What force in the inner core of man gives birth to death metal impulse? Is it fear, hatred, obstinence, passion, paranoia, vision or celebration of power? “Rippikoulu” is Finnish for “confirmation school”, which is an institution partaken by Finnish teenagers in order to be educated in the rituals and tenets of the Lutheran church. Celebrated usually in a camp away from the city and the participants’ homes, it ironically has a habit of devolving into a minor orgy of sin while the sole motivation of attendance for most is the hope of the meager sums of money elderly relatives usually bestow upon one, after the confirmation. When small town death metal cults produced their blasphemic demo output, it’s not far-fetched to say that it was this kind of absurd experiences with organized religion that led them to deny and spontaneously analyze the hypocritical, indoctrinating social customs that lead a child or a man to accept Christ for the sake of community and convenience, while at the same time materialistically mocking the values of the spiritual tradition.
Valkeakoski was another boring town even by Finnish standards which used to smell like feces because of the paper industry, an example of climate perfect for original death metal. At surface, the most notable characteristic of Rippikoulu was their use of Finnish language for invocation, which has often been abused but at the right hands and in the right mouth withholds the tremendous syllabic power feared by Nordic warriors since the Bronze Age, as recounted in Kalevalan mythos. The stupendous music of Rippikoulu’s two demos, “Mutaation Aiheuttama Sisäinen Mätäneminen” (“internal rotting by mutation”) and “Musta Seremonia” (“black ceremony”), bridge the grindcore influenced ecstatic physicality of Xysma with earthen, suffocated sludge in contorted, space-and-time stretching rhythmic dynamicism reminiscent of Winter‘s and diSEMBOWELMENT‘s most psychedelic lapses. It gives the impression of a blind, tormented prophet shouting fragmented glimpses of pure vision to the darkened, apocalyptic world with barely any ears left to listen to human voice amidst the collapse of industrial infrastructure. In the slow, emotional leads one could hear Paradise Lost, but in its warlike sparseness and logic, even nihilism, it’s something closer to the most doomed moments of Bolt Thrower’s “War Master” while the almost ridiculously disembodied parody of gloomy gothic organ in “Musta Seremonia” brings to mind Unholy‘s drugged haze; Faustian sorrow and blasphemous sense of humor united in one single strangely reverent and innocent package which is without question another forgotten jewel of the olden Finnish death metal scene.
Wow, man! Where are you finding this materials? Really i love mix between death metal and doom metal. That’s amazing! And I love new site design
Comment by PoD-Stas — May 24, 2010 @ 12:50
I am lucky to know Finns who still have quite an extensive collection of this era, even though very few of these bands were appreciated at all in their time. 90% of audience listened to only Carcass, Amorphis, Bolt Thrower etc.
Thanks for the compliments!
Comment by Devamitra — May 25, 2010 @ 08:05
Honestly, I’m not really feeling this one. Maybe I’ve just overdosed on Finnish death metal, but I’m having a hard time enjoying any of the really obscure Finnish bands like this one, Disgrace, or Mordicus as much as the established classics of Amorphis, Demilich, and Demigod. Your overview has convinced me to give this little EP a few more listens however.
Comment by the goddamn batman — May 27, 2010 @ 01:56
You seem to prefer the melodic end of the scale, despite the convoluted arrangements of Demilich et al. These lower tier bands are much simpler, doom/grind based, murky low end atmosphere attack.
Comment by Devamitra — May 27, 2010 @ 07:31
Can any Finns enlighten me as to how the band name is pronounced?
Comment by newdarkages — May 28, 2010 @ 03:59
You didn’t specify but I assume you are an English speaker? ‘Rip’ as in English ‘rip’ except with the Scandinavian rolled ‘r’. ‘Pi’ as in ‘Pinochet’, ‘kou’ as in ‘cold’, ‘lu’ as in ‘Lou’. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1YH10af96o – 0:13
Comment by Devamitra — May 28, 2010 @ 08:21
[...] a tempo-flipping contrast between Doom and Grind much like the forte of Finnish cult classic Rippikoulu, except lacking for one thing: intricate melody. Without it, the maiming down tuned web of chords [...]
Pingback by September 30th – October 2nd, 2010 – Sadistic Demigod Ritual « DeathMetal.Org — January 4, 2011 @ 04:24
[...] county were heavily influenced by punk and thrash especially in anti-authoritarian spirit: Rippikoulu, Convulse, Purtenance and Lubricant. A counterpart were the quasi-Byronian melancholic poets of [...]
Pingback by Forgotten Death Cults from Finland: an Overview « DeathMetal.Org — June 26, 2011 @ 12:58