UMUR
"Member of Immortal Damnation" is the debut full-length studio album by Finnish death metal act Purtenance. The album was released through Drowned Productions in 1992. It succeeds the release of the September 1991 "Crown Waits the Immortal" EP. Purtenance formed in 1989 under the Purtenance Avulsion monicker and released a couple of 1990/1991 demos under their original name before cutting the Avulsion part from their band name. "Member of Immortal Damnation" would be Purtenance´s only full-length studio album in their original run as they disbanded shortly after its release. They´ve however reunited in 2012 and have released several EPs and albums since.
While the sound production values are slightly cleaner (but definitely still pretty raw and at times even a bit murky and distorted), "Member of Immortal Damnation" is still a pretty brutal, grim, and gloomy sounding old school death metal release and it´s a natural continuation of the sound found on "Crown Waits the Immortal". Anything else would of course also be odd as two out of the three tracks from the EP were re-recorded and included on "Member of Immortal Damnation" ("A Dark Cloud Arises" and "Crown Waits the Immortal").
There´s something undeniably primal and savage (just shy of being a bit amaturish at times) about the way the music on the album is composed and performed. It features all the gloomy darkness of old school 90s death metal and there is absolutely nothing here which points in any other direction than that. "Member of Immortal Damnation" is one of the best examples of the old school Finnish death metal scene (along with releases from contemporary artists like Abhorrence, Demigod, and Convulse). It´s not the most original release from the scene (artists like Xysma and Demilich took care of that) and it probably wouldn´t be your first guess that it was Purtenance playing if you heard their music by chance, but there´s great authenticity and passion involved here, which to my ears are important factors when evaluating a release like this. Fans of the most primal, raw, and authentic old school Scandinavian death metal should find a lot to appreciate here. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.