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picture by
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Yleiset Syyt (Common Causes) is from Helsinki, Finland, has
been around since 2016 at least and features members from so many other
bands I will only mention a few of them (people don't sleep up north or
what?). So the Yleiset Syyt members have played (or still play) in
Foreseen,
Upright,
Iniated,
Death Toll 80k,
Kohti Tuhoa,
Sick Urge,
Perikato,
Hard Action,
Leather Weapons
and
No Sense Of Humor
among others...
Yes they do know how to make some bloody loud noise...
Finland has a long tradition of super active punk scene, whether we're
talking about all the great early punk bands (a lot of their record have
been repressed by
Svart Records
if you're interested) or the furious Discharge-obsessed,
studded-and-leathered, hardcore bands from the second wave... which I've
only started to dig quite recently to be honest (yes it took me some
time). Anyway I'm not the most qualified for a Finnish punk history lesson
and that's not the purpose of this post, just know that
Yleiset Syyt is playing something that's definitely closer to the
second category than the first one.
Yleiset Syyt starts straight with a full length on Svart Records in 2017, called Ajatuskoneisto (The machinery of Thought) this record features eleven short and fast songs that dig really clearly into the old school hardcore punk territory. The most observant among you will undoubtedly detect a certain influence of Raymond Pettibon ("official" Black Flag "art director" AND Greg Ginn's brother, just a little history for the few readers who are completely out of their depth and lost around here) in the cover artwork (made by the guitar player Ville Valavuo), and it obviously says a lot.
Ajatuskoneisto doesn't sound like a Black Flag fetish
record though, yes it's fast and raw but it clearly leans more
on the classic 80s Finnish hardcore side, it's
sung in Finnish so it's obviously reminiscent of the Finnish
scene and some guitar riffs got
that slight metal influence that was around in this scene. I can think of some early
Terveet Kädet,
Tampere SS,
H.I.C Systeemi (and what
Laukaus did in the early 2000s as a tribute) and probably plenty of
others as Finland was not really lacking of hardcore bands in the
early 80s. So I would say than more of Black Flag itself the
cover is just a way to evoke the 80s in a way that immediately
strikes any punk across the world.
Of course the band benefits from a way more powerful sound than the
80s bands and it definitely gives a modern touch to that good old
recipe.
The album is full of really enjoyable, and really well-played,
raging tracks but at some point I feel that it's difficult to
distinguish one from another and I tend to feel a bit drowned in a
relatively uniform whole that becomes a bit tedious to listen to in
the long run (it's really hard to make a "long" hardcore LP that's catchy
all the way through if you don't add a few "surprises", a few breaks
here and there), for comparison it's a bit the impression I have with some
Career Suicide (even if I love Career Suicide) or
Vitamin X records.
So yes Yleiset Syyt play some great hardcore punk but it would be
even better if they would give a few seconds to breath to my old
eardrums from time to time, managing the ups and downs of the music
energy in a more "hooking" way.
The band comes back two years later with a 6-track self-titled 7",
on
Open Up and Bleed Recording
this time (that I suspect of being one the band members'
label).
And it does sound a bit different in my opinion.
Well ok not essentially different of course but it does sound
closer to the classic hardcore punk sound (as I see it) this time,
reminiscent of some more recent Scandinavian hardcore punk bands
like
Agent Attitude,
Brudte Lofter,
Fy Fan
and others. The guitar riffs are clearly "lighter", even leaning
towards some kind of rock'n roll or "slighty melodic Scandinavian punk"
at times, and it makes the whole records a lot easier to digest than
the LP. I feel like they're also playing a little bit slower (less
fast would be more accurate I suppose), which doesn't take away any
of the songs' energy though.
Generally speaking, even if the formula remains more or less the
same, the tracks are more "ventilated" and therefore much easier to
appreciate one after the other in my humble opinion.
Umpikujamekanismi (Deadlock Mechanism) was released a bit
earlier this year
on
Open Up and Bleed Recording (like the band previous EP) and picks up exactly
where the previous release left off.
So yeah no big surprises here, just some good quality
Finnish hardcore in the same line as what
Yleiset Syyt has been furiously playing
for the past five years. There is still that
Finnish touch for sure but the "hardcore punk"
side I was mentioning earlier is at least as
strong as on their self-titled EP. I mean listen
to
Opportunistin alkuilta (The early evening of the opportunist) and Luovan keskiluokan takapihalla
(In the backyard of the creative middle class), without any doubt the two hit songs of the record, and you'll be for
sure completely seduced by the way these two hardcore punk tracks are
built. The guitars sound like they were just borrowed from an early Black Flag album, the chorus is simple but catchy and "easy" to sing along (if you know a bit more than me about Finnish) and that bassline intro on Opportunistin alkuilta... They're killer songs, period.
And that's how I'll conclude
I guess:
Yleiset Syyt knows how to play
hardcore songs but has a tendency to wear out
the same formula, which is a bit tedious in
the long run and doesn't leave much room for
surprise, on the other hand they're also able
to produce some (rare but real) hardcore punk
gems that strike you in the right front punk
lobe when you didn't expect it any more... and
for that alone you should definitely give it a
try!
N,J'Oi!
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