Review XYSMA ‘No Place Like Alone’

Xysma is a quite interesting band. Hailing from Finland the guys started in the late 80’s and release a debut called ‘Yeah’ in 1991. Being inspired by the speed- and thrash metal movement from the second half of the 80’s and fascinated from the growing extreme metal in the 90’s, Xysma started to play death’n’roll music with grindcore and metal cross-references.

After having unleashed the 1998 album ‘Girls on the Beach’, Xysma went on a long hiatus. 25 years after having launched their fifth full-length longplayer, Xysma returns this year with a new longplayer and surprises the rock and metal community.

From left field comes ‘No Place Like Alone’ via Svart Records, an album that shows the band from a different angle. Driven by four guys from the early days and with the addition of keyboarder Janne Lastumäki, Xysma shifted towards more of a garage rock sound that fits the band extremely well. No doubt, there are references to the early days too with songs like ‘Final Episode’ and the outburst in the second half of this ode to heavy rock music.

Photo: Arto Arvilahti

What is fascinating with this longplayer is the raw und untamed energy that sits in each of the ten tracks. Already the opener ‘Well Seasoning’ showcases a band that is hungry. It almost feels like the guys finally could unleash all the electrifying rock power which piled up during the entire 25 years break. Finally, there is an outlet, like the dirty rocking ‘Model 670’ and the punk-ish ‘Rowdy Barrel’. The latter follows a song called ‘Earthrise’ which with a running time of seven minutes acts as a counterpart to the short and crispy heavy rock parts. Although being a rather long tunes, ‘Earthrise’ doesn’t come with an epic number of layers. Still the band manages to create excitement all along the way.

Svart Records is known for a portfolio of unusual bands and Xysma fits in perfectly. The Finns unleash with ‘No Place Like Alone’ a record, that brims with power and passion. From the first note played to the closing ‘Encounter at Dawn’, Xysma delivers a heavy rocking kaleidoscope of sounds that fascinates. Welcome back Xysma.