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Hi and thanks for reading. I haven’t written a staff pick since November. I’m not sure if anyone really noticed, haha. This year has been by far the worst year of my entire life thus far, but yes, thanks to the support from my loved ones, I am still here. Today I am writing about Finnish hardcore (surprise). When it comes to Finnish hardcore, KAAOS is one of the first bands that comes to mind for me. I remember the first time I heard the Totaalinen Kaaos EP. It blew me away. I couldn’t stop listening. I still can’t. I didn’t know hardcore could sound like that; completely unhinged but still somehow grooves. Don’t even get me started on how many tracks they crammed on the sucker, too. KAAOS was from Tampere and had line-up changes on like every release. I think Jakke, the vocalist, was the only consistent member in the band. It’s funny, I think of him being the iconic front person of KAAOS, but he originally started on guitar on their split with CADGERS. I remember seeing their Nukke EP around and it took me a while to listen to it. It was released in 1993, so my foolish ass thought it might suck. The thing is, while this was not released until 93, it was in fact recorded in 1985. I didn’t understand why it was never initially released, but today I was reading they broke up in December 1985. Maybe that explains why this recording didn’t see the light of day back then? I know they didn’t reform until 1999, so it’s interesting Fight Records picked it up in the early ‘90s for a proper release. Also, in 1996 Fight released Valtio Tuhoaa Ei Rakenna. This was another 7” I foolishly passed for even longer than Nukke due to the release date. Later I discovered this session was originally from 1983. Just a handful of years ago Fight released Ei Enää Kipua Ei Tuskaa on a 12”, and this record is the entire session from 1983 I just mentioned. The 7” from ‘96 was only eight of the sixteen tracks KAAOS recorded. These recordings have become some of my favorite shit from KAAOS. The acoustic guitar bridge in “Elektroninen Xtaasi” and the piano on “Syytön Sivustakatsoja” is so fucking cool, totally unexpected and executed with absolute taste. The latter appears on their 12” from 1984 as well. Funny, writing this now I realize that this session, as well as tracks on Nukke, were probably just practice recordings for the real deal that would follow later. Maybe that is actually why they were not initially released? Sonarize did a US pressing of Ei Enää Kipua Ei Tuskaa, and if you don’t have it, I would highly suggest you pick one up.
Anyways, back to Nukke EP. This record has a similar line-up to their Ristiinnaulittu Kaaos 12” from 1984. I think the bassist is the only difference. Nukke used to be available for cheap as hell like everywhere thanks to Havoc Records, but in recent years it seems to have become a bit harder to find. Perfect timing for Fight Records to get this sucker back in print! In Fight tradition, this pressing is limited to 300 copies on color vinyl. I’m sure once it’s sold out it will be repressed on a different color. I was really excited to hear this beast on 12” format cut at 45rpm, as the original was a 7”. This pressing was also mastered analog from the original mixdown tape. Sounds like a perfect formula, yeah? Well, unfortunately, this shit is cut so quiet. It’s a bit disappointing. I’m also not a huge fan of the cover art. When Havoc did their pressing, they used the band picture from the back of Fight pressing as the front cover. I like that look much better, but this reissue is staying true to the original. Knowing that “nukke” translates to “the doll” in English gives a lot more context. The artwork was done by Nappi, who played bass on their debut 7”. I think he may have been in RIISTEYT for some time as well, but I don’t know that for sure or what he played on. OK. So regardless of my critiques here at the end, if you don’t already own a copy of Nukke EP I would suggest you grab a copy of this reissue cos this material is essential. And to keep it real, if you already have a previous 7” pressing, I’d say you can do without this 12” version. That’s all for today then. Maybe you’ll hear from me next week. Cheers and thanks for your support.