DISCOPOLIS

Between their most earthy albums Rautakantele and Vainajala, CMX did this cold and mechanical oddball. Most likely influenced by Nine Inch Nails and such industrial (you can put that in quotation marks if you like) metal/rock, the sound is very processed and seems to utilize lots of looped rhythms.

Opening track "Discoinferno" is among the heaviest the band has done and has a genius main riff that ascends an octave in half steps and then descends the same way. Coming up next is "Antroposentrifugi" ("anthropocentrifuge", duh) featuring guest female vocals and being close to some kind of techno punk. Lyrics are filled with sexual metaphors. "Nimetön" ("untitled" or "nameless") continues musically in the same vein, but much darker with violently delirious "morning after" lyrics. "Aamutähti" ("morning star") is calmer and slower, a much needed atmospheric break, but not that special song. "Jerusalem" has a nice 5/4 main riff and effective use of choir. This is the most prog song on this album I think. "Vallat ja väet" (too difficult for me to translate properly) varies between aggressive punky riffing, calm verse and sing-along chorus. Very good song and a minor hit when the album came out. "Paha" ("evil") is the absolute rock bottom of both this album and the band's whole career. Infuriatingly ridiculous smooth jazz parody. "Suljettu astia" ("closed vessel" or, if you like, "Corpus Hermeticum") is another decent song, no more or less. "Epäonnisten liikemiesten helvetti" ("Hell of unfortunate businessmen", what a wonderful title!) gets close to avant prog with its complex disjointed riffs. Not bad, but maybe too difficult for the sake of being difficult? "Arcana" is completely forgettable and has a horrible chorus. Closing track "Silmien ummistamisesta Nansenin galvanointiin" (I won't even try... but there's an obscure reference to Freud's "The Interpretation of Dreams") begins with a hypnotic raga-like riff and has cool "shamanic" vocals. Unfortunately the second part ruins the trance. Disappointing end to the album, especially as the track started so great.

As a whole there's some fine stuff here, some mediocre and also some of the worst this band has done. Three stars, just barely. If you don't know the band, this is not the place to start.

This review is based on Svart Records' recent vinyl reissue which includes a supplementary booklet with a retrospective, band interview -based essay.

Despite having been quite an active CMX listener around 1997-2000 (my girlfriend at the time was a hardcore fan), Discopolis was the album that I refused to get into. It's still easy to see why. It doesn't have the emotionally strong pop sensibility of the preceding albums Aura or Rautakantele, nor it is progressively inspired like the ambitious double album Dinosaurus Stereophonicus (2000). As the essay sums up, Discopolis is hardly anyone's favourite CMX album. Instead it was a bold stylistic change also in the way it was made. It was the first Finnish album to utilize Pro Tools, and the digital technology (in which one not only hears but "sees" the sounds too) acted a central role in constructing the songs, with the use of sampled riffs and loop libraries. Even the lyrics of vocalist-bassist A. W. Yrjänä distanced themselves from the arcaic and mythology-inspired poetry towards urbane and mundane imagery.

The album's music is influenced by the aggressive 90's rock -- an area that's always been very distant to me --, by bands such as Prodigy and Nine Inch Nails. The first three songs, as well as several others of the albun's ten tracks ('Paha' is omitted on the reissue because according to the band it shouldn't have been included in the first place) are hard-edged and noisy. Discopolis is a cold, at times downright hostile album. The noisy guitars preceded the rise of the Finnish metal scene in the new millenium.

The serene 'Aamutähti' (= Morning Star) is the easiest to enjoy by those who like the most accessible pop- flavoured CMX. The chords were borrowed rather directly from David Sylvian's song 'Let the Happiness In', and the wind instruments work very nicely in the arrangement. Another more familiar CMX song is 'Vallat ja Väet' which seasons the poppy, melodic essence with sharp metallic riffs.

The vinyl's B side starts with 'Suljettu astia' (= Closed container). For non-Finnish listeners this notion will be totally irrelevant, but the chorus strongly reminds the one of Mikko Alatalo's notoriously irritating song 'Rokkilaulaja'. Two tracks in the middle are not very interesting. The 7,5-minute closing track -- its odd title came from Sigmund Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams -- is the proggiest, or perhaps actually the only even slightly proggy song of Discopolis, giving a foretaste of the band's later Prog Metal works Talvikuningas (2007) or Seitsentahokas (2013).

If I would be more subjective with my rating, I'd give two stars only, but let's be generous for the album's revolutionary nature and for the informative and lavish gatefold vinyl reissue.