{mosimage}I am very glad that there is still the thing called genuine punk rock, although I don’t necessarily spend a lot of time listening to it. Jumalan Ruoska, a Finnish punk rock band, remind me of that once again.
Jumalan Ruoska’s brand of punk rock is somewhat different from all these “too serious to be taken seriously” bands – they have a sense of humour and are not afraid to show it. This sense of humour and playfulness is evident from both the music and lyrics. There are moments of social commentary, like the song Eihän tässä nyt näin pitänyt käydä (which is about global warming), but overall they seem to be focusing on having fun.
Sixteen songs, total length barely over thirty minutes, so Jumalan Ruoska don’t really like to spend too much time on one single track. Although the music couldn’t exactly be called challenging to play, at least they sound tight and not the least bit sloppy. They also offer some variety: amongst the straight-ahead blasting there are a couple of acoustic numbers, and even the most blatant hardcore numbers don’t sound boring.
Since the release of this album, Jumalan Ruoska has split up, but all the members of the band continue making music. The spirit of punk rock lives on, and I feel happy about that.
Rating 4/5