Band:	Stone
Album:	Stone
Style:	Speed metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	1988
Guest review by:	Cynic Metalhead

01. Get Stoned
02. No Commands
03. Eat Your Pride
04. The Day Of Death
05. Reached Out
06. Real Delusion
07. Brain Damage
08. Escape
09. Final Countdown
10. Overtake

Back in the days, there were a lot of national scenes shaping distinct sounds—Brazilian and German thrash, or contrasting values of European versus American power metal. Taking Scandinavia as an example here, Norwegian youth forged black metal’s occult aesthetics, while Sweden innovated and gave birth to several shades of death metal; these subgenres have become synonymous with each country. What about Finland, though?

While often overshadowed by its neighbors, Finland has quietly built a formidable metal scene across various subgenres. The country has given rise to influential acts like Demilich, Impaled Nazarene, Convulse, and Beherit, but a thrash metal band, namely Stone? A name that Google was barely even able recognise, first suggesting me to buy a scuplture from Amazon, how did this group transcend thrash music, and specifically influence one of the most influential extreme power metal bands, Children Of Bodom (Stone's guitarist Roope Latvala later became the main CoB axeman)?!

Stone emerged with their self-titled debut in 1988, delivering an album offering a uniquely Nordic take on the thrash blueprint. It laid a powerful foundation for their brief but impactful career—four albums in just four years. Coming back to the album, from the opener "Get Stoned", it throws off a spitting shade of Metallica ("Enter Sandman"?) with ravishing riffing giving the song its fair share of memorability. It is then followed by "No Commands", a standout song of the album, a largely mid-paced composition blended with breakneck speed that was later covered by Children Of Bodom—a testament to its enduring influence. Whereas in "Overtake", Latvala's flair for melodic solos offers a sharp contrast to the band’s ability to weave technicality and raw power into the fabric of the album.

What fascinates me here are balls-y bass-driven rhythms, fomenting solid foundations for the band’s technical excursions, particularly in "Eat Your Pride" and "Real Delusion". However, Janne Joutsenniemi's vocals are a major weakness; it isn't exactly the most orthodox style imaginable, giving off subtle hints of voice breaks in "Overtake", and shallowing the quality of good tracks like "Real Delusion" or "Eat Your Pride" by singing like a drunk Evan Seinfeld.

There are good moments captured in Stone’s debut as well. Beyond the jaw-dropping lead sections, tracks like the doomy "The Day Of Death", and more unrestrained "Reached Out" and "Brain Damage" keep the listener engaged, delivering on the realms of consistently crunchy production. The unique flavour of raw, almost garage-like sound lends energy to the album as well. Overall, Stone's Stone deserves some limelight in the thrash metal-sphere, and though it doesn’t promise miracles, Stone went on to write some of the most original chapters in thrash history.

Highlights: "No Commands", "Overtake", "The Day Of Death'