The most Swedish noise-rock of today comes, surprisingly, from Finland.
The vivid images of decadence portrayed in SLUSSENANALYS’ lyrics are rich in biblical symbolism and existential pondering. The words are set tomusic that evokes the hopeless frenzy and uneven hobbling of a hobo with a law-enforcement bullet lodged in his leg. Vocalist/lyricist Esko Lönnberg paints a bleak-yet-poetic picture of a Stockholm with no light and no future, while the band behind him conjures a rocking wall of noise that leans towards the Chicago of the ‘80s. It is a picture of a city in which an immigrant child with a broken home is predestined to spend his days either on the street or behind bars, his nights filled with the sounds of shattering storefronts and the barking of police dogs, ever closer and closer.
The future seems dark for all involved in the stories of SLUSSENANALYS’ Aquila Helvetos Asfaltos. Despite all the despair and low expectations for a better tomorrow, the songs manage to find nobility among human wreckage and hope in the dark shadows of the gray concrete cubes that line the streets of an urban maze of alcoholics and addicts. SLUSSENANALYS aims to reverse the seemingly unending downward spiral of life, to rise above the suffocating smog and to bask in the light of pure inspiration.
Aquila Helvetos Asfaltos first appeared in 2011 when EKTRO RECORDS and SVART RECORDS teamed up to penetrate the markets of Finland’s neighbouring country with a limited, vinyl-only product too surprising and uncompromising to surrender itself to the mercy of commercial analysis. Now, in May 2013, the album finally receives its belated official release as EKTRO RECORDS sets it loose on CD, expanded with a non-album bonus track and three lengthy and punishing lo-if improvisations that originally appeared on the band’s long-gone eponymous debut cassette.
Full tracklisting for SLUSSENANALYS’ Aquila Helvetos Asfaltos
1) Djävulens ulv
2) Ruttet ägg
3) Stelnad blick
4) Asfaltörn
5) De förklonade
6) Kung för världen
7) Levande maskin
8) Himlen mot helvete
9) Brinnande spjutspets
10) Tomma skallar
11) Var var jag
12) Liemannen
13) En promenad med den lurvige
14) Sen lektion I att Le
15) Slussarna släpper – Insmickrande
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THE KOLMAS’ Kolmas Testi is the challenging solo work of Veli-Matti “Läjä” Äijälä. A prodigy of Finnish experimental music, Äijälä (b. 1958, the mastermind behind the bands Terveet Kädet, Death Trip, Aavikon Kone ja Moottori, Billy Boys, The Sultans, and The Leo Bugariloves) kicked off his pioneering project, THE KOLMAS, in the late 1970s. Combining early synthesizers and drum machines to create monotonic and primitive electronic music, THE KOLMAS is driven by a compulsion to transform nonexistent realms into highly idiosyncratic and personal art. The music compiled especially for Kolmas Testi presents timeless music from over the years. Recorded live in front of a small audience of devotees in a hot garage in Tornioin the early 1980s, as well as in various incarnations of IKBAL Studios in cities all over Finland, the album covers three decades of uncompromising vision. Ultimately, the inspiringly organic and mechanical production in the album serves as a vehicle for the artist’s quest for silence and peace of mind.
Full tracklisting for THE KOLMAS’ Kolmas Testi
1) Intro
2) Puolet paavia
3) Puolet paavia 2
4) Viisi osaa 1
5) Viisi osaa 2
6) Viisi osaa the kolmas
7) Viisi osaa 4
8) Viisi osaa 5
9) Optimum 8
10) Kolmastesti
11) Energia
12) Manuaaliajo
13) Valvomo
14) Automaattiajo
15) Robotin työalue
16) Ohjaus-sisältö
17) Murskaamo