Strangled to death after being whipped and carved with a none-too-sharp hunting knife might be an interesting experience, but being raped before and after that really is an once-in-a-lifetime experience. Add to this being desecrated as a religious person and picture these happy thoughts in a frozen Finlandish forestscape setting and you end up with a true Impaled Nazarene attitude.

Formed in 1990 the band created their ninth full length album with “Pro Patria Finlandia”. From its beginning the energetic frontman Mika Luttinen melts his perverse thoughts into song structures. He is backed up by Jarno Anttila (Guitar since 1992), Reima Kellokoski (Drums since 1995), Mikael ‘Arkki’ Arnkil (Bass since 2000) and Tuomo Louhio (Guitar since 2003). Being creative and controversial the band claimed a solid position in the more melodious black metal scene.

“Pro Patria Finlandia” is fast paced and melodious ‘Rock & Roll’ black metal. As with Impaled Nazarenes earlier creations, the album is dominated by loads of blast beats.

This gets a bit boring after a few songs and because of this I guess I won’t listen to the album very often. There are also a load of positive aspects though; the hateful and filthy vocals give the music an aggressive touch. Whipping guitar riffs and chaotic Slayerlike guitarsolos create a mad and despairing atmosphere. Total respect for Impaled Nazarene, who manage to arouse this mad frenzy album after album.

Performed live this isn’t very different. Since one of the “Pro Patria Finlandia” promoting concerts of the European Take Over tour was several hundred meters from where I live, I gave no second thought and went into massacre. As suspected, live the band is as arousing and angry (and boring after several songs) as on studio albums.

“Pro Patria Finlandia” is blasting melodious black metal with an attitude. It gets boring after a while, though this doesn’t last long because of the short playing time.