Convulse, Inner Evil Ep

It’s been nearly 20 years since Finland’s Convulse last set foot in a recording studio. And this two-track EP absolutely sounds like it. Inner Evil was recorded completely in analog and it’s undeniably old school in every sense. From the raw production to the lurching, buzzing riffs, it’s hard to believe this doomy monstrosity is only two songs long and was recorded in the Fall of 2012.

Featuring three of the founding members — Rami Jämsä (guitar, growls), Juha Telenius (bass) and Kristian Kangasniemi (guitar) as well as Rolle Markos on drums — Inner Evil couldn’t be any better titled. The doomy, sludgy death on these two tracks is straight out of the early 1990s.

The title tracks is a beast of a song, marching across your skull like a herd of undead elephants driven by the unholy legion of the damned. It’s a song packed with lurching riffs, barbaric drum work and vocals straight out of Hell’s gutters. The overall feel of the EP is that of evil and malevolence. Yet, both songs have an infectious bit of groove that permeates the buzz-sawing hum of destruction.

“God is Delusion” starts off with light, mood setting acoustic guitar before a massive roll of drums and driving riffs erupt, shattering your happy little world. The song is bruising and has a decent groove as it plunders and plods along jumping from a galloping clip to a festering crawl. It’s probably the more dynamic of the two tracks.

All in all, this EP does exactly what it needs to do, especially when you consider Inner Evil is the first new material from Convulse in two decades. Hearing these two songs not only whets the appetite for the band’s latest full-length (due out this coming Autumn), but it also goes to show you just there’s not need to teach old dogs new tricks — they know exactly what the fuck they are doing.