. The drummer is pretty efficient, never missing a beat but never overdoing it with excessive fills and overbearing double bass when it’s not necessary. He also knows how to use the bell of the ride cymbal really effectively, and it doesn’t sound like he just hits it accidentally when beating the shit out of his skins with blastbeats.
This is an excellent piece of old-school Finnish death metal at its finest. I would recommend downloading it first and waiting until The Crypt does the double-LP reissue, which will contain the demo and 7” on one slab and this masterpiece on the other. That is unless of course you are okay with paying a pretty penny for an original pressing, but even then, good luck finding a copy.
Purtenance is an odd, unknown band hailing from Finland. They officially formed in 1990 and released two demos before their debut album, "Member of Immortal Damnation". This record displays excellent craftsmanship in the areas of both doom and death metal, for it seems to be an almost perfect concoction of what both genres have to offer. Make no mistake, there are surely plenty of other bands doing a similar thing, but not very many have 'nailed the bullseye', so to speak, as Purtenance. At times there will be a slow, mournful passage with despondent harmonies layered on one another masterfully, to give the full effect of depressive emotions... And yet they will instantly shred that moment from the listener and break away into a very brutal and pounding cascade of aggressive death metal.
The album is commenced with a short guitar melody ending with a bell toll, invoking thoughts of mystery and expectation as to what will come next. Preceding through the rest of the album is the blend of doom/death metal that many bands today have popularized and are well known for. The second track immediately starts with a plodding, almost as if it were a funeral procession. Not too long into the track is where Purtenance really decides to thrash things around and break away from the doom and gloom, only to enter into the next level: the realm of death.
The structures of the songs I think are what get me the most. Purtenance knows exactly how to keep a listener interested with the music, not keeping too many parts the same, and not deriving too often from their original ideas as to remain consistent. The musicians themselves have such a clear understanding of how each other works, so they can optimize this to the best effect to create music together that utilizes the best of their abilities. For instance, the guitar players will not try to outdistance the drummer in terms of speed, and vice-versa. Everything is practically perfected, including the vocals, which have a most unique texture. Not the usual deep guttural death growl, and not a very typical scream either, almost a blend between the two.
Are you ready to become a Member of Immortal Damnation?
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