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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.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Pilgrimage From Darkness (04:32)
In his eyes
The evil spirit rise
Turns to darkness with Satan's name
"As the time is right
Dead bodies rise up from their graves
And when the time comes near
Oh, I see the prince of glory"
Holy month
Sacred hounds
Under the hill
Do you hear their call
04 Misery Path (04:17)
We sail across the sea,
In our thoughts we float over mountains
All this vanity that we could hide
The truth
The truth is to be alive
and to live your life in fear by hate
and create our own gods
We all ourselves are created
our own images
Ourselves we are created
our own gods
In the misty morning
When the sun is rising,
When the whole sky is red like blood
Man can realize the real meaning of life
to love and respect your life
Your salvation,
or is just your damnation.
We all ourselves...
05 Vulgar Necrolatry (03:58)
Erosion of life I see
it makes the passion burn in me
Life it always withers away
Death will eternally stay
Corpses in their coffins
forever rest in peace?
There sleeping with the aspergillus
is this justice to the dead?
The atrocious sight of burial ecremony
Christians weeping for the departed
They won't understand, they should envy them!
The deceased they know, if there's a paradise
Or shall we feel, the purgatory!
I open the graves, admire the rot
I can feel the presence, of something beyond
Aureola of nauseating reek
Wings of shriveled skin
Holy beauty of a carcass
Divine sight for me to gaze upon!
Necrolatic! Reverence for putrefaction
Necrolatic! reverence for the stench
I kneel, before a carrion
I pray, before the dead
I know, they shall rise
I fear, for the scourge
I revere, power of the dead
06 Excursing From Existence (03:06)
Erosion of life I see
It makes the passion burn in me
Life it always withers away
Death will eternally stay
Corpses in their coffins
Forever rest in peace?
There sleeping with the aspergillus
Is this justice to the dead?
The atrocious sight of burial ecremony
Christians weeping for the departed
They won't understand, they should envy them!
The deceased they know, if there's a paradise
Or shall we feel, the purgatory!
I open the graves, admire the rot
I can feel the presence, of something beyond
Aureola of nauseating reek
Wings of shriveled skin
Holy beauty of a carcass
Divine sight for me to gaze upon!
Necrolatic! Reverence for putrefaction
Necrolatic! reverence for the stench
I kneel, before a carrion
I pray, before the dead
I know, they shall rise
I fear, for the scourge
I revere, power of the dead
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