Band:	Mary
Album:	Paha Siemen
Style:	Stoner metal
Release date:	2007
A review by:	destroyah

01. Kyntö
02. Paha Siemen
03. Helvettiin
04. Ajan Takaa
05. 663

These evil rockabilly monsters from Finland seem to have come up with a perfect hard rock/thrash piece at first glance. The cover art refers to sinful content and the playful riffs and energetic aggression on the disc itself add up to a very enjoyable package. Think Impaled Nazarene's tender moments covered in engine oil or Rob Zombie abandoning industrial for groove thrash. That's right - we have lustful moans and crunching chords. Could we possibly ask for more?

Well - yes, we could. The five tracks barely reach the average length of two and a half minutes. Now unless you flunked fifth grade math then you should realize that you'd have to push the "replay" button every thirteen minutes. And although I like an album that's short and to the point, thirteen minutes just doesn't cut it, EP or not. But even if we didn't have the ever so useful 'loop' function, rewinding this baby would be absolutely worth it. It's short length aside, "Paha Siemen" is one of the best thrash albums I've heard in a while. If groovy and hard get your panties in a twist then Mary is your (wo)man.

Don't let the hooters fool you though, Mary does have an adam's apple - in times when a lot of the new thrash bands have abandoned clean vocals, J.'s passionate spitting-lyrics style is a welcomed change. The voice is natural and sounds like an angry Saturday night cruiser lashing it out at a parking officer. All the words are in finnish, which is another big plus as the language sounds just terrific in this key.

I suppose a little more variety in the sound wouldn't hurt but lest us not forget Mary is still at the starting line. But they do hold the pole position and when the lights turn green, many of their rivals are gonna end up eating dust.

Fans of Pantera, Motörhead and Monster Magnet can grab their crotches and set sail for Maryland, FIN, cause there's some serious humping to be done. Let's hope this EP will shortly be followed by an orgy of grease and guitars. Long live Finland!