Blast Worship: Feastem

Where they from?
Finland. A few years ago I had my mind blown when I found out that Finland is technically NOT considered to be part of Scandinavia even though it is a Nordic country that shares a border with Sweden. What gives? Don’t they ski there? Don’t they have enough metal bands and socialized healthcare? If I was a Finn, I would be pretty pissed at being left out. Perhaps it is this indelible point of resentment that has lead the country of Finland to generate such a large swath of ultra PISSED OFF sounding bands like this one. Either that, or, they just don’t give a shit.

What do they sound like?
Like a bunch of ULTRA PISSED OFF FINNS who have found a way to make the HM-2 tone actually somewhat digestible.

Why the hype?
Last September I had the pleasure of seeing this band perform at Chimpy Fest in London and they created one of the most memorable moments of the whole festival. About halfway through their set, the lead vocalist took a sip of water and asked the crowd, “Hey, has everyone seen the video of that guy doing Metallica karaoke and he starts vomiting?” I could tell by his demeanor that he was under the assumption that EVERYONE there had seen it and to his surprise, no one seemingly had. Dismayed, he signaled for the band to play the next song, which they obliged. About 30 seconds into it, a prototypical churning whirlwind of Scandinavian blasting alternating between blistering D-beat fury and sporadic moments of groove, came a brief pause in which the singer calmly said “It’s a really great video, you guys should really watch it” and then without a moment’s hesitation, BOOM, right back into the fury. It was one of those perfect extreme metal moments that just sticks with you forever.

Latest Release?
Graveyard Earth. So, the double-edged sword with a lot of these Scandinavian bands (FINLAND IS PART OF SCANDINAVIA, DEAL WITH IT) is that unlike they most American “grindcore” bands, these bands actually do grind, with the caveat that many of them sound exactly the same and don’t do bring anything to the table that Rotten Sound haven’t before. Graveyard Earth manages to not do that for the most part, using elements of dark melody sporadically to imbibe the proceedings with just enough flavor to separate it from the rest of the pack. Songs like “Sortovalta” and the title track have enough melodicism as to draw comparisons to black metal whereas tracks like “Sick” and “Turha toivo” simply just bring the fucking heat, baby. Do yourself a favor and familiarize yourself with this ULTRA PISSED OFF FINNS right this instant.

Bandcamp