Purtenance

History

Purtenance are a Finnish band born in Nokia, under the initial name of Purtenance Avulsion in 1989, the name under which they recorded their self-titled debut demo in the year 1990 and right after the demo, they decided to shorten their name into Purtenance. The following year (1991) they recorded a demo that would become a 7"EP for Drowned Productions, property of Dave Rotten (current owner of Xtreem Music and vocalist in Avulsed), following the same path of their previous demo. The EP 'Crown Waits the Immortal' (cover art by Luxi Lahtinen) saw the light in September of that year in a limited edition of 500 copies. Dave, happy with the band, made an offer to them for their first full length, which the group gladly accepted, as he pretty well sold this EP and not only because of the promotion it meant, but also because of the quality of band and their compositions.

Now the band were ready to become a bigger act (and possibly less valued in it's time!), and entered MDM Studios to record and mix 'Member of Immortal Damnation', still today being considered one of the best Finnish death metal albums of early 90's, with cover made by great genius of the pencil and oil Chris Moyen (Nominon, Incantation, etc.) dark and blasphemous as few rarely been seen with a promising future and a couple of good jobs to cut through the wave of groups of that time. After this album, the band decided to separate, due to musical differences (including the guitarist Toni Honcala determined to pay more attention to his side-band parallel Cough).

In 2010, US label Dark Symphonies did a supposedly limited edition (which later resulted it wasn't; it was just a trick) of the album, EP and demo in a double vinyl edition, being followed in 2011 by a CD re-issue through Xtreem Music.

In 2011 Xtreem Music did an CD re-issue of 'Member of Immortal Damnation'. This same year, Purtenance decided to reform as a trio with original members Juha Rannikko (guitars) and Harri Salo (drums) plus new member Ville Koskela on bass and vocal duties. They started to write new material and a new mini CD came out in summer 2012 entitled 'Sacrifice the King', again with artwork by Chris Moyen and receiving a big welcome from the scene. However, this EP got mixed feelings amongst fans, but this didn't stop the band which not only continued working on new songs, but also added a second guitarist called Ville Nokelainen and started to play their first shows after 20 years at the same time they were recording their long awaited second album 'Awaken from Slumber' released in October 2013 through Xtreem Music coinciding with the very first show of the band outside of Finland at the "Ritual Zombi Fest" in Madrid,Spain. 'Awaken from Slumber' showed the heaviest and darkest sides of Purtenance ever, this time getting an awesome acceptation amongst their followers.

After the release of 'Awaken from Slumber', Purtenance also activated to do more live shows. After these performances, sharing the stage with such bands as Amorphis, Finntroll, Avulsed, Dissect and many more, Purtenance started at late 2014 to write and record new material. In October 2015 came out their 3rd full length, called '...to Spread the Flame of Ancients'. This release was more focused than the other new releases and flashed some echoes from the past, with twists from all the current members. Again Purtenance headed to play more and more live shows. Participating in autumn of 2015 to one of the most unique festivals in Finland (and in world), Purtenance played at "Finnish Death Metal Maniacs Fest" in Pori. This show featured from original lineup, vocalist Timo Häyrinen, performing songs of his era, for one last time. There were so many legendary acts also playing, that it almost felt it was the 90's again! After Pori, Purtenance performed at Turku, in "Turun Kuolema" festival, that also had some unique acts playing.

In the end of 2015, Ville Nokelainen left the group and two new members stepped in. As Ville Koskela started to focus only to vocals, Simo Rouvinen (Blackvenom from Flame) and Tero Aalto begun to handle the duties of second guitar and bass.As 2016 is starting to end, Purtenance has inked a new deal with Xtreem Music to release more new material, booked more and more shows and started to write new music, when 2017 will come, Purtenance will be stronger and brutal than ever!

(source: Purtenance, December 2016)