This Is Your Chance To Get It On With An Unsung Post-Punk Cult-Classic
It’s not like this blog hasn’t featured post-punk earlier. It’s doom-and-gloom is even a natural fit for many of your appetites, so here we are, with a classic you have not yet enjoyed.
Musta Paraati was a Finnish post-punk/goth rock band found in 1981 when bassist Panda Nikander and vocalist/guitarist Jore Vastelin wanted to find a band where they could draw influence from all the music they liked, as opposed to the more strictly punk approach of their previous groups. After Jore’s now cult-group Nolla Nolla Nolla broke up the following year, it’s drummer Ykä Knuutila joined Musta Paraati and a more stable line-up began to form. First show, record deal and the Romanssi single with synth-player Jari Kääriäinen followed in quick succession before guitarist Saku Paasiniemi joined so Vastelin could focus on singing.
The gloomy and rugged sound of the debut, courtesy of Jimi Sumen, with it’s hints of industrial influence and scenery – the slow, suffocating rock that never becomes too dismal or dreary – Vastelin’s manic lyrics of death, violent emotions and horror-romance, none of it has lot a bit of it’s bite, and Peilitalossa barely sounds aged at all. While an entire aspect of the music is helplessly lost on the majority of you, I do not think getting past unintelligible vocals should be an unimaginable problem for many of you, considering that’s all you do – this is a metal blog with focus on the more extreme fringes of the genre, after all.
Now you have been given the chance of familiarizing yourself with the record, as Cleopatra Records has kindly taken it upon themselves to re-release this masterpiece of a record both, digitally and physically. Fashioned after the 2001 CD release, it includes a plethora of bonus tracks – the band’s only ever unreleased song “Tää Hetki”, Romanssi b-side “Kädet” irritably added to the beginning, Johtaja -single, recorded with vocalist General Njassa with whom the band played the majority of their gigs as Vastelin was quick to depart after Peilitalossa’s release, as well as a bunch of tracks from their sophomore Käärmeet for some reason. Also included is the beginning of the end – Myrksy Nousee -single that saw Nikander and Paasiniemi return with an all-new lineup, that would eventually record the sophomore and dissolve soon after.
Over the years, Musta Paraati did make a few appearances – Romanssi line-up in 1987, and the classic line-up, sans Vastelin, in 1993 – for the latter’s memorial concert. Until finally in 2015 the original line-up played a few shows with Herra Ylppö – a long time fan and vocalist of Maj Karma(n Kauniit Kuvat) and Ihmiset – and released two new tracks on the Uusi Musta ep. That particular line-up apparently still exists, as does an album’s worth of material that may or may not be released if and when Ylppö’s schedule with his other bands yields. In the meanwhile, Musta Paraati has tagged Jyrki 69 of The 69 Eyes – who was also in part responsible for the Cleopatra signing – to release Black Parade, an album of new, original English-sung material. But more on that later, for now you should be able to spend several hours digging through Peilitalossa, and it’s members’ affiliated bands.
