Mythos – Pain Amplifier (Re-issue)
Mythos – Pain Amplifier (Re-issue)
Vic Records
Release Date: 23/06/23
Running Time: 37:58
Review by Paul Hutchings
7/10
A sole full-length which first arrived in 1995, Mythos’s Pain Amplifier is regarded by some as the highest calibre of Finnish death black metal. It’s being rereleased on Vice Records, and its reissue provides a welcome opportunity to travel back close to three decades and the arrival of one of the most impressive debuts of all time.
There’s little chance for breath once the intro ‘In the Beginning …’ gives way to full opener Hung on the Wings. It’s a nasty, shredded to death introduction to this seminal band, with visceral guitars and a vocal performance from Mikko Laurila that sounds like he’s bringing up the contents of his stomach. Savagery is the order of the day, Jukka Valppu’s slicing riffage bringing carnage, chaos, and lacerations.
Despite the savagery that underlies this album, there are substantial parts which flip into melodic parts, holding out catchy grooves that you can’t resist banging that head along. It’s a real steamroller of a release, which demonstrates that at the height of the extreme metal explosion, Finland was flexing their muscles. Songs such as ‘Unreal Moon’ and ‘In Veiled Language’ are nasty, jagged, aggressive, and compelling if you like this sort of thing.
It’s the combination of brutal death metal and the sinister melody of black metal that makes Mythos unique. Grasping every grapefruit possible, this is demonic, utterly bruising and would have been ideal in a tent. At times it’s almost unlistenable. The screams and squeals that erupt on ‘The Last Orgy’ are incomprehensible. Yet there is a raw power that is so captivating. I doubt this album will reach that many, but if you are a fan of the combined forces of death and black, then this seminal release is one for you to indulge in.
TRACKLISTING:
01. In the Beginning … (Intro)
02. Hung on the Wings
03. Unreal Moon
04. IN Veild Language
05. The Pain Amplifier
06. A Song by the Way
07. Verses in the Fire
08. The Last Orgy
09. Stranger Things Happen at Night
10. The end … (outro)
11. Reek of Purification
LINE-UP:
Mikko Laurila – Vocals, Bass
Jukka Valppu – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Teemu Hautaniermi – Drums, Keyboards
Toni Pekkala – Guitars
LINKS:
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