Time Signature
Death hymn...
Genre: hardcore / grindcore / crossover
Originally released in 1991, this album was the first album ver released on Spinefarm Records, and, to celebrate 20 years of releasing metal releases upon mankind, Spinefarm are going to rerelease it in October this year.
The style is dirty and fast hardcore punk with grindcore tendencies and gravitating towards thrash metal as well, so in a way, we are dealing with a type of very raw crossover thrash here.
The first couple of tracks are more in he hardcore and grindcore department with simple punky riffage, ferocious d-beating and blastbeats pooping up every now and then, but with "Raaka ja tolkuton verityö" the direction of the album changes a bit, as there is a sudden explosion of thrash metal elements such as palm-muted fast riffage, technically quite advanced guitar solos and slightly more complex song structures [that is, the songs are not complex at all on this release, but the crossover-tinged ones have more stuff going on in them than the hardcore ones]), essentially making the rest of the album a crossover album. The hardcore and grindcore elements remain, though, throughout the album, and the thrash metal elements are very primitive, too.
I like the energy on this album - there is the typical raging hardcore energy, and the crossover direction adds a bit of oomph to the whole thing. Many of the tracks are actually not bad, but they are difficult for me to enjoy because of the really lo-fi production. The guitars are extremely buzzy and have no bottom to them at all and are actually the weakest instrument in the mix. Now, I am sure that the production will appeal to fans of raw DIY punk music, but it is way too sloppy for my taste.
Fans of raw and dirty hardcore punk will probably like this album for what it is, and they are recommended to go out and check it out. Personally, I like many of the tracks, but such a sloppy production simply becomes too annoying in the long run.