A collection of demo material from Amorphis' early career, Privilege of Evil is a surprisingly good collection of first-wave Euro death metal.
All the patented genre stylings are present, most importantly the extra-low aggro grunting and the shifting double-kick arrangements.
The tempos and guitar riffs mutate appropriately, as this 1993 Relapse offering plays out like a death metal tutorial.
When a formula is followed so closely, it is often difficult to pinpoint exactly what (if anything) makes a record unique or even interesting.
With music like this, the riffs are what matters, and guitarist/vocalist Tomi Koivusaari and fellow axeman Esa Holopainen came up with some excellent progressions that they both execute with abandon on Privilege of Evil.
Highlights include the opening track, "Pilgrimage From Darkness," and "Misery Path," but death discs are usually taken as a whole.
And while Privilege of Evil might be a little rough around the edges, it's also a testament to the pronounced abilities of Amorphis.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pilgrimage from Darkness | Amorphis | Play | 04:30 | 10 MB | 35 MB |
| 2 | Black EmbraceEsa Holopainen, Tomi Koivusaari, Jan Rechberger | Amorphis | Play | 03:23 | 7 MB | 27 MB |
| 3 | Misery PathEsa Holopainen, Tomi Koivusaari, Jan Rechberger | Amorphis | Play | 04:15 | 9 MB | 35 MB |
| 4 | Vulgar NecrolatryTomi Koivusaari | Amorphis | Play | 03:56 | 9 MB | 32 MB |
| 5 | Excursing from Existence | Amorphis | Play | 03:06 | 7 MB | 25 MB |
| 19 mins | 43 MB | |||||
| 19 mins | 156 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amorphis | Primary Artist, Producer |
| 2 | Esa Holopainen | Composer, Guitar |
| 3 | Jukka Kilehmainen | Vocals |
| 4 | Tomi Koivusaari | Composer, Guitar, Vocals |
| 5 | Olli-Pekka Laine | Bass |
| 6 | Jan Rechberger | Composer, Drums, Synthesizer |
| 7 | Timo Tolkki | Engineer, Mixing |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |