Finland has for many years evoked memories of bestial bands and albums. Needless to say, the Nordic country has one of the most varied scenes in extreme metal, with waves of bands that play classic and rotten Death Metal, and many hordes that march with the torch of Black Metal in the snow. In this case, we have Saastunut, a band that is new since they began in the dungeons in 2022. It wasn’t until March of this year that they released their first full-length album, crowned with the nickname ‘Hävitys on uudestisyntymisen avain’, which means something like “Destruction is the key to rebirth”. With these introductory words, we proceed to immerse ourselves in the work.
After a short introduction that drags, threateningly approaching from the darkness, some growls emerge in the unfathomable frozen void, opening the doors to monstrosities of other dimensions as predicted by the preamble’s title. This leaves the way free for the first track, ‘Ajattoman kuilun kitaan’, which attacks mercilessly with rhythms characteristic of Black Metal but with a hint of Death Metal in some passages and riffs. These made me remember the old Lubricant in their demos, but obviously with a better sound and a cavernous voice more oriented to Archgoat.
I dare say that the latter are a quite noticeable influence on the band since they also added those dead rhythms and voices with demonic effect that the Angelslayer has captured in their works. The track then emerges in a fade-in with more speed than the previous one, but well mixed with changes of medium tempos, well-padded for a display of varied riffs and chaotic, untimely solos. Something that becomes evident is the distortion of the guitars, which is not very deep and has that malice of crust punk very surreptitiously rooted in its sound.
‘Hulluuden sekä viisauden alttarilla’ is the name of the fourth track that from its genesis shows its claws with blackened riffs, cursed by the demonic growls of an abysmal background, as if the grotesque entity invoked was watching from the heights, seeing how the entrails of riffs metamorphosed from raw Black Metal to crust punk are consumed and vice versa. We are talking about a track that has a duration of seven damn minutes, and which in several intervals of the way had those guitar warnings and solos more chaotic than melodic! After all this sonic madness, another intro stands in the middle of nowhere. If we contemplate the cover art, we will understand the meaning, the why and what for of this intro at this point of the descent: ‘His Call Echoes from the Most Dark Depths of Cursed Chambers’. We already know who is calling: He who whispers in the darkness!!! on the throne of chaos.. ‘Kaiken nielevään puhdistavaan tuleen’ is the one who parades next through the abyssal walls, and it is the track that has catchy rhythms and riffs and forces you to bang your head with the simplified but fast elements of the D-beat. The merciless punishment of the cymbals is notable; the voices towards the end of ‘Hämärä’ become more expressive, almost medium screams and not so guttural.
To close, the track that gives its name to the entire album makes an apt presence by carrying a slow riff that can be easily memorized, and that then metamorphoses with the accelerated rhythm of the drums which does not stray from the sonic line or the structural composition of the entities that we have left on the way until the murder of the eight minutes of duration of the track that ends up diluting in the fade out while the bass assumes the leading role in the farewell.
The album as a whole is quite entertaining and has within it that multiple aura of a demo, but enjoying a good capture and mix of the instruments where there is no doubt that the result obtained is what he thought was appropriate for this hybrid of Black and Death with some darkened Thrashy flashes and the Crust Punk that slowly poisons each piece.
