Turmoil

The victory roll of Finnish metal in 2004 that has been blasting my ears just keeps on coming with more and more ammo. Pain Confessor is a relatively new band in the Finnish scene although several of its members have been cutting their skills in local underground bands for years. The bands mix of old school speed/thrash a lá Testament and touches of more modern death-tinged thrashers like At The Gates, mashed with some grandiose keyboards makes up for one damn nice combination.

Singer Make has some excellent harsh pipes throwing both aggressive grunts and screams for the majority of the album and every so often switching to a clean voice in the more melodic choruses. Guitar solos are used sparingly and not too often to avoid wearing the listener down with excessive noodling. The emphasis is on the crushing riffing, that is strengthened by the top notch-production and brutally accurate drumming of Mikko L. that should give any double-bass afficionado some goosebumps. The keyboards are strictly in an atmospheric role here, not soloing in any of the songs but simply adding some majestic melodies that are a nice touch.

The package of tunes is frighteningly even-matched, as no weak moments abound from this disc. It also turns on the disc a bit, as the even material doesn’t present any absolute classic killers that stand out above the rest. For everyone craving fast, speed metal-drenched cuts, look no further than the opener Fiery Thorns, Erased Of Empathy or Underworld. More melodic mid-paced grindouts are thrown by the tons in Poor Mans Crown, Soul Eraser and Instinct To Resist. Or want some grooving pit-destroyers? Just whip out Lake Of Regret or Just Names Remain and you’ve got a shitstorm full of hair, legs, elbows, sweat, blood and possibly teeth.

Simply put, Turmoil is an extremely mature and impressive album from this new-coming band, definitely among the best debut albums Ive heard this year. A group to be watched very closely in the future, without a doubt. Seldom has a newer band mixed extremely brutal and melodic elements together this seamlessly. Even though the band doesn’t have a foreign distro deal yet, anyone who became interested can check the bands website for clips or the online store www.cdon.com for some quick purchases. I doubt any fan of quality metal would be disappointed.