Review: “Abomination Uncontrolled” by Septemberwolf

It is written that back in 2007, Finnish Melodic Black Metal pioneers Mustan Kuun Lapset went on a planned year long hiatus. As the other members of the band were still in hibernation in 2009 vocalist and guitarist Pete Lehtinen felt the itch to return to music and so started a new project, this time in Death ‘n Roll. Switching his preferred language from Finnish to English, he brought in drummer Mikko Hautala and bassist Jari Turja and together they founded Septemberwolf. In 2010 they played their first gig and recorded a collection of songs in their rehearsal space with “Wormrocket” going on to appear on a compilation album from Californian label 272 Records titled “Kill City Twenty Five“. 

After a few more gigs the band were joined by Juha Koivistoinen on bass allowing Turja to become their guitarist, a duty he currently undertakes with Sludge Metal act Taser and allow Lehtinen to focus on his vocals. In the spring of 2012 the band recorded a four track EP at Toni Laurila’s NoiseNest studio in Nastola. However that record never saw the cold light of day because for reasons unknown, the members went their separate ways shortly thereafter with Mustan Kuun Lapset being reactivated in 2014. After a decade in the archives Lehtinen took the decision to release “Abomination Uncontrolled” via Inverse Records with two additional songs from that rehearsal space demo.

One thing we know about this collection is its not everything that Septemberwolf did together with some songs that were written for Häiriö, which was the original name of Mustan Kuun Lapset between 1993 and 1995 including “Dead Flesh Feast” being performed live. What is also interesting about this collection is that three of the songs are credited as being written by Jari Turja once he took up guitar duties, while the remainder were all older works written by Pete Tamminen.

The first burnt offering of this six track affair is “Together we hang“, a tune with a bombastic bass line giving it Hardcore Punk qualities that cut against the trademark caustic vocals of Tamminen. Bouncy and sonically upbeat while being lyrically relatively simplistic makes this one as catchy as a sexually transmitted disease at an orgy. You just can’t help but hum the tune and once it gets into your cranium, it’s not coming out without a fight, especially once Hautala brings out the double kicks. When the opening riff of “Killed through every bone” comes into play it sounds like there is an Entombed influence somewhere in there, the groove laden nature of the beast undeniable. This rendition is actually twenty seconds shorter than the original demo which is out there in internet land for all to find and feels tighter and more focused as a result. Whether the shriller backing vocals are the work of Tamminen or one of the other musicians is a mystery however they work incredibly well as this one sounds like walking on broken glass feels with all the fun and none of the blood.

After those first two cuts written by Turja play out, the first of the ones credited to Tamminen surfaces in “Summoning the darkness” and the difference is that its a more complex beast in the riff department, offering more in the way of Blackened Death Metal guitar work. A couple of nice lead moments and some blast beats are thrown into the mix as well and while its cut from the same cloth as the first couple of tunes, as a result of those more intricate moments it stands out more. “Priesthunter” is the third and final one of the Turja compositions and as it goes, it’s more in keeping with with Tamminen piece that precedes it. An expended instrumental and some almost tribal drum fills take us into the lands of Brazilian Death Metal before the vocals come in and the riffs slide into their Scandinavian shoes. Tamminen sounds like a demonic entity calling from the black depths before the gang chanted moments, which no doubt went down a storm live and the fleeting moments of lead guitar add to the dark and sinister atmospheric nicely. A little funky bass in the final flourish is a nice twist in the tale, the song finishing as you’d expect it to on stage.

The pair of demos that accompany the EP are from the opposite end of the recording spectrum to the record itself, very much your rough and ready, single microphone style pieces and as a result are as raw as an open wound. That being said, you can hear exactly what the band were looking to achieve and the with “Wormrocket” there is a distinctive funky bassline with the Entombed influence rising to the surface once more. “Early Grave of Hypocrite” is a better quality demo perhaps from a different session but equally dark and deceptively savage. Another one with an earworm riff at its beating black heart, it has more to it than meets the ear, the more complex guitars and Black Metal flirtations making you wish there was a studio version of it. All in all this collection has aged like a fine wine and if you’d said these were new works from a new project, no one would be any the wiser. It’s all good clean fun, until someone loses a limb. [7.5/10]

Track Listing

1. Together we hang
2. Killed through every bone
3. Summoning the darkness
4. Priesthunter
5. Wormrocket (Demo)
6. Early Grave of Hypocrite (Demo)

“Abomination Uncontrolled” by Septemberwolf is out 18th September 2025 via Inverse Records and is available over at bandcamp