Review Summary: Stomach auscultations in C minor.
The expression "It's never too late" gains a whole new dimension when applied to Finland's death metal seasoned veterans Festerday. Thirty years after their first inception as a band called Cardinal, and following a long stream of demos, EPs, reunions and workarounds, the band fronted by the cadaveric voice of Kena Stromsholm finally presents their first full length through Season of Mist, the cryptically titled
Iihtallan.
Sporting an unexpected modern production,
Iihtallan spits on the rotten well of wishes of old school death metal without complacencies. They know their trade and they execute it with unwavering sovereignty. On the other hand, the band don't shy away when they feel like incorporating other styles like punk or black metal into their broth. Songs like "Control Not Your Soul" and "Gravelove" ride on a galloping beat while drum blasts and diabolic picked tremolos plague tracks like "Flowers of Bones" or furious closer "Let Me Entertain Your Entrails Pt. 1" (the second part being a well deserved desert). The versatile voice of Stromsholm reaches severely pungent depths at times, growling and regurgitating themes not apt for lunch time.
For an album that embraces such romantic titles like "Edible Excrement" or "Your Saliva My Vagina", the music that conveys these words of wisdom rarely goes to such extremes. Festerday's style is surprisingly straightforward. Forget about exuberances like sax, keys or synths, because
Iihtallan has none of that. Instead, the album offers the result of eternal sessions of garage practice to produce a cohesive and effective brand of death metal that would had found its throne next to names like Morbid Angel or Obituary, had it been released at the time where it seems to belong.
This doesn't mean
Iihtallan feels out of place in 2019, in fact, Festerday's long overdue debut sounds as relevant as any other contemporary act, although those looking for the holy grail of the genre won't find it here. What you will find though is a bountiful amount of incendiary riffs and sinister melodies led by the demented screams of an absolute madman. With sixteen tracks and a very affordable running time, the race is on for extreme metal this year and Festerday have got a pretty decent head start.
