Rarely do I ever find collections worthwhile, since they always seem to appear disjointed and lose the concept and progressive quality of actual albums, but when great bands have been together for decades and have an endlessly long list of rare 7"s, they can be very useful items indeed (we need one of these for the Japanese Sabbat). Not only that, but Onnellisia Kytkentöjä is just put together extremely well - it contains 30 tracks, runs almost an hour in length, and has excellent packaging all the way through, with heaps of photos, an illustrated discography, and an entire biography of the group since their formation (although unfortunately it's only written in Finnish). Many of the included songs are of course extremely hard to come by these days and there are also some previously unreleased outtakes which are rather enjoyable, in addition to a couple live tracks and special edits. Overall it's pretty difficult to go wrong with something like that, and regardless of any context most of the songs on here are complete killers anyway.

I won't bother going into the style again because you can get that out of my Sign of the Cross review, but obviously one of the advantages to an anthology of such an extended band is that now you can view all of the different transitions. On a personal level, I don't think this really gets going until around "Search and Destroy" (10), when the metal side of Terveet Kädet is coming through more forceful and that hardcore influence is slowly slipping away, but the earlier songs are still quite harsh and brutal, and the amazing riffing is there from the very beginning. 12 is a true classic, the self-titled track from the Oma Koloni EP, and the succeeding song was quite a surprise because I had only heard it previously on the Sign of the Cross cd; Terveet Kädet actually stop in the middle of "Anno Domini" and play the James Bond theme for a while! Other real highlights woud be "The Horse", "Sign of the Cross", and then I'd just have to say everything from 21-30 - the most recent Ultimate Pain and Non Ultra Descriptica era is when I think these guys are at their best, and the 5-minute closing "Diabolic" is the slowest, doomiest, and most thoughtful sounding song on the recording. There's more emphasis on the solos, more agony in the vox, and simply more texture to the entire atmosphere.

A safe purchase and a good one. The track listing is (all EP's being 7"s):

01. Vapaa Pohjola 0'50 "Rock Laahausta Vastaan" EP 1980
02. Mull On Liian Lyhyt Sänky 0'45 "Terveet Kädet II" EP 1981
03. Pissaa Ja Paskaa 0'31 "Ääretön Joulu" EP 1982
04. Musta Jumala (live) 2'12 "Live Kemi 1982" EP 1982
05. Transvestiitti 1'01 "Halloween" MLP 1983
06. Message 1'28 "Message" EP 1983
07. Kumia Ja Verta 0'43 "Black God" LP 1984
08. Saappaat 1'33 "Yalta Hi-Life" v/a LP 1984
09. Utilization 0'38 "So Much Fun" Split-LP w/Kaaos 1984
10. Search And Destroy 3'00 "The Horse" LP 1985
11. Pushed Too Far 2´01 "The Horse" LP 1985
12. Oma Koloni 3'43 "Oma Koloni" EP 1988
13. Anno Domini 2'11 "Anno Domini" EP 1989
14. Ihmisvihaaja 1'46 "Pahan Voima" EP 1990
15. The Horse 2'02 "Unkind" EP - Actually recorded in 1987
16. A.L.I.E.N. 1'09 Recorded in 1989 - About the Ridley Scott film itself!
17. Bloody Vision Of Fear (live) 1'33 "Leather Enslavement" LP 1998, recorded in 1991
18. The Man Of Sorrows 1'08 "Bizarre Domination" EP 1992
19. The Leader II 1'31 "Älkää Välittäkö Paskapuheista" v/a LP 1994
20. Sign Of The Cross 1'42 "Sign of the Cross" CD 1995
21. The Darkness 2'11 "Sign of the Cross" CD 1995
22. Tornion Kevät (live) 0'58 "Bondage and Anguished Life" EP 1996
23. State Of Cruelty 4'14 "Doomed Alien Race" CD 1997
24. Outburst Of Anger 1'27 "Doomed Alien Race" CD 1997
25. Death Factory 2'22 "The Ultimate Pain" CD 1999
26. Stones Of Strength 3'08 "The Ultimate Pain" CD 1999
27. The More I See 2'14 "Solardisk.com" v/a CD 2001, actually recorded in 1998
28. Non Ultra Descriptica (special edit) 2'47 "Non Ultra Descriptica" CD 2000
29. Diabolic 5'47 "Non Ultra Descriptica" CD 2000
30. The Ultimate Pain Theme 1'01 Outro

© 2002 hando