Finland’s extreme metalists, METAL RIOT, formed in 2015 in Akaa. Over the years they’ve gone through multiple lineup changes and even relocated to Tampere before signing with the venerable WormHoleDeath Productions in October 2024. A month later they rereleased their debut, “Birth of Terror”—an eight-track scorcher that testifies to their passion for creating distinctive metal.

It's difficult to cleanly categorize METAL RIOT. Part Thrash, part traditional Heavy Metal, part Punk, they fuse a large range of styles. Their strengths include their sheer energy and their mastery of instruments of choice—Joonas Kokko exhibits both brutality and finesse on the drums; the twin guitar attack of Mika Takanen and Marcus Johansson is nothing less than powerful and relentless; Benjamin Sairmo on bass keeps the rhythm tight and furious; and Joonas Myller’s clean soprano vocals are riveting.

Where they show weakness is in smoothly meshing all that talent together in their songwriting. They’re at their best when they stick to cohesive song patterns; they start to unravel when they try to work in too many clashing movements. With that said, their best tracks are the simplest, most straight forward ones. “Into the Fire” was my favorite of the lot. It’s mean, it’s groovy, it draws you back over and over again. “Eternal Speed Death,” a track they put out in 2023 as single, is also a definite standout. Very thrashy, this one. A third runner up would be “War,” the final track on the album.   

The cover art by Pauli Maronen is stunning. I can’t say the figure comes to life on any of the tracks as an actual character, but the spirit she embodies certainly does . . . which I imagine is what they were going for anyway. Hopefully she’ll be a recurring figure on future album art.

All in all, “Birth of Terror” serves well as a debut. Clearly the band has some ground to cover as they find their footing, but that’s pretty much expected, especially with the number of lineup changes they’ve experienced. Overall, the album is promising. Looking forward to seeing more from this band in 2025.