The entire review for this could just be "AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" but you guys know I've got a serious case of wordiness so let's get this mother started. First, let's give credit where credit is due. Someone on the Pitchfork staff picked this record on their year end best of metal list and what really caught my eye was when they compared it to Dallas's Power Trip. So I found it on Spotify (scoff now but I'll redeem myself later in this here jumble of words) and, lo and behold, Pitchfork for once was not blowing smoke up my ass.
Let's talk Slayer for a second (any excuse). Any band that tries to be them has a leg up in my book. They may fail miserably but at least they fail aspiring to be the best. Here's the thing, kids, bands like Power Trip and, even more so, Foreseen kind of harken back to pre "Reign In Blood" Slayer. Maybe it's just a product of budgets but there's some sweet "Hell Awaits" reverb happening all over the place on "Helsinki Savagery". AND IT IS AWESOME. I have quite vivid memories of throwing on "Hell Awaits" for the first time and freaking the fuck out. After the rising creepiness of the backwards "join us join us" chant confused my 15 year old (and let's be honest, easily confused) brain, the slow echoe-y drums made me look this way before the fastest riff I'd ever heard made me look the other. "Hell Awaits" is 37 minutes of creepy ass metal buried in echoes and reverb. Rick Rubin would dry their sound up into the Slayer y'all know and love and for the longest time the first couple Slayer albums got pushed aside in favor of the monolith of riffs from the golden age ("Reign In Blood", "South Of Heaven", "Seasons In The Abyss"). However, lately I've been diving back into the oldies and loving them for all their unrefined dirtiness.
"Helsinki Savagery" isn't Slayer by the numbers, mind you, but it exists in the Slayer universe (Beyond just the reverb. Listen to the opening riff of "Paving The Way" and you will certainly hear "Black Magic"). However, like Power Trip, Foreseen are more crossover than thrash. Power Trip, however, lean punk rock whereas Forseen lean hardcore. I tend to bore of hardcore but Foreseen lean ever so gently (mostly through gang and Cro-Mags like vocals) and, holy shit, can they write a mosh part. If there's one thing your dear reviewer likes it's a well executed mosh part. This record is peppered with them, the first of which (on "Death Injection") sounds like it is proceeded by a hocked loogie. "You had me at hocked" is what I'm sure you are thinking. Perhaps the best thing I can say about this record is that it's a grower. Upon first listen, I was really digging the sound and pure ballsiness of it. But the more I threw it on, the more individual songs started to stand out. Look, it's possible to love albums where all songs bleed together but an album really rises up when little differences rear their head after a few listens. This listen, while writing these words down, was downright rotten in the best way. And was followed by me starting it over again (and then throwing on "Show No Mercy").
Oh, I said I'd redeem myself. Welp, I went out to Oakland a few weeks ago and met up with old Greg and Val and they took me to 1-2-3-4 Go! Records where I grabbed up a copy of this on vinyl. I mean, look at that cover. 15 year old me would have snapped it up without hearing a single riff. 44 year old me is a bit more cautious with my money but is more than willing to support a rad band and equally rad record store. Seriously, if you are in the Bay Area, go check it out. It's a more than welcome addition to my beloved Oakland. So not only does this record rule on its own merits, it also has a sweet little context within which to live. You don't need context mind you, just a love of, say it with me, THE ALMIGHTY RIFF!!!!!
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