No Anaesthesia!

We're in 1989, Finnish local thrash heroes Stone had already released a reasonable, if immature and somewhat unremarkable, debut the year prior, and were arguably eager to show that those occasional signs of brilliance heard were the harbinger of something special. Reprising their huge Metallica influence, No Anaesthesia! is basically their Ride the Lightning. Granted, Stone was no Kill 'Em All under any aspect, but the improvements displayed within a lone year are definitely comparable. Longer compositions immediately catch the eye, incidentally implying more space for the guitars, and Roope Latvala did not think twice about unsheathing all his best weapons. I'd say that Stone's influence on Children of Bodom starts getting somewhat clearer here, even if I can't pinpoint specific examples because... I don't know many of them. But already if you're familiar with 'If You Want Peace... Prepare for War' you won't have a hard time imagining that there's the same hand behind it. Add the fact that Janne Joutsenniemi seemed to have worked on his limits in the meantime, and the picture starts getting intriguing...

Many people tend to remember the first song by a certain band they ever heard, and I don't know if my following assertion is a product of that, but 'Sweet Dreams' was my gateway to Stone and, damn, it's still brilliant, maybe their best song ever. Coupled with the intro (an awesome rendition of Jean Sibelius' Finlandia hymn, which I understood as more or less the unofficial country anthem) it really makes up the perfect opener. Classy stuff overall. That's not to say the following 'Empty Corner' ends up being overshadowed by it – its six minutes of more measured, Forbidden-esque awesomeness go hand in hand with the claustrophobic story being told, arguably the only instance on No Anaesthesia! where the band showed they were already outgrowing their absurd phase (with not-broken-but-nearly English lyrics being the icing on the cake), and more than anything predates future developments. Both also showcase solos that should be featured in every top 10 attempted (Jiri Jalkanen was definitely no slouch either, mind you), and both are also as catchy as thrash can ever hope to be. Bottom line: there's nothing you might be doing right now that's better than listening to them. This pair is the stuff of legends.

Of course, there are still some 5 other songs remaining, and the goods don't end here, even if one can't help but feel the dip in quality when coming from a technically perfect one-two initial punch. Regardless, 'Light Entertainment (Good Old Times)' is not afraid to bring its truly venomous set of riffs to the table (with an intro that wouldn't be out of place on a mid-career Death record, to boot), and the longer 'Back to the Stone Age' and the title-track keep surprising for the majority of their playing time. The latter is easily the eye-catching feature based upon its length exceeding 10 minutes, and it's mostly interesting, predictably starting midtempo and then picking up quite naturally halfway through, driven by a Pekka Kasari in top form. Cool gang shouts in the chorus, too. Unfortunately I found the 6:30-8:00 chug-y section a big momentum breaker and even inexcusably lazy at its beginning, but the solo gradually building over it strikes hard, pushing the song from the lowest point to the highest. Again, the sound leaves no room for complaints either.

What really gives the album a dimension of its own are the lyrics, however. I mentioned the debut had 'weird' lyrics, but here the surreal, one-of-a-kind sense of humour of Stone truly reaches its apex. The title-track reprises the cover theme of a deranged dentist, who's however more interested in drilling something other than teeth. 'Light Entertainment' manages to fuck up a subject as innocent as a magician's exhibition on so many levels you seriously need to check out for yourself to believe (occasional n-word aside). The unfortunately subpar closer 'Meat Mincing Machine' even adds another layer of irony – whereas 'while others play, you kill / praise yourself, the king of heavy metal' is to be intended as a not too veiled reference to another band, the spoken word part then managed to foretell a certain, ahem, incident involving a guitarist... I honestly had significant trouble finding a single quotable section for the bottom line.

Trying to sum up things briefly and effectively, if you're still not convinced by the presence of two all-time best Stone songs, nor by the consistently awesome leadwork, your enjoyment of No Anaesthesia! will definitely be subject to how you'll react after hearing a growled 'WAKE ME UP!... BEFORE YOU GO-GOOO' at the end. Guaranteed.

Lyrical gem: "Think about the great feeling when a concrete face general yells at you: "Yes sir! May I lick your boots or do Your Highness use dry cleaning?""

I cannot for my life figure out what this album is NOT doing in every generic "recommend me some thrash" topic on metal forums all around the web. So what if Finland may not exactly be the first place to look for thrash - one of the axemen here now plays in Children of Bodom and surely that alone should have garnered some decent recognition for this band, but I dunno, this album still doesn't seem given anywhere near its due. Well in any case, just when I thought I'd already discovered everything the thrash metal genre has to offer from "back in the day", I recently stumbled upon this, and it's some of the best damn thrash I've heard in a very long time.

Victims of Deception two years before, anyone? There is a similarly catchy and straightforward NWOBHM-ish headbanging groove at work here, not far removed from Metallica, but with more intricate, progressive and plain ambitious songwriting. That distinction may remind one of ...And Justice for All, but this one doesn't stray as far from true thrash metal; in that sense, Kill 'Em All is actually the Metallica album it's the most similar to. To go back to comparing it with Victims, just like on that album the lead work here is simply terrific. It's very much on the melodic side for thrash; certainly no complaint there, because it adds diversity to an otherwise potentially dull album to sit through all the way. Oh yeah, and the production is actually BETTER - the Heathen album is just slightly too muddy for its own good, but here it's just damn perfect; shocklingly fat and meaty sounding for a Finnish thrash release from 1989 and just verrrry slightly less well-produced than Children of Bodom's early work.

Overall, No Anaesthesia! is one of the rare instances of an album managing to be accessible AND rewarding with multiple listens at the same time. Accessible due to being of a less harsh and extreme form of thrash; less far removed from Judas Priest than Bonded By Blood and Pleasure to Kill are (albeit not smooth and ear-friendly to a Practice What You Preach-extent, but still), and also due to stellar and high-profile production. Rewarding with multiple listens due to said progressive and lengthy song arrangements on it and the truly frenzied and off-the-wall guitar work, that is probably too much to really "get" in just one go. CoB frontman Alexi Laiho has cited Stone guitarist Roope Latvala as being a major influence on his playing, and it shows in places, but not even on Hatebreeder did he come anywhere near the sheer madness of, say, the middle section of "Empty Corner", probably the best song on here. A bit like that beautiful riff after the second chorus of "Painkiller", but with two distinct guitars playing it, interacting in an excellent manner, and technical to Watchtower or Dream Theater levels.

Oh yes, and near the end of the song...Vio-lence left a riff behind and forgot to put it on Eternal Nightmare, this is it. I usually don't get this much into details of individual songs in my reviews anymore, but I'll say this anyway: ten-something spins of the album and I STILL can't listen to this riff and not raise two horns in the air and obnoxiously yell something along the lines of "RAAAAARGH FUCKING THRASH UUUUURGH" at the same time. Too thrashy...neck broken...need hospital...

To anyone remotely into thrash, this album is wholeheartedly recommended. Some of its flaws include the over ten(!) minute long title track not quite having enough (good) ideas for its length, and the somewhat Neanderthal-sounding vocals along with some rather amusingly horrible lyrics ("nigger clown dressed in a monkey suit"), but it's all pretty minor stuff, overlookable. You looking for some interesting thrash out of the ordinary, or you demand no originality and just crave a good ol' thrashing, No Anaesthesia! is the way to go in either case. "LET'S SEE WHAT YOU CAN TAKE!"