UMUR "Reflections" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Finnish death metal act Convulse. The album was released through Relapse Records in June 1994, almost 3 years after the release of the band´s debut full-length studio album "World Without God (1991)". "Reflections" was already recorded at Sunlight Studios in late 1992/early 1993, but a number of lineup changes took place between the two albums and also a label change, which probably resulted in the long time between the debut album and the sophomore release (in those days 3 years between albums, were a pretty long time). Guitarist Jani Kuhanen died in 1992 and was replaced by Toni Honkala, drummer Janne Miikkulainen has been replaced by Juppo Paavola, and Aki Yli-Salomäki has been added to the lineup as lead vocalist. So guitarist/vocalist Rami Jämsä and bassist Juha Telenius are the only remaining members of the lineup who recorded "World Without God (1991)".

Maybe it was the change in personel or maybe it was just the musical current at the time, which caused a drastic stylistic change, but the sound on "Reflections" is vastly different from the old school death metal sound of "World Without God (1991)". The listener is treated to a death´n´roll sound which isn´t far removed from what contemporary artists like Entombed, Gorefest, and Furbowl, were releasing at the time (just even less death metal oriented). I´m sure the stylistic development must have come as quite a shock to the fans, because there is very little here which reveal that it´s the same artist who released both "World Without God (1991)" and "Reflections". Other than the brutal growling vocals (which is occasionally complimented by a raw heavy metal oriented vocal style) there is nothing on "Reflections" which is death metal oriented. This is purely hard rock influenced heavy metal.

The playing is organic and the same can be said about the sound production. It´s not the most well sounding production, and unfortunately the songwriting is also a bit one-dimensional and the tracks are generally hard to tell apart. Considering that most hard rock/heavy metal artists aim and succeed at creating catchy and anthemic material, Convulse seem to have forgotten that part of composing less extreme material. Most listeners can accept that extreme metal albums can be a bit one-dimensional in style and that tracks aren´t always easy to tell apart, but when you release something like this, the listener expects a certain degree of cathiness to the material. It´s not that the band aren´t able to make the music swing with an organic playing style, but the material simply isn´t catchy enough. Add to that a sound production which isn´t that well sounding, and "Reflections" overall comes off a bit mediocre. Especially compared to other contemporary releases in a similar style. A 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "World Without God" is the debut full-length studio album by Finnish death metal act Convulse. The album was released through Thrash Records in July 1991. Convulse formed in 1988 under the S.D.S. monicker and originally played speed metal, but they changed their name to Convulse in 1990 and their sound with it. The "Resuscitation of Evilness" demo was released in November 1990 and led to Convulse being signed to Thrash Records for the release of "World Without God". After releasing their second full-length studio album "Reflections (1994)" through Relapse Records the band split-up. The Thrash Records copies of "World Without God" are rare these days, but Relapse Records picked the album up for a reissue in 2010. The reissue features the material from the "Resuscitation of Evilness" demo as bonus tracks along with a couple of live tracks.

Stylistically "World Without God" continues the old school Scandinavian death metal style initiated on the "Resuscitation of Evilness (1990)" demo. The sound production hasn´t improved since the demo. Quite the contrary actally, and "World Without God" is a dark and pretty murky sounding album. The guitar tone could have pospered from a bit more punch, but as far as early 90s Scandinavian death metal productions go, this one is decent enough. The band are fairly well playing too. The growling vocals are a bit one-dimensional in nature, and a few more catchy phrases and a more intelligible singing style could have made that part of the album a bit more interesting, but as it is the vocals are pretty decent. The material is raw and reasonable powerful and while not all tracks stand out equally much, the quality of the songwriting is decent enough.

So upon conclusion "World Without God" isn´t the most unique sounding death metal album from the early 90s, but it´s a solid debut album by Convulse and it´s a recommendable listen to fans of the genre. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Resuscitation of Evilness" is a demo cassette tape by Finnish death metal act Convulse. The demo was released in November 1990 and it is the only official demo by the band. Convulse formed in 1988 under the S.D.S. monicker and originally played speed metal, but they changed their name to Convulse in 1990 and their sound with it. They released a couple of demos under the S.D.S. name, so while it says "Demo III" on the cassette inlay, "Resuscitation of Evilness" is the only official demo released under the Convulse monicker. "Resuscitation of Evilness" led to Convulse being signed to Thrash Records for the release of the band´s debut full-length studio album "World Without God" from July 1991.

"Resuscitation of Evilness" features 4 tracks and a full playing time of 15:12 minutes. All 4 tracks would be re-recorded and included on "World Without God (1991)". These early demo versions are worth a listen too though, and the material on "Resuscitation of Evilness" is generally a good quality example of early 90s Scandinavian death metal. The music is both well played and well composed, featuring tempo changes, quality lead work, powerful (yet slightly one-dimensional) growling vocals, and a high level of brutality and loads of raw death metal riffing. It´s raw, it´s brutal, and it features the right gloomy atmosphere. Considering that "Resuscitation of Evilness" is a death metal demo from the early 90s, the sound quality is actually pretty high. It´s definitely in the better end of demo sound productions from those days.

So upon conclusion "Resuscitation of Evilness" is a good quality first release by Convulse. The material is not the most unique sounding for the style, but Convulse do what they do, with both great conviction and reasonably good playing skills. The growling vocals are also delivered with the right attitude and sound, so a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Cycle of Revenge" is the 4th full-length studio album by Finnish death metal act Convulse. The album was released through Svart Records in March 2016. It´s the successor to "Evil Prevails" from 2013 and the second album since Convulse reformed in 2012. Convulse was one of the seminal death metal acts out of Finland in the late 80s/early 90s, but they split-up in 1994, only to reform 18 years down the line.

"Evil Prevails (2013)" pretty much continued the old school death metal style from the band´s 90s releases, but added an occasional rock´n´roll element (especially the guitar solos pointed in that direction), but "Cycle of Revenge" is a very different kind of beast. In fact the only thing the two albums have in common are the emotionless and unintelligible growling vocals. The vocals are about the only death metal trait left in the music, and instead of old school Scandinavian style death metal, we´re treated to a psychadelic tinged (and at times nicely atmospheric) heavy rock/metal style with growling vocals. At various points I´m reminded of artists like Tiamat, mid-period Gorefest, contemporary Tribulation, and Convulse fellow countrymen in Sentenced. So at this point I guess it´s fair to call the music death´n´roll (there´s a hard rocking stoner riff or two in there too).

The instrumental part of the music is very well executed and the material is generally well written and relatively varied, which means the 8 track, 33:57 minutes long album is entertaining throughout. "Cycle of Revenge" is also an incredibly well produced album, featuring a powerful and organic sounding production, which suits the music perfectly. Unfortunately the growling vocals sound completely out of place, and when the band experiment with spoken word passages or semi-raw clean vocals, like they do on "Ever Flowing Stream", you can hear great potential. So without knowing if Convulse are going to drop the growling vocals on the next release, I´ll go out on a limb here and call this a transition release between their old school death metal days and their new psychadelic tinged heavy rock/metal style, because I do expect them to drop the growls on future releases. They are so obviously out of place here, that not dropping them would be a crime.

So "Cycle of Revenge" is a bit hard to rate fairly, because I´m rather biased about it. On one hand I think the instrumental part of the music is of a high quality and it´s both powerful, adventurous, and intriguing, but on the other hand the growling vocals do drag my rating down a bit, so I think it speaks volumes about the rest of the music, when a 3.5 star (70%) rating is still warranted.

UMUR "Evil Prevails" is the 3rd full-length studio album by Finnish death metal act Convulse. The album was released through Svart Records in November 2013. Convulse started out under the S.D.S. monicker playing a more thrashy/speed metal type music, but changed their name to Convulse and released "World Without God (1992)" and "Reflections (1994)" before disbanding. So "Evil Prevails" is a comeback album for Convulse. A comeback just short of 20 years after their last album was released.

The music on the album is old school death metal and in that respect Convulse continue where they left off. Deep growling (and rather monotone and emotionless) vocals, old school death metal riffing that often lean towards brutal thrash metal and generally simple song structures. Some tracks are better than others, but the quality level is decent all the way through. The playing is tight yet with a nice organic touch and that´s probably where "Evil Prevails" stand out slightly from the pack. It´s especially in the guitar solo sections of the tracks, where a bluesy/rock´n´roll feeling often creeps in. Take a listen to the closing minute of a track like "World Downfall" to hear in example of that. However it´s an often occuring stylistic element throughout the album. That doesn´t mean that a death´n´roll tag would be valid though, this is still first and foremost an old school sounding death metal release.

"Evil Prevails" features a professional and organic sound production which suits the music well. Had the songwriting been a bit more memorable my overall impression of the album would have been better, but while the album plays it´s still a pretty good death metal release by Convulse and a 3.5 star (70%) rating isn´t all wrong.