Review by Rosh on March 30, 2022.

I'm not exactly sure how many times I have, in some fashion, made nods to Finnish death metal in my reviews so far, but I'm aware that I do it pretty often. The Finnish scene's early output is fascinating for a multitude of reasons, but the biggest one might be that it comes off as a "culmination" of the cutting-edge extremity heard at the end of the 80's. A lot of the country's most influential efforts could only have come from Finland, but previous entries in the death metal and grindcore genres from the American and especially the British bands were definitely the direct inspiration for this monumentally bizarre style. Abhorrence from Helsinki were one of the first to bring death metal to the far reaches of Scandinavia, but Nokia's Purtenance (Avulsion) were pretty damn early to the show as well. The demo material of both bands are, for all intents and purposes, relevant listening for anyone interested in early deathgrind, but the Nokia band was not quite as deadly as Abhorrence was with "Vulgar Necrolatry". In 1991, however, Purtenance realized their potential on the Crown Waits The Immortal EP, which is definitely their best release despite being very brief. Two essential, scene-shaping death metal songs is all you need to make an ultimate statement, and it does in fact pair nicely with Abhorrence's self-titled EP from earlier that year.

Member Of Immortal Damnation is Purtenance's debut full-length album, released the following year, and it's a step down from the EP due to its relative inconsistency. It's a logical enough step forward, a satisfying enough full-length release for anyone who's heard Purtenance's catalog up to this point, but it's strangely back-loaded and doesn't really get going until after the second instrumental like you'd want a death metal full-length to. The album intro is very dream-like and conjures up the cryptic side of the imagination just as much as the cover art, but the entire first half of 'Black Vision' just continues the tone of the intro which really delays any momentum here. This section is similar sounding to a lot of what the Swedish band Gorement would later do on The Ending Quest, which would normally be awesome, but placed here on the album, it's just very ineffective and dull. The second half of this song as well as the banger of a track 'Deep Blue Darkness' re-introduces the more devastating Purtenance we knew and enjoyed from the EP, but it's not really a successful buildup despite this 6-and-a-half minute stretch being very enjoyable itself. Given the intro, 'Black Vision' had no reason to surpass the 3-minute mark, and worse yet, there's a pointless acoustic track that would've contributed more to an NWOBHM album than something like this. It's very out of place here, and unlike Funebre's comparable interlude, "Spirits Bewail", it doesn't set any atmosphere.

Side A is not entirely a bust, however. In addition to the second half of 'Black Vision' and all of 'Deep Blue Darkness' making their appreciated contribution, 'The Lost Memories' is a very likable, mid-to-slow tempo, but still riff-driven cut, one that is a bit similarly paced to songs like "Profane Creation" by Bolt Thrower. We then get a decent re-recording of 'A Dark Cloud Arises' from the EP and at the very end of the album, 'Crown Waits The Immortal', neither of which sound as hard-hitting and outstandingly raw as their 1991 counterparts. This isn't all that disappointing, however, considering they're still competent renditions of two fantastic songs and are at any rate the best material featured on Member Of Immortal Damnation. 'A Dark Cloud Arises' succeeds at switching to dirgey death metal midway through, which is hard to pull off and it's something that makes this a classic Finndeath song, as does the memorable, grindcore-leaning attack of the other re-recorded track. "Cowboys From Hell" riffs, however, like the one heard at the beginning of 'In The Misty Morning', do not contribute to quality Finndeath - the inclusion of a groove metal motif in this otherwise great song is extremely perplexing and even hilarious.

Another one of Purtenance's best songs is 'Reality Isn't Disappeared'. I think I initially listened to this song more because of the grammatical error in the title, but it is truly an empathetic, moving death metal piece, proving that this band is more than capable of building up to emotional release, and this leads me to my concluding thoughts on this band: they're a class act and I really like them. In no way were they inherently weaker songwriters or musicians than their contemporaries; they just hadn't found themselves quite as much as slightly more well-recognized Finnish pioneers, and that actually makes this release resonate with me a fair bit despite its songwriting shortcomings. Moreover, the sound itself is actually really enjoyable; most of the riffs find their mark due to the excessively dirty yet still naturally overdriven guitar sound, the deep growls are soaked in some reverb but don't rely too heavily on it, and the pummeling percussion is this band's greatest strength, actually outdoing anyone else in Finnish death metal for my money.

Purtenance's Member Of Immortal Damnation is a key example of a flawed classic, but a classic nonetheless, one that really appeals to me. 20 years later, the band did reform with some original members still in the fold and has been prolific since then, offering a lot of sincere and faithful Finndeath with slight updates. Their older work definitely stands on its own, however, and as far as full-length albums go, their debut is in my second tier of death metal favorites, which is actually still really high up there. It might climb its way up there for you too, if you'd like to dig deeper into the Finnish scene and want something that, in many ways, epitomizes the distinct style.

Rating: 9.2 out of 10