Belial - Never Again (1993/2010)

As much as I love Finnish metal and the many diverse and interesting acts that have arisen during the past 20+ years, I've really come to realize in recent times that their early death metal scene has sort of always got the shaft, in favor of their more melodic or black metal acts. Despite some recent re-releases of Abhorrence and Funebre material a lot of these old greats are still but lost gems, fortunately Belial's classic and debut full-length, 'Never Again' was finally made available again back in 2010.

Originally released through Lethal Records in '93, nearly two decades later the album was finally re-released though Galgenstrang/Funeral Industries, limited to 1000 copies and with totally new cover art, though I tend to prefer the original - a large breasted naked woman holding an inverted cross over spread open legs. Let Jesus fuck you indeed.

Belial

This Oulu based band has a history that dates back to '91 when the original 'The Gods of the Pit' demo was unleashed and sold out its 500 copies quickly and solidifying their cult status in the underground. The 'Wisdom of Darkness' EP followed in '92, however the departure of guitarist Jukka Valppu around the same time triggered a change in direction for Belial.

'Never Again' opens with a bizarre and melodic synth piece called 'Firestorm,' with underlining beats it seems as if this can't be death metal, but soon enough the first bulldozing riff, rapid drums and snarly barking vocals hit the listener. 'The Red One' continues in a bit of different direction with a more rockin' vibe and enough groove to make it utterly catchy, whereas, 'Dragons Kiss/Swan Song' is another calm synth piece with a heavenly melody for the next three minutes. 'As Above So Below' has a more straightforward death metal approach, but still has this strange backing synth melody, while 'The Sun' is more mid-paced, memorable and again highly groove orientated. The album continues oddly, often times shifting between these more mid-paced groovy and melodic sections with backing keyboards to the bands original death/black metal fusion. An interesting observation within both the middle and ending of 'Pain-Flood' also reveals a guitar/synth combo similarity to the keys used in the Burzum song, 'Dunkelheit,' and while I wont speculate on whether or not Varg ripped this off, but the fact is that this album was out at least two and half years before 'Filosofem.'

Jarno Koskinen's vocals are also a topic of interest since to my ears they sound very, very similar to that snarly waspish voice that Mikaakim used on the first Impaled Nazarene album, 'Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz.' Curiously the Imp Naz connection runs further than that as guitarist Jarno Anttila, bassist Jani Lehtosaari and drummer Reima Kellokoski would all serve time within their camp, the later of which is still with them.

'Never Again is an oddity of an album and its not one that will click into place immediately either. The strange tempo shifts and just general diversity is something to accept and really sink in before it all makes sense. Fortunately give the album 3-4 spins or even listen to the songs on an individual basis and it becomes clear soon enough as to how original this one is. Simply put few albums have such a mixture of black/death elements with such groove, catchiness and even death 'n' roll characteristics as 'Never Again' does.

Belial would go on to release one more album in '95, simply titled '3,' which has radically different material in a gothic/punk rock vein, or so I've read. Apparently three of the members also had a grunge rock band called Autumnfire around the same time too.