Amorphis
Privilege of Evil

THE REVIEW

In the early nineties, thrash metal had become an over-saturated genre with nothing new to offer, while in the extreme scene, the baton had passed to death metal, which, starting from America, had expanded into Europe, gaining popularity particularly in Sweden. Meanwhile, Finland was not standing idly by, and alongside the more renowned Swedish scene, another had emerged (remaining more underground) thanks to groups like Sentenced, Demigod, Purtenance, Funebre, Convulse, Xysma, Depravity, Adramelech, and the more technical Demilich.

Among these names, one cannot fail to mention Amorphis, a quartet from Helsinki, which in 1991 recorded a six-track EP that, however, only came to light two years later, following the release of their debut album "The Karelian Isthmus." The music offered on this record is pure old-school death metal, darkened and oppressive due to doom influences and raw production, showcasing the taste for sinister and hypnotic melodies typical of Finnish death but also displaying personality and a desire to stand out through the use of keyboards, albeit still very limited, played on this occasion by drummer Jan Rechberger. Noteworthy is the presence of Jukka Kolehmainen guesting on vocals on his "Vulgar Necrolatry", a cover of Abhorrence (the first seminal group where Tomi Koivusaari played), which differs from the following year's version due to the execution of a solo reminiscent of Slayer.

The fact that besides the aforementioned cover, also the other three songs ("Black Embrace," "Misery Path," and "Pilgrimage from Darkness," later becoming "The Pilgrimage") are present on the debut album, has made this EP less interesting for all those who are not ardent fans of the group, and this is a pity because this is the most sincere testament to the nature of Amorphis at the beginning of their career, before they embarked on an evolutionary path that, with "Tales from the Thousand Lakes" first and "Elegy" later, would lead them beyond mere death metal and eventually beyond metal in general.

Probably those who discovered them through their latest works will be dismayed by this ferocious and brutal sound, or they might believe it's a curious case of namesake simply not recognizing them.