Widely accepted as the first Finnish metal band," Sarcofagus" have reissued two rare vinyl LP's and the super rare "Go To Hell / All Those Lies" single from 1979.
The LP's "Envoy Of Death" & "Moottorilinnut" (Motorbirds) will be reissued on vinyl and in celebration, the "Moottorilinnut" album includes the first official release of the World's Original 1st Full Album Length Metal Video on a DVD.
Both LP's come with original artwork plus gatefold design and booklet. Kimmo Kuusniemi guitarist, drummer and namesake of The The Kimmo Kuusniemi band ( Sarcofagus had to change their name due label problems) wrote "behind the scenes text" for the albums and has included rare archival photos of the band.
Sarcofagus returned to the studio after releasing their debut LP "Cycle of Life" to record their 2nd album " Envoy Of Death" in 1980. Promo shots for the album showed the group breathing fire and brandishing crosses in full corpsepaint. It was these publicity shots combined with occult lyrics and doom-laden
riffage that resulted in a heavy metal masterpiece but also guaranteed the band found little audience at the time. Original copies of the LP ended up in bargain bins and Sarcofagus decided to call it quits, only to gain international cult recognition later. Tracks like the 9-minute doom opus "Black Contract" show how far ahead of their time the band really was.
The re-issue of "Envoy of Death" is limited to 350 black and 150 red vinyl copies, and also features a gatefold jacket plus a 8 page booklet with unseen material and liner notes.
"Moottorilinnut" (Motorbirds) released in 1981 is considered a landmark album in many ways. It was the
first heavy metal album sung in Finnish, and the first heavy metal album to use schlager pop superstars (schlager tracks are either sweet, highly sentimental ballads with a simple, catchy melody or light pop tunes) and also the first to feature an album length music video. Kimmo Kuusniemi explains the history of the album; "This album should always have been "by Sarcofagus". It is a natural follow up to the earlier Sarcofagus recordings. Despite the good feedback and media interest the overall success was modest. But the label JP-Musiikki refused to support anything with the name of Sarcofagus on the cover. Compromises were made. The only way to start recording again was to change the band's name into Kimmo Kuusniemi Band. We would do the album in Finnish, because of popular demand. " "
The "Go To Hell / All Those Lies" single is the rarest item in the Sarcofagus discography remastered and reissued. This is the band's debut seven inch from 1979 with the tracks "Go to Hell" and "All Those Lies". The baby steps of Finnish Heavy Metal.
The most recent album " Back From The Dead" is ready to go and in order to help them get it out you can purchase the reissued vinyl straight from their website http://www.sarcofagus.com/Sarcofagus/SHOP.html and here; http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/crystal-skulls/m.html
Here they are with "Truth of 1000 Mega Watts" from the "Moottorilinnut" (Motorbirds) album.
