It’s quite strange how you can sometimes discover new bands in the swarming underground. I remember buying CACODAEMON LP from Exh Goetie then being interested by a side project called DEATH THRASHERS KUOPIO and later by trading stuff I got this demo of finnish HELLSPIRIT: good old fucking thrash. To be honest I don’t know more thrash metal bands coming from Finland but Juha Noisehunter can assure you there are many more acts that deserved to be heard. Here are some of his words.
-Greetings mister J. Noisehunter, what’s up in your land of ice and depression? Hope you are in good mood to answer this intie? Please introduce us to your new band HELLSPIRIT.
“Hello Jim, thanks for giving us some space in your dirty pages. I’m little tired here as I just came back from work and haven’t slept too much for the last few nights. There was going to be a Korrozia Metalla gig next weekend but it was cancelled due to trouble with Spider’s passport. Fuck that shit. I’d love to see ‘em live! Let’s go shake shake! I guess I still manage to go on with the intie without any trouble so let’s go!
To be honest, it’s quite hard to tell something about a band you play in. I mean, this far there’s no single riff that wasn’t done by Baron Dethrone (Guitar & vox) or Goat (Drums). It’s all by them, I’m the guy handling the 2nd guitar and spreading the disease. Then there is an alcoholic tormentor called Torment on bass. As you can see, HELLSPIRIT is an incarnation of four evil spirits in flesh and blood playing some sort of mix of all Metal we like. We have Heavy, Death, Black, Thrash and even some doomy parts.
This far we have only played a couple of gigs and recorded one demo. 1st gig was last summer with CACODAEMON, NAILGUNNER, URN and MALICIOUS DEATH here in Kuopio. 2nd one was with NIFELHEIM (Swe) and URN in VANTAA last January.
The demo was done with 3-piece line-up. The guys started recording it the week I joined them, so Baron Dethrone handles both guitars on the recording as I didn’t know the tracks yet.”
-You have also been a member of DEATH THRASHERS KUOPIO which used to play thrash/death metal not too far from HELLSPIRIT. Why did the band split up? Are you also involved in CACODAEMON? It seems that there is a link between the three bands, am I right?
“Yes, that’s correct, I used the play in D.T.K. before I joined HELLSPIRIT. But I can’t find a lot of similarities between D.T.K. and HELLSPIRIT. D.T.K. was, is and propably will be the only true horde of Death Thrash Metal in Kuopio area. Other hordes play, D.T.K. kills! Sadly we broke up, because of lack of suitable drummer, who is, was and will be Cruciatus, the evil mastermind behind CACODAEMON. There’s no-one else who could handle the drums in D.T.K. than him. He is dedicated to the underground Metal, extremely innovative and not that skilled, in all good means! He lost his interest for some time due to too much rehearsing I guess. We tried another drummer but it didn’t work at all, the band was dead, it didn’t sound like D.T.K. at all. So, we just thought to end it up and let it be like everyone remembered the band from gigs and recordings and another happenings, insane! That was the only good thing left to do at the moment I guess. So, the connection is that we all know each other and some of us spend some time playing, boozing and stuff like that together.”
-Your demo 2005 is described as old school morbid metal. I think it sounds old school thrash metal mixed with old school black metal touches. I feel influences of early SLAYER, NECRODEATH, HELLHAMMER/CELTIC FROST, old BATHORY… Are there any other influences you would mention?
“Heh, that was just a brainfart while thinking some good phrase to describe the stuff. IMO, it is good (but not necessary though) to have at least something told about the band or style. And what would suite us better than that? There is the morbid feeling that bands like SLAYER, SAMAEL, POSSESSED, BEHERIT, MORBID ANGEL, ROTTING CHRIST etc. used to once have. Also it’s stylewise old sounding and definitely Metal by all means! Everyone in the band apart me are also a lot into W.A.S.P. so it must be there as well. VENOM and TÖRR are huge influence as well.”
-What is feedback concerning this demo? It’s seemed well distributed (I saw it in two French distros); which countries are really into the music of HELLSPIRIT?
“This far only positive. You can read all the reviews we have caught from various zines on our website (Latest one from your landmate Eric of Franang zine) . It’s been a lot of work to spread it like this by myself, even it’s only few hundred copies. There’s no specific countries to mention but naturally a lot of demos are here in Finland. Wondering how fucked up it was to sell even thousands of copies of a good demo tape in the 80’s and early 90’s.”
-It’s quite uncommon to play good old thrash metal in Finland, I mean your country is well known for death metal ( DEMIGOD, DEMILICH, FUNEBRE, SLUGATHOR etc…) or black metal (CLANDESTINE BLAZE, SATANIC WARMASTER, BEHEXEN, IMPALED NAZARENE, HORNA etc…). There must be more thrash metal bands; can you name some, as I only know NAILGUNNER?
“Uncommon? Not at all. We have a new generation of Thrash Metal here in Finland. Actually, it’s first time ever we actually have some good Thrash and Speed Metal bands in this damn country! Forget all the ones who failed in the 80’s and early 90’s. Just grab yourself the “Metal on Metal – Finnish underground Metal compilation” CD and start learning. You’ll find there JUMALATION, MALICIOUS DEATH, PYÖVELI (THE BEST!!), also the best recordings with D.T.K.. Then there is a lot of bands who play more modern kind of Thrash. I mean it’s like a fucking pest. If I could gather it all to a one big pile, I’d piss on it. Actually, year or two ago I was planning a t-shirt “The Haunted made me do it” where I’d be pissing on their CD haha! I found out that their music is not even worth to piss on so it never happened.”
-We can witness a kind of retro thrash revival in Europe with bands such as OPPRESSION, CORRUPT, NOCTURNAL, CHAINSAW, INCINERATOR, etc… Do you feel concerned by these bands? What is your opinion about this modern thrash metal wave (THE HAUNTED, DARKANE, CARNAL FORGE…) adding some kind of hardcore or death influences?
“There are few jewels here and there but most is from crap to fair good stuff. I’m not a kind of maniac who worships every damn band who plays some specific type of Metal. Reason is that I don’t find it really comfortable. For example, I rather listen to radio at work than torture myself with the new VENOM or DESTRUCTION album and I can tell you that Finnish radio station are not playing Metal at all! It’s all pop and rock and all kinds of crap. I guess my views of the boring, clean sounding and lifeless modern wave are pretty clearly pointed out on the previous question. Nothing personal with any modern thrashers, however if someone got offended find my address is in the end of the interview and stop by. I’ll make you a cup of coffee and teach some real Metal!”
-According to you, if anyone wants to play real thrash metal, what (hell)spirit does one should have and what albums are essential to capture the essence of this style? And which beers are fitting the most to thrash metal?
“Hmm, maybe the best Thrash Metal would be done without influences of Thrash Metal? Well, I don’t know how anyone could resist the power and magic of SODOM “In the sign of evil” MLP and be a Thrasher, it’s simply not possible! Also early material with DEATH, POSSESSED, RUNNING WILD, KREATOR, SEPULTURA, HELLHAMMER/CELTIC FROST, RAZOR, SACRIFICE (CAN), SLAUGHTER (CAN), NASTY SAVAGE and the list could go on and on. The usual stuff you know. Of the newer shit I’d recommend VOMITOR from Australia, PYÖVELI from Finland. Some to make clear what it actually is in my opinion and some others to show the boundaries. Then some imagination and off you go. As you can see I go for the raw stuff. I don’t find bands like VIO-LENCE, DEATH ANGEL, TANKARD, NUCLEAR ASSAULT etc. good at all. I can’t stand ‘em. Same goes for almost all the 80’s FIN Thrash groups. Beer is not that important, any brand that get’s you drunk and doesn’t taste like piss is fine.”
-What can we expect from HELLSPIRIT in the coming months? Will you release something new, tape (like you did on Iron Fist Kommando productions for DEATH THRASHERS KUOPIO), EP, LP or whatever?
“At least we have scheduled some few days for recordings of a 2nd demo for July. So if all goes well, it’s only about 3 months until it’s available. It will most likely include 4 tracks and intro on CD-R format.
There has been a lot of labels in contact for releasing the 1st demo on tape format but this far we have refused all the offers mostly because we are able to release DIY-stuff ourselves if we like and as you can see the spreading is no problem at all. It’s all about yourself. You just need to push it. The CD-R is and will be available as long as someone wants to have it. We have no reason to limit our demos.
Don’t know if it’s true but it seems that there’s been some problems with Iron Fist Kommando lately. Quite a bounch of rumours tell that Roberto has been ripping off people to release VOMITOR “Bleeding the priest” CD without the band’s permission.”
-Recently, your compatriots of IMPALED NAZARENE were forbidden to play a gig in France (in Amnéville) because of cock sucking catholics who were offended by the band’s name & depraving influence! Fuck, we’re in the 21st century and shit like this still happened, what’s your view on this? Did you get similar troubles in Finland?
“Angry, neurotic catholics! IMPALED NAZARENE did have some other gigs in France so everyone had a change to see them there even one of the gigs was cancelled. So, the catholics failed. They are afraid to loose some souls to the devil himself. Gladly we have no such wankers boycotting us here in Finland though.
-What are you listening to you while answering my questions? Is there anything you would recommend and on the contrary we should avoid?
“I have been playing POSSESSED “Seven churches” LP for 3 times in a row while answering, eating, shitting, feeding my cats and again answering. Before that one, I had POWERLORD “The awakening” MLP on my turntable. Some damn fine Metal like KOROZZIA METALLA’s “Kannibal” LP which is next on the line.”
-This interview will be read mostly by french people; what do you know from our country (bands, zines, wines…)? What do you hate from us?
“Heh! To be honest, I don’t know much about french culture or France all in all. Some cities by name and few sightseeings. Did you know we finns call you ”patonginpurijat” It turns out to be something like eaters of the french bread. Heh, sounds stupid? I guess so. Also I remember some old movie with a French maniac playing harmonica wearing tight black/white striped shirt. He had a huge moustache and some cheese and wine with him. That was some hilarious shit… There’s some good French Metal I know, some better some not that well but at least heard something of them: DEMON EYES, early ADX, AGRESSOR up to their debut LP, DEATHSPELL OMEGA etc.. Also I’m eagerly waiting to grab some H-BOMB, HIGH POWER, SORTILEGE etc. old French Metal on vinyl and see if they are worth to keep in use. Franang zine of course and Drakkar Productions, Exh Goetie and some other distributors/labels. If there is something to hate I guess that must be the catholic wankers then. Oh, and the boss of Torment back in time when he was working in France. Now he was a real wanker too!”
-J. Noisehunter, thanks fucking much for taking the time to answer this small interview. Until the next chat; evil luck to you and HELLSPIRIT, if you have any final words, let’s threaten!
“No probs Jim. It was a pleasure. Keep up the spirit of hell and have a helluva summer!
Anyone who is interested to check out HELLSPIRIT can e-mail/snailmail us for a demo CD-R. Price 3.00 Euros á including w.w. shipping. Distributors ask for wholesale prices. Trades possible too!! For the poor, out of the job internet nerds I recommend checking the local warezhellhole, but remember, from there you MIGHT but from us you WILL find it.
All the DEATH THRASHERS KUOPIO material and the “Metal on metal” compilation CD is still available from me as well.”
J. Vainikainen
Saarijarventie 5 c 47
70460 Kuopio
Finland
Hellspirit_@hotmail.com
http://hellspirit.dy.fi/
http://www.mikseri.net/hellspirit
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