Speed Metal Party
Dethrone, Prestige, Razor
Klubi, Tampere, Finland
10th August 2018
Speed Metal Party is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. It was originally held in Tampere back in 1988 with local thrash metal legends Dethrone and Prestige. Now thirty years on, they decided to re-create the same line-up as it was back then with some new additions in the form of death-thrashers Dead Samaritan and Canadian speed-metal band Razor. For the Canadians, this was their very first show in Finland.
First up was Dead Samaritan, a female-fronted death-thrash metal band. They reminded me of mid-career Arch Enemy, a good mix of melodic death metal and thrash metal. It was good performance even if it started out a bit slow. 3.5/5
Next up was a local thrash metal band Menticide who haven’t played a live show since 1992. They were brought in from retirement specially for this occasion. I couldn’t really get into their show. The music sounded a bit demo-esque at times. The vocalist didn’t have much of a stage presence. 2/5
Dethrone have been around since the late 1980s. They keen to share some stories from the past and pay to their fallen brother, bassist Jouni Rinta. I really enjoyed their show, especially their cover of The Misfits ‘Last Caress’.5/5
Prestige was originally formed about the same time as Dethrone, then had a long-ish break but they are nowadays very much active again. They are one of the more established bands in the local thrash metal scene. By the time they came on stage the venue was packed and there was a mosh-pit forming. These guys don’t take themselves too seriously.They clearly like to add humour to their lyrics and crack a few jokes during the show. Maybe a bit too many jokes at times. I can’t fault the music though. It was a good show. 4/5
Then it was time for the night’s main headliners – Razor. As mentioned earlier, this was their very first time in Finland and I sincerely hope that it will not be their last. This was my favorite performance of the night. Top class speed metal. The highlight for me was when they played ‘Evil Invaders’. 5/5
In summary I had a great time at Speed Metal Party. I’m not that well versed in Finnish thrash metal but that didn’t stop me from enjoying Prestige and Dead Samaritan. Razor were excellent live. Happy Anniversary Speedy Metal Party! 30 years and still going strong…
Iza Raittila
Valkyrian Music 
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