Finland's masters of punk infused black metal are back with their latest platter of Satanic & war splattered blasphemy, Manifest. If you thought 2006's Pro Patria Finlandia took this band to new levels of extremity, you ain't heard nothing yet. Manifest jumps right out of the gate with manic intensity, the band coming across like classic Motorhead had Lemmy & the boys ever decided to take a stab at black metal. Tracks like "The Calling" (check out the ripping lead guitar work on this one!), "Mushroom Truth", "Funeral For Despicable Pigs", "Die Insane", and "Planet Nazarene" all rage along at Mach 10 speed, with blast beats blasting, guitar riffs motoring, and some of the most ravaged, hate spewing vocals (courtesy of Slutifer) that you will ever hear.
On the down side, at 50 minutes and 16 songs, Manifest kind of wears out its welcome about 3/4 of the way through, as too many of the tracks follow the same level of intensity and tone. Also, some of the lyrics are borderline cheesey ("The Antichrist Files", "You Don't Rock Hard", and "When Violence Commands The Day" come to mind instantly) making it hard to take some of these songs seriously. Overall though there's some solid stuff here, and while Manifest might not be the best Impaled Nazarene album yet, there are a handful of tracks on this one that represent some of the best black metal that Finland has to offer.
Track Listing
- Intro – Greater Wrath
- The Antichrist Files
- Mushroom Truth
- You Don't Rock Hard
- Pathogen
- Pandemia
- The Calling
- Funeral For Despicable Pigs
- Planet Nazarene
- Blueprint For Your Culture's Apocalypse
- Goat Justice
- Die Insane
- Original Pig Rig
- Suicide Song
- When Violence Commands The Day
- Dead Return