1) Kulje vasten; 2) Neljäs valtakunta; 3) Metallipurkaus; 4) Kuu; 5) Veljeskunta; 6) Rytmitehdas; 7) Helvetin hyvä paimen; 8) Vaskiperse; 9) Ääni ja vimma; 10) Tanssitauti; 11) Kätketty kukka; 12) Enteitä; 13) Täynnä naisia; 14) Tulikiveä; 2002 Gold Edition Bonus Tracks: Tanssitauti EP (1990): 15) "Matti"; 16) Tanssin jumala; 17) Hän on tullut; 18) Pimeä maa; 19) Pornogeneraattori; Musiikin ystävälliset kasvot EP (1991): 20) Musiikin ystävälliset kasvot; 21) Vieraita avaruudesta (I); 22) Polyhymnia; 23) Vieraita avaruudesta (II)
A new line-up arrives with a desire for a new sound. Not quite there yet, but close.
Key tracks: "Veljeskunta", Helvetin hyvä paimen, Kätketty kukka
Veljeskunta brings with it a few shake-ups to the CMX story. One is that after a few guitarist shake-ups the band now features both Timo Rasio and Janne Halmkrona, fixing in place the band's double-guitarist format with the two axemen that would continue with the band for the decades to come. The other, somewhat relatedly, is a change in sound. The band's crooked idea of punk had ran its course and inspired by the addition of fresh blood in their ranks and their respective skillsets, the band decided it was time for a change. A firm change, as well: Veljeskunta would turn out to be CMX's last album on Bad Vugum, and there's a great anecdote about the label head having a chat with the band after the release of the record and the subsequent Musiikin ystävälliset kasvot EP, and how he had started to feel the band was getting a little too commercial for the label.
The familiar zeal and fury of Kolmikärki is well and present on Veljeskunta but CMX have, indeed, largely given up the old punk aesthetics in favour of other ideas. Calling this close to mainstream is a reach, but it's inarguable that the band is moving to a more digestible direction compared to their first EPs and album, including a couple of attempts at more direct alternative rock cuts which would comfortably slot in many of the band's later albums: “Kätketty kukka” unofficially sets the blueprint for many CMX radio singles to come and A.W. Yrjänä’s more dissonant chorus vocals come across as an intentional attempt to tone that friendliness down, and “Helvetin hyvä paimen” shifts to an acoustic gear while retaining the angular nature of the record, and it sounds closer to classic CMX than the acoustic experiments on Kolmikärki. Other, similarly non-abrasive influences are starting to also come through more audibly - there's more keyboards and in particular the atmospheric closer "Tulikiveä" leans on them entirely, and "Täynnä naisia" has a clear hint of early R.E.M. to its swing. Alongside these is a scattered number of wildly varied pieces which are least awkwardly described as post-punk, with the band’s hardcore past making cameos at best even when the throttle pedal is pushed all the way down. Veljeskunta is a transitional record where the band are flexing new ideas and throwing out suggestions of new ideas to intake, and like so many transitional albums it's a little unfocused, slightly overlong and somewhat chaotic.
That means that overall Veljeskunta is where the pieces start clicking in place, but the wider picture is still being sketched and we’re only getting excerpts of something greater. You can hear the potential, most vividly in the excellent middle section run, featuring the gothic post-punk of the title track with Kikke Heikkinen’s manic backing vocals, the steady and solid “Rytmitehdas” and “Tanssitauti” which remind me of the similarly chaotic enthusiasm of Manic Street Preachers’ very early years, “Vaskiperse” and “Ääni ja vimma” with their bizarre but exhilaratingly contrasting surprises thrown in (the car chase soundtrack breakdown complete with a ridiculous MIDI horn section on the former, the wild backing vocals on the latter), and the aforementioned "Helvetin hyvä paimen" and "Kätketty kukka". After a relatively stiff and somewhat forgettable start, that central third is the album’s peak where its energy, brutality, melody and sense of humour (still intact from the debut, wonderfully) are in perfect balance; the same pace carries through to the album's end, but by that point the 14-track length is starting to show its length. Veljeskunta isn’t a long album - only 38 minutes - but it doesn't quite justify the amount of songs it has, because while it's got its strengths none of its songs are so good they'd carry the album. Veljeskunta is an acquaintance you see every couple of years and you enjoy spending time with when they do turn up, but who you don't really think about in the meantime and you've never felt a connection with to consider a friend. Maybe if it had been condensed into a tight ten-track movement (probably without the first four tracks, all of which are rather superfluous and starts the record off on the wrong note), we could be talking about a breakthrough record. It’s on the verge though, waiting for a nudge, and the band wouldn’t take too long to make that leap.
The 2002 “Gold” re-release of the record adds in the album’s surrounding EPs as the bonus tracks and they very much equal the main album in interest, giving the listener a sense of chronology and development in action as they fill in the gaps in the story. 1990’s Tanssitauti EP is the bridge between Kolmikärki and the band’s then-established hardcore punk sound, treating the listener to three snappy punk cuts (most famously the originally untitled but now officially nicknamed “Matti” which has become a fan favourite due to its brutally dark humour), glued together by two songs hinting at the wider sonic experimentation of Veljeskunta. The hysterical “Tanssin jumala”, with a piano section that sounds like an early 90s house piano approximated through the Sega MegaDrive soundboard and it's the best song on the EP, and the gothic gloom of “Pimeä maa" comes close in its bold, booming presence.
But out of the two EPs, Musiikin ystävälliset kasvot is the one to really pay attention to. Prior to its original release Bad Vugum objected to its direction (see also the anecdote from the beginning of this review) and they cropped it to a two-song single release with the title track and the second "Vieraita avaruudesta". The Gold edition restores it in its originally intended four-track form, and you can hear why the proudly confrontational label was starting to think it was time for the band to move on. The entire EP has a heightened sense of melody compared to anything that the band had released before, and more adventurous arrangements and deeper songwriting are starting to regularise in their output. The first "Vieraita avaruudesta" has a brilliant bridge section that feels practically revelatory after such sections being glaringly absent from the last two albums, the second one moves the song into slower and darker waters with a heavy, processed sound (and a wonderfully crunchy bass) that acts as CMX's first attempt at using the recording studio as another instrument layer of its own, and the stripped down "Polyhymnia" breaks through its distorted chords with some actual beauty. The title track is a bonafide CMX anthem and absolutely the best song of their Bad Vugum years: a distinct lead guitar part that hooks instantly, the Kalevala-reminiscent lyrical meter in the verse that gives the vocals an eccentric but captivating melody, and the whole concoction thrashes through with a near-metal stomp under its feet. The whole EP is unmistakenly, thoroughly CMX and it's the starting line for the rest of their catalogue.
I'd probably give Veljeskunta itself a solid, positively leaning 6/10 but this is definitely one release where the extras go above and beyond adding value to the whole package. Knowing these EPs and especially Musiikin ystävälliset kasvot are essential to any CMX fan from a historical and from a pure song quality perspective, and so the final 7/10 really is for the entire 23-song package.
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