Celebrating their 35th anniversary this year, Finnish hardcore punk mob Terveet Kadet have release their 11th studio album, Lapin Helvetti [“The Hell of Lapland”] (Svart). In it, the band – founding member Veli-Matti “Läjä” Äijälä (vocals) plus Ilari (guitar), Jani (bass) and Aki (drums) deliver 18 short sharp shocks of raw aggression in a record just 20 minutes long.
Though primarily a band known for aggression, Terveet Kadet show off all that is great about punk. The riffs are simple but effective, and Ilari isn’t afraid of a catchy hook occasionally without ever losing any of that raw energy they sound so good at harnessing. ‘Elämälle Vieraita piireteitä’ almost strays into black/death metal territory, ‘Ruumiiseen Sidouttu’ shows off some classic three chord stuff, while ‘Luonto Kutsuu’ is a super catchy up-tempo rocker.
It’s hard to pick favourite or even keep at up at times, the blink and you’ll miss approach to song writing adds a sense of urgency to proceedings. My Finnish being a little rusty, Läjä’s lyrics go over my head – apparently the songs are “filled with 18 tales about the fear of death, estrangement, human frailty and illnesses of the mind” – but judging from his delivery it’s not a stretch to say he sound angry and probably a little bit unhinged as he screams and barks his way through the album.
All this might not be particularly original – Punk is up there with Thrash when it comes to lacking of originality or innovation – but that fact that tracks rarely last longer than a minute ensure none of them outstay their welcome. If you like punk, you will like Lapin Helvetti, there’s no real two ways about it. For a band more than 30 years and 10 albums into their career, Terveet Kadet do a good job of showing groups half their age how punk should look and sound.
8.0/10
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DAN SWINHOE