The opening line of the blurb on their bio says: “Revulsion happen to be one of Finland’s best kept secrets.” Nevertheless, while Revulsion was formed back in 2005 and released an EP in 2011, this self-titled release happens to be their debut album. The quintet comprises of Tuomas Alatalo on bass, Atte Karppinen on drums, Jarkko Viitasalo and Jari Toppinen on guitars, and Aleksi Huhta on vocals. The lyrics appear to be in English with 3 in, I’m guessing, their native Finnish, which doesn’t change the audible aesthetic owing to Aleksi’s rather powerful roar in either language. and while the music is most definitely death metal, there are rather good doses of doom thrown in for good measure and to change up the pace.

The album opens with the brutal “Last Echoes of Life” where an almost black metal riff structure is thrown over the heavy drumming before slowing down to a groovy beat with long slow riffs, then blasting back as the drumming picks up the pace again.

“Pyre” on the other hand has a heavy chugging guitar riff full of sustains and bends, until a loud roar drags it forward as the blast beats require the riffs to follow suit.

On “Walls”, the guitars have a choppier feel over the more midpaced drumming, while the vocals are deep roars following the melody of the guitars.

Slowing things down substantially and employing a juddering juggernaut of bass rumble, “Mustaa Hiiltä” has the vocals truly aiming for the bottom end, which works rather well with the deadpan Finnish.

The Necronomicon by any other name would still be “Lihaan Sidottu Kirja”, which has a rather playful upbeat tempo to go with the blast fills and driving guitars over the immense growls.

“Wastelands” doesn’t dally and rushes right into the groovy blast beats where the guitars churn out intense triplets of tremolo picking as the vocals approach a throaty roar.

The feel on “Unravel” is a little strange, as while the drums are playing at breakneck speed, the guitars seem to be grinding along at less than half the pace, then they switch and the fast riff is racing over the steady beat, and the process repeats having the vocals go from slow growls to higher pitched shouts.

The next song title is a misnomer as it’s certainly not “Silence”, but a rather choppy head banging number full of groove and rather easy to tap your foot to, if you’re not banging your head that is.

The shortest song on the album is “Pawns” and it packs a punch by wasting no time getting going and delivering its fury, even during the mellower bridge towards the end.

The album ends on the slower, but heavier and aptly titled “Viimeinen Rituaali” where long drawn-out growls work perfectly over the chugging guitars and crash of cymbals.

I enjoyed this album, it has the required aggression to make it a good death metal album, tempered with the slow groove of doom to keep you listening.

(8/10 Marco Gaminara)

https://www.facebook.com/RevulsionFin

https://revulsiondeath.bandcamp.com/album/self-titled-death-metal