230204

You may or may not know Petri Ilvespakka as a past member of cult Finnish death outfit Depravity, one of the few in that scene NOT to have reformed (yet) in the 21st century. He played bass on their demo material as well as the Silence of the Centuries EP, which has seen a resurgence in popularity along with the internet-borne tide of death metal nostalgia. You might instead be aware of the guy through his by the book black metal vehicle Diaboli, which has produced six full-lengths over the last two decades of existence. Psychopathic Terror is yet another of the guy's projects, used to explore various other forms of extreme metal, running concurrently with the black metal stuff and, like that, a situation where he performs most of the instruments. He's joined here on 230204 (the sophomore album) by longtime Korpiklaani drummer Matti Johansso, who must have relished the opportunity to engage in some no-frills old school stuff; and also, for a few tracks, a lead guitarist, Tony Tieaho, who normally plays in the band Crystalic.

This was the same configuration as the 2006 debut Fucker, a record I haven't heard, but it seems to work out rather well here, each of the guests contributing just enough to mold some character into what might otherwise be a pretty basic excursion into primal Scandinavian death metal of the earlier 90s, with a murderous/horror-themed lyrical slant that also delves into current 'events' when it takes on issues like those of the closer "Pedophile Priest" (later albums are more directly political). I guess the easy reference is Entombed, Unleashed or Dismember, with a truly simple selection of riffs that aren't whatsoever unique, split between dense chugging grooves and a few tremolo picked sequences, all predicated on the notion that the listener is going to tap into the same nostalgic void that Petri himself is occupying. The guitar tone and chord progressions certainly cultivate memories of slower grind, and in fact the more measured grooves here might recall a bit of Bolt Thrower, with Petri's gruff barks taking on Karl Willetts' sense of bleakness, but there is absolutely also a death & roll heart which beats loudly through a number of the D-beat rhythms (as in "Living Death"). Thing is, the composition is not quite so exciting as a Clandestine, Wolverine Blues or Indecent & Obscene. The riffing choices, perhaps a little too baseline to really absorb me, don't ever seek to surprise or invent.

Fortunately, the pummeling production values help to compensate by allowing the guitar tone to churn into your ears as if someone were opening your head with a wine corkscrew, and as primal as these rhythmic configurations are on the surface, they're just solid enough to begin to involve you in the album. Whats more, the leads here, where they appear, are quite excellently written to the point where they add another layer of depth to the entirety of the experience. The downside is that they make me wish they were more frequent here, that Petri himself would implement a lot more melodic chords into the framework of the meaty rhythm patterns. The tone of the guitar naturally smothers Matti's drums to an extent, and I would say Ilvespakka's vocals themselves also fall victim since, while they create a solid, audible throwback to Willetts or L-G Petrov, they just can't compete with those fat, gushing chords. I'd definitely compliment the man on his choice of bass tone, which as you can tell from the intro to "The Art of Killing" is 100% muddied and disgusting, and is certainly felt everywhere, not playing second fiddle quite like Matti's drums which seem complacent to shuffle along below the density of the strings (though he's a great player).

Of course, there are hundreds of bands currently occupying this Swedish throwback death metal niche at the present time, some quite good at it, others largely forgettable. 230204 is far from the head of the class, and from what I've read Psychopathic Terror itself has evolved a little from this sound on the later two albums (which I've also not heard), but it's fairly decent despite its unwillingness to take chances and distinguish itself from the herd. Just going off the leads alone, it seems like the eight tracks here could have used even more dressing and complexity to truly stand out, since the core verse riffs and breakdowns all feel like we've been down their particular roads in the past many times (through the 90s and beyond). But ultimately, fans of low-velocity Euro grind ala slower Rotten Sound, d-beat hardcore acts like Disfear or Trap Them, or comparable death metal acts like Bombs of Hades and Mr. Death who do the 'dirtier' spin on the aesthetics of the Swedish elite of '90-92 will achieve some comforting concussions while banging their heads along to this, and it definitely works as advertised.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

For a newer arrival to the death metal arena from Finland, and a 2 man project no less, Psychopathic Terror definitely have something to offer the old school fan of the genre who can do without all of the excesses of the scene of late. The satirical verses of purposeless gore and violence typical to the brutal offshoot of the style is absent, along with the indecipherable mess of notes, meandering section switches and detached riff fragments that have dominated the sound of modern technical bands. Bands like this are given the label of death/thrash metal primarily because the older proto-death metal bands and the gradual evolution of sound that closed the 80s stayed relatively close to the thrash roots of the genre, and “230204” definitely listens closer to a late 80s death metal release than anything else.

The first band that immediately jumps out as a primary influence here is Bolt Thrower, particularly their first two albums, although the occasional fragments of early Morbid Angel and Suffocation occasionally work their way in and out of some of the riffs. The songs aren’t afraid to slow down and play up a few semi-catchy ideas in between the fits of thrash sections when called for, and they avoid venturing way out into acoustic land and completely depart from the consistent aggression that occupies the rest of the song. The straightforward nature of the listen actually gives it something of a demo quality, which is further bolstered by the common occurrence of cymbal count-ins preceding these songs, as well as the general consistency of the production, which is fairly low-fidelity but still well within the spectrum of being listenable.

The production itself reminds pretty heavily of Nuclear Assault’s “Handle With Care”, which is the only thing that sort of works against what is a winning formula on here. The heavily distorted and low end guitar tracks lack a lot of punch, and are somewhat undermined further by the heavily distorted bass lines that mostly mirror the guitar parts in a few sections. When the songs either thrash out or go into those heavily tremolo picked death sections, it’s not overtly noticeable, but whenever the songs take a break and go into one of those lower mid-tempo grooves, it comes off as a little too muddy. A good example is the otherwise catchy as hell slower riff on “Reign Of Terror”, which sounds like a slightly less well produced outtake from Celtic Frost’s “Monotheist”, which wouldn’t be bad if it didn’t sound out of place amongst the other parts of the song.

The real breath of fresh air that this music offers is a vastly different take on lead guitar breaks and solos when compared to your standard death metal band in all of these newer sub-genre offshoots that came out of the mid 1990s. They systematically avoid the all out tonal randomness and all over the place bastardizations of Kerry King and Marty Friedman of most tech. death bands, and also steer clear of the comical, minimalist, melodic fragments that tend to appear in many Gothenburg bands. It mostly tends to resemble the thrash sounding leads put forth by Bolt Thrower and early Darkthrone, but with an even more structured and melodic nature. Basically the otherwise consistent flow of this album gives way to a couple of amazing highlights in “Parasite”, “You Are Next On The List” and “Reign Of Terror” because of the 15 to 25 second lead sections they carry.

For a band of this persuasion hailing from Finland, this is the best thing I’ve heard thus far in recent days, though my experience with death/thrash bands from this region is fairly limited. It definitely reaches out to fans of the older style, before Matti Johansson’s current work with the increasingly popular folk metal scene raging in the lands of permafrost. If you like the 80s incarnations of Death, Sepultura, Morbid Angel, Carcass and Bolt Thrower, check this out, you won’t be sorry.

Originally submitted to (www.metal-observer.com) on September 22, 2008.

What a pleasant surprise have I got when listening to this new killer output from the Finnish Death Metal band: Psychopathic Terror. I've always have been a huge admirer of the immortal Death Metal masters Depravity and when I heard about Petri and Matti getting reunited I just can't stand the wait for fresh material.


The productions sets the tone of the typical Death Metal album of the early nineties, you know, when Unleashed released sacred jewels like 'Shadows In the Deep' or 'Across the Open Sea' and in that particular sense we can agree that the guitar approach is quite similar of the aforementioned albums.


Bands like Swedish masters Furbowl, Necrony and Carnage comes to mind as well. If you just can imagine the perfect balance between the solid song-writing of the classic Swedish bands and the coolness and originality of the Finnish ones, you just got the picture: Psychopathic Terror's crawling towards you.


Just in case you're also fond of demolishing Death Metal bands like Bolt Thrower, early Crypt of Kerberos, Moondark or Eternal Darkness, that's also the stuff for you. If you want to check that out just pay attention to opening 'Parasite' riffs that sets that abrasive trademark sound of these particular bands. Simply brutal might be the word.


The fourth track '230204' blends in perfect harmony the savage riffs of the better Unleashed (circa 92-93) and all of the sudden the typical chord display of the masters Bolt Thrower. Is not that Psychopathic Terror limit themselves to copy and paste here and there, no. They simply manage to create such a demolishing sound with the best influences you can imagine but sounding completely on their own.


'Welcome to the Spahn Ranch' and all the rest of tracks follows the same aforementioned patter, that is compelling and super professional Death Metal the way it's meant to be.


If you were looking for one of the best Death Metal releases of 2008, just give it a try.

This is Psychopathic Terror’s second album, and my first encounter with them. The title is apparently a date, when a bunch of brutal crimes were committed in a Finnish prison. I’m not sure how to comment on that, but what is evident is that these are two talented lads (yup, it’s a two-man act), as they’re members (or were members) of Depravity, Korpiklaani and Diaboli. So they’re no strangers in the ways of metal.

They’re quite tight, but still with that rough and energetic edge that makes it sound like it could get out of hand any moment. Just like back in the days when the Swedish death metal scene was relatively new. And this is definitely an old school assault, with energy, brutality and love for the music shining through. The slower sections are extremely headbanger friendly, and the accompanying guitar solos are lethal. Take the end of Parasite as an example, where it’s virtually impossible not to nod and stomp along, and clench your most powerful metal fist to the wicked solo. Petri’s vocals also fit the recipe perfectly with his harsh growls from the beyond the tomb. And well, what can I say; the drumming is impeccable.

The promo sheet says Unleashed / Entombed meets Bolt Thrower, and who am I to argue. Right from the get go I find a strong vibe of Unleashed. Everything from the tempo to the riffing reeks of our favourite Viking death metallers Unleashed. Just listen to Welcome to the spahn ranch and you’ll know what I mean. But Psychopathic Terror are not to be brushed off as a boring copy cat, since they surely whip up a slab of quality metal.

Originally written for http://www.mylastchapter.net