Finnish Black Metal band, IMMORTAL, formerly known as Death Metal band, AMPUTATION, originated in 1989. AMPUTATION released their compilation LP August 31, 2020, born from their 1990 release of "Slaughtered in the Arms of God". This LP is a mash up including the demo from the "Slaughtered in the Arms of God". As well as the preceding, 1989, demo from "Achieve the Mutilation", and a recording of a rehearsal from 1989. This is some very old school metal from an era long gone, as well as a collector item for the diehard IMMORTAL fans. Since this is where they got their start. This album has not been available for purchase for a long time, cue to now and the re-release of these timeless classics. Grueling, dark, underground metal. Underground music has that raw quality that seems to be lost the larger a band gets, there is something in that rawness that is so passionate and emotional.

"Heavenly Grace" - This is an old school black thrash sounding song. Deep, dark vocals; unpolished, unrefined. A hard and fast beat on guitar, drums, and bass carry the current along swiftly. The overall effect is unforgiving darkness, with many hard edges. "Slaughtered in the Arms of God" - Face melting riffs on guitar dive right in. Harald's deep and smoky vocals are altogether poignant and impactful. Solo's on guitar midway through this song are hard and cutting. The beat throughout is somehow upbeat amidst its darkness. "Death is Not the End" - The guitar in this song is my favorite on this LP, it is rich and loud. Peaking at a height of music, it is nearly breathtaking and dizzying. This song's fast pace picks you up and do not let you down until its last dying notes.

"Merciless Slaughter" - Tremolo Plucking on guitar ignite the rage of the angry vocals. Passionate and intense, and so full of energy. Rage on fire, scathing the faces of demons within. The guitar solo in this song is off the hook! Followed by a solid and timely drum beat. "Intense Torture" - With a title name that invokes horrendous images if one chooses to go down that rabbit hole. Thus is the nature of metal though, and in its very darkness somehow there is a calm peacefulness that we metalheads come here for. Vocals sung in foreign languages always intrigue me. Hearing other languages in songs is incredible. Especially for metal, some languages are meant to be screamed in rage while backed by scathing guitar. "Amputation" - This song is a little rough around the edges. But not entirely unpleasant. This is the kind of song a band starts with. However, ultimately, I'm not feeling the flow with this song that some of the others had. A band has to start somewhere, and as a collector piece this is a gem. You can't really get rawer than this.

All in all, this LP might be a preference more of hardcore IMMORTAL fans. But AMPUTATION still deserves their name in the history books of metal. Truly they helped build a genre in an explosive era of music. And when that band met the end of its road, they rose from the ashes as a new entity and met much more fame this time around. "Slaughtered in the Arms of God" is an LP that has a story to tell. This is the raw, and rare glimpse of the beginnings of a band that would grow much bigger later on.