Thursday, August 23, 2007


THREE FOR THREE

Some really unimportant things to mention are that Jori decided to leave the band after 7 years and 3 albums. This is a shame as shortly before that Jarkko also decided that he would no longer perform live with the band. Apparently things will be ok though as Karri and Tomy have been brought in to round out the lineup. Sadly though, after all that, Joona has also since decided to leave. I’m sure all of this is devastating news to someone but that someone is probably not you. What is important is that while Mors Principium Est doesn’t seem to have the ability to keep a steady lineup (or actually play live shows) they did release one of my favourite metal releases this year. Also, if you’re not from Finland, you may find Finnish names funny…feriously.

I’ve written about this band before but felt that seeing how I’m so inconsistent and pathetically lazy in finding things to post about I might as well just cover them again. To choose them isn’t a random decision though because as I said, their new release (Liberation = Termination) just kills.

The songs are still fluffed up with keyboards and the odd techno beat but I’ll gladly suck that up and trade it off for the absolute shred fest that comes with it. To be honest, after three albums from these guys I’ve come to accept the keyboards for their ability to set up tremendously heavy sections. There’s even a tune called Animal Within that opens with a straight up Honda Civic ready thumper and upon first listen I almost unknowingly threw on a pair of snakeskin pointed cockroach killers and puked in my hat but the guitar lead that Jarkko unleashes completely makes up for it. It’s peel-out fast and seemingly never-ending. This is most likely the reason he’s decided to stay with the group but not play live. One can only imagine that attempting to perform that solo on a nightly basis would likely result in death. Or severely cramped fingers.

As compared to the previous two albums the vocals are finally pushed up and thankfully uncompromised. The leads have also finally been turned up a bit as well which rules because these guys are some of the best as far as execution and composition goes.

There are two songs (The Opressed will Rise & Sinners Defeat) from the new record on their Myspace that are great examples of what these guys are all about.