The music output of Finland is a funny one. Their metal exports vary from booze-fueled 'folk' metal, funeral doom and any kind of metal death/thrash/power metal. In short, they're all over the board when it comes to metal. But back in the 90s while Amorphis (and eventually Children of Bodom) was running the show for the most part, there was a band called Stone. Stone was probably Finland's sole 'thrash' export, and quite a head of their time.
No Anaethsia, the band's second effort, came during a particular time, when thrash was on the way out, and Death Metal and the whole melodic thing was slowly taking over Europe, and eventually turning in the Gothenburg sound. Looking back at this album played a major role in the melodic death and 'thrash' sounds that would come from the Norther European bands during the 90s (namely the Gothenburg sound) and early 2000s. And why not? It's the speed, finesse and technical prowess that has been the staple of Northern European Metal for over 20 years now. They seem more concerned with song writing than speed and pure agression. Which isn't to say this album lacks any of that. Calling this album Thrash would be walking the grey line. Finns, Swedes for that matter, are definitely good at place melodic elements into anything and making it sound good. The late 80s and 90s were a good time for music like this.
If you're vision of Finnish metal has been tainted by recent exports, give this album a chance and you'll be rethinking things.
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