Finnish Death Metal Megapost

Now I am no expert on Finnish death metal, oldschool death metal, or even death metal in general really; but I find that Finnish death metal has a certain dark grimy aspect not present in Swedish death metal. The Finnish scene is and has always been smaller than either the Swedish or US scenes, but it has still plenty of quality material. I am still exploring musically and finding new bands everyday, so this should just be considered a mere scratch of the surface.

Abhorrence

Taken from last.fm: "Abhorrence was a death metal band from Finland, which was only active for one year. They recorded a demo tape, that was in heavy circulation all the way to mid 90’s underground scene and an EP for the Seraphic Decay records, infamous for ripping off the bands whose music they released."

They were approached a about a record deal by Relapse, but unfortunately it was too late, and they had already broken up. This is all a real shame because if they hadn't been ripped off by Seraphic Decay (who also ripped off Xysma, Derketa, and Incantation) they may not have broken up, and if they had been able to accept Relapse's record deal they may have become more well know and been able to further developed their sound....

Speaking of sound, what do they sound like? Abhorrence play a fuzzed out unearthly brand of death metal. The fast parts are brutal in an old school sense, but the slow parts reveal a more melodic doom influence.

The production isn't amazing but it's acceptable. Their demo has pretty much shit sound quality, but the s/t 7" is actually probably helped by the production as it adds to the otherworldly feel.

Excrement

Excrement seems to be a very mysterious band. They formed in 1990 as Apoplexy released one demo, changed their name to Excrement released a demo and an EP and promptly split forever.

Excrement seems to me to be the Finnish Dismember, they chug ahead with reckless abandon. This is classic old school brutality. The production here is great as well, perfect guitar tone and drum sound.

Purtenance Avulsion

Purtenance Avulsion is one of the most soul crushingly brutal bands I have ever heard, they capture the spirit of death metal in a way that modern bands do not. Their blasting sections are killer, but when they slow down the tempo every thing dissolves into one vicious wall of murk. The slow murky parts of this album are everything that I look for in death metal, dark brooding, and filthy. Absolutely amazing. They only released one four song demo under this name then changed there name to...

Purtenance
Purtenance released one EP and then one full length before splitting up in 1992. This release shows a lot of musical maturation form the Purtenance Avulsion days, but it still shows a lot of energy. They developed a style mixing heavy sludgy doom sections with faster death thrash sections. Purtenance also managed to incorporate some melodic elements lacking from their early days. This release rips just as much as the Purtenance Avulsion demo and the mix of Doom/Thrash/Death gives it a unique character.

I have compiled the following releases into the two links below:
Abhorrence - Vulgar Necrolatry (1990)
Abhorrence - S/T 7" (1990)
Excrement - Scorched (1994)
Purtenance Avulsion - s/t (1991)
Purtenance - Member of Immortal Damnation (1992)

DL Link 1
DL Link 2