Impaled Nazarene - Suomi Finland Perkele (1994)

I've pretty much always been of the opinion that Impaled Nazarene didn't really find their true sound until their sophomore release, 'Ugra-Karma.' The bands debut, 'Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz' certainly had its moments, but was generally just a little too varied and really weird at times to make it a thoroughly enjoyable experience, but then again its been years since I sold it or even heard the album for that matter. By the time they released their third album, 'Suomi Finland Perkele' '94 it felt like Mika, Kimmo, Taneli and Jarno had really found their path and matured greatly.

Imp Naz in '94: Ready for war

The albums opens with the group shouting, "Suomi Finland Perkele" and proceeding through a militant and dramatic intro piece before landing on the hard hitting, 'Vitutuksen Multihuipennus,' but things quickly slow down for the twisted tale of love that is, 'Blood Is Thicker Than Water.' With a catchy bass riff and melodic lead guitar and a sense of underlining melancholy, its easily one of Imp Naz's most memorable songs, while the first half of 'Total War - Winter War' is a cover of industrial terrorists, NON, but the second half blasts onwards with lyrics detailing Finland's trashing of the Russian's during World War II. 'Quab/The Burning' again tones the speed down in favor of a slight doomier approach and 'Kuolema Kaikille (Paitsi Meille)' is fifty second romp through grindier pastures, whereas, 'Let's Fucking Die' is a much more punk influenced and really fun song about doing drugs and overdosing with a killer bass solo to boot. 'Genocide' & 'Ghettoblaster' are just full on, speedy numbers while the eleventh and last song, 'The Oath Of The Goat' is more mid-paced and fairly epic in character and ends with a repeated loop of the words, "Suomi Finland Perkele" once again.

The most common version of this album nowadays is the 2001 re-release, which comes with the 'Motörpenis' EP as bonus tracks. Consisting of just five songs in eight minutes, this EP is Impaled Nazarene at their most punkiest with songs like the title track and 'Whore' being amusing little numbers, while the three remaining songs are all covers of punk bands, I especially dig, 'S/M Party' & 'Transvestite.' That's right mother fucker!

'Suomi Finland Perkele' has stood the test of time as one of Impaled Nazarene's strongest and most diverse recordings with audible and catchy bass lines, plenty of melodic riffs, varying speeds and tempos, a rounded out and more engaging vocal performance and just in general a great bunch of songs.