DISGRACE
Grey Misery

If we take a look back at the very dark past of the birth of Finnish death metal, Disgrace was one of the originators among bands like Abhorrence, Belial, Xysma, Beherit, Funebre, etc. The late '80s were days of active tape trading, playing gigs wherever possible—mostly in local youth centers—and creating new music out of sheer frustration. Was it the geographical location of Finland, with its long winters and absence of light, that gave Finnish death metal that extra feeling of gloom and darkness? Even though you can hear some sort of “trademark” sound that comes to Finnish bands, the scene was vital in those days, and everyone was doing their own thing.

Disgrace recorded their first demo in 1989, which has been buried in time and dust. Luckily, their "Beyond the Immortalized Existence" and "Inside the Labyrinth of Depression" demos—both recorded in 1990—and the "Debts of God" EP (1990) have survived and are compiled into the "1990" release, which is now available again in a limited edition of 500 vinyl copies. These demos and EP document Disgrace at their most brutal and primitive, yet young and bloodthirsty. This is true grinding and murky death metal where you can hear influences from fellow bands like Xysma and Funebre, but also from UK and Swedish bands like Carcass (just listen to the track "Deprive My Innermost"), Bolt Thrower, Carnage, and Nihilist. Disgrace wasn’t afraid to include some doomier and groovier rocking parts into their sound even in the early days. Disgrace guitarist and vocalist Jukka Taskinen himself said that the Canadian band Voivod was the biggest influence to start the band, and there’s an obvious nod to those Quebecian sci-fi thrashers in the intro of "Debts of God."

If we take a look back at the very dark past of the birth of Finnish death metal, Disgrace was one of the originators among bands like Abhorrence, Belial, Xysma, Beherit, Funebre, etc. The late '80s were days of active tape trading, playing gigs wherever possible—mostly in local youth centers—and creating new music out of sheer frustration. Was it the geographical location of Finland, with its long winters and absence of light, that gave Finnish death metal that extra feeling of gloom and darkness? Even though you can hear some sort of “trademark” sound that comes to Finnish bands, the scene was vital in those days, and everyone was doing their own thing.

Disgrace recorded their first demo in 1989, which has been buried in time and dust. Luckily, their "Beyond the Immortalized Existence" and "Inside the Labyrinth of Depression" demos—both recorded in 1990—and the "Debts of God" EP (1990) have survived and are compiled into the "1990" release, which is now available again in a limited edition of 500 vinyl copies. These demos and EP document Disgrace at their most brutal and primitive, yet young and bloodthirsty. This is true grinding and murky death metal where you can hear influences from fellow bands like Xysma and Funebre, but also from UK and Swedish bands like Carcass (just listen to the track "Deprive My Innermost"), Bolt Thrower, Carnage, and Nihilist. Disgrace wasn’t afraid to include some doomier and groovier rocking parts into their sound even in the early days. Disgrace guitarist and vocalist Jukka Taskinen himself said that the Canadian band Voivod was the biggest influence to start the band, and there’s an obvious nod to those Quebecian sci-fi thrashers in the intro of "Debts of God."

Finnish death metallers Disgrace released a bunch of demos and one EP before their first full-length album, “Grey Misery,” which was released in 1992. The Finnish metal scene was flourishing with releases during those days—many of them are recognized as immortal classics among die-hard maniacs around the world: Slumber of Sullen Eyes, Member of Immortal Damnation, The Karelian Isthmus, Children of the Scorn, to name a few. And, of course, Grey Misery!

A bunch of classic albums, each with its own distinct sound and style, emerged during that time. Disgrace stepped up their game from their demo days, recording and mixing Grey Misery at Timo Tolkki’s TTT studio in May 1991. It was originally released on vinyl, CD, and tape by the Modern Primitive label in 1992. The band remembers that everything went smoothly during the recording process. It is evident that Disgrace practiced a lot and sharpened their songwriting skills without compromising the brutality in their delivery. Grey Misery takes the listener through nine tracks of organic, gloomy, groovy, and heavy-as-hell grinding death metal. Jukka Taskinen and Toni Stranius’ guttural double vocals still remind us of Bill Steer and Jeff Walker from Carcass. Some of the riffs also bear a resemblance, no doubt about that, but Disgrace managed to present their own blend of Finnish brutality with groove and almost prog-rock-like technical parts in some tracks. After Grey Misery, Disgrace decided that their days of death metal were over and transitioned to a brighter style with garage punk and rock’n’roll. That is a whole different story altogether.