A Review of the Album Called Bones and Cores by Finnish Thrash Metal Band Mokoma

For those of you that enjoyed the reviews of the albums Swamplord and They Will Return by the band Kalmah, you are sure to find this next one interesting as well. Finnish heavy metal veterans Mokoma have been playing heavy, groovy, and aggressive thrash metal in their home country of Finland since 1996. Their 6^th album called Luihin ja Ytiimin or Bones and Cores in English was released in 2007 and is another one of my favorites. If you love music and want to expand your horizons and test your patience for music that is from a foreign country, Mokoma is a good choice. However, for the sake of readability, I am including all of the song titles in English. Note that sometimes translations of songs may not be 100% accurate but the best attempt is made here.

I used Google’s easy translation tool to translate the album’s title but with that stated, here we go with some very quality groovy thrash metal!

1. Sina Riitat (you are enough) this one is easily the best song in the whole album.
2. Defeat the Man
3. Blood Brothers
4. Better than Before
5. Third Degree Interrogation
6. Saw-edge
7. Cover My Back
8. One with the Horns
9. Marras (November)
10. Abomination
11. Shapeshift
12. Shoot, Shovel, and Fall Silent

The album has a groovy kind of thrash feel to it and it is described as not being influenced by death metal as their previous album was. The album opens up with a strong song called Sina Riitat which translated means you are enough. The drumming is very solid by Janne Hyrkas and the guitars are really heavy. I like to sing along with this one and I especially love vocalist Marko Annala’s vocal growls as I think he really has the proper feeling unlike Jeff Walker of the band Carcass who just has this raspy voice but no real feeling or passion.

Of course, this first song is just the start of the album but it is one of the best starts for any metal band. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself trying to sing along with this song.

In the second song, we briefly hear some muffled vocals that sound like a death metal growl. Obviously, if these guys had their lyrics in English, they could really be able to market their music outside of Finland, attract many more fans, and we know what these moves would do to Mokoma’s popularity and influence. They would obviously earn more money, much more money. But since they have kept their lyrics in the Finnish language, their marketing abilities will be severely limited. The third song translated as Blood Brothers is dominated by some really rough vocals and some Slayer style lead guitar work. As the song progresses, there is a definite feel of some modern Sepultura. The 4^th song in this album shows a slowed down pace as the song is about trying to change direction in life after being angry and distressed. Third Degree Interrogation begins with a mid-tempo groove before the rough vocals pick up in this one again. I notice this time as I hear this album that Mokoma at least has some progressive influences as the song before this one showed.

The 8^th song in the album which is called Sarvipaa in Finnish begins with fast guitar picking and Marko lets out a sort of tough shout similar to what Annihilator guitarist Jeff Waters would do when he would do the vocals. Marras (November) is a nice mid-paced song that is a break from all of the fast and heavy songs that the band usually plays and this song is also one of my favorite ones. November is also the month in which people in the United States celebrate Thanksgiving and eat lots of good food. I am thankful for a band like Mokoma because these guys make me appreciate music and I can get into that state in which author Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi describes as flow. Flow is not the same as happiness though. The next song called Abomination in English starts out with a long vocal growl and fast drumming before showing itself as a melodic type of song and then changing back into the form that it started with at the beginning.

Bones & Cores is an album that is a step up from their 2003 album Kurimus. They should continue in this style because their execution of thrash metal is very good. In spite of the death metal raspy grunts by Marko Annala this is a really solid thrash metal work and one of the best releases on the entire European continent! This album can be thought of groovy thrash metal with progressive influences and the softer part in the song "Marras" shows that Mokoma is not just about speed.

Overall score for the album Bones & Cores in 2019: 95 out of 100 points