Kev Rowland This is the debut album from Apocalypse Warhead, another Finnish technical Death Metal band. What is impressive with this is that it is the work of just one man, Tuukka Laitinen. Tuukka has been around the scene for a while, recording with Rytmihäiriö some twenty years ago, but this album shows him branching out on his own. Now, I am a hater of programmed drums, but I can ensure you that unless you read it you will never know that there isn’t an octopus behind the drumkit as Tuukka must have spent countless hours working on those tracks as the fills and power don’t sound as if it came from a computer.

The label says that the music is a carefully balanced blend of high quality riffs, speed, brutality, aggression, atmosphere and technicality, and once they have it right. Tuukka is obviously highly influenced by Slayer (and the album itself is dedicated to Jeff Hanneman), but there are also elements of Death and the production by Sami Raatikainen (Necrophagist/Radiance/Codeon) is spot on, giving the album the brutality it needs. If there was one fault that would be in the guitar solos which don’t quite match up to the brutal riffage that goes on around it but that has been identified by Tuukka who will be binging in guest guitarists as he moves forward.

This was originally self-released so all power to the guy for pursuing this with such vigour, and now that it has been made available by Inverse let’s hope that it gets the recognition it so richly deserves. www.inverse.fi

UMUR "Opening The Silos" is the debut full-length studio album by Finnish death metal act Apocalypse Warhead. The album is a self-released affair, which currently can be purchased through the band´s Bandcamp page. Apocalypse Warhead is a one-man act featuring Tuukka Laitinen who is the former guitarist of the Finnish hardcore/metal act Rytmihäiriö. Tuukka Laitinen plays guitar, bass, sings (growls) and has programmed the drums for the album.

...before you dismiss "Opening The Silos" because I mentioned that the drums are programmed I promise you these drums are very well programmed. In fact I didn´t know they were programmed from listening to the album. I only found out by reading about the artist. It´s very obvious from listeneing to the album that Tuukka Laitinen is quite the talented guy. The musicianship is generally very impressive. Besides doing a great job programming the powerful and varied drums, his skills on guitar and bass are considerable too (check out the well played guitar solos). The riffs are generally played at a relentlessly fast pace with a great emphasis on rhythm (kinda thrashy at times but ultimately too brutal to be called thrash). It´s one of those albums where it´s almost impossible to catch a breath while it´s playing. It´s that energetic. I absolutely adore the instrumental part of the album. Unfortunately the unintelligible and monotone growling vocals are a bit of a drag. With a bit more aggressive vocals and maybe a couple of lyrical hooks "Opening The Silos" could have gone from great to excellent. I´m sure it´s an aquired taste though and fans of the really brutal growling death metal style will probably enjoy the vocals greatly.

To my ears "Opening The Silos" is a very successful debut album and while I have a hard time fully appreciating the growling vocals it´s not like they completely destroy the picture of an otherwise great album. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.