Rutto - Ei Paluuta and Ilmastoitu Painajainen EP Reissues

Rutto - Ei Paluuta EP

Label: Final Doomsday Records; Year: 2022; Format: 7" EP

When I was a teenager back in Switzerland I loved bands like Rattus, Bastards, Riistetyt et al. The sound, the Finnish language and the way the punks from this northern country looked just appealed to me on all levels. I don't remember ever hearing about Rutto, a band from the town of Tornio where also much better known Terveet Kadet came from. With Piasky filling in on bass and the original having been released in 1983 on Laja's of TK fame IKBAL Records it is pretty clear that Rutto were close to TK. What we get on this EP is mid-paced rudimentary female fronted punk rock that reminds be a bit of UK bands like Anti Pasti or Action Pact. The tracks all sound a bit alike and if there is one stand out song then I'd pick "Sa Et Haluu" which has a nice 77' punk feel to it. By no means one of those classic '80s Finnish hardcore punk records but nice to have a reissue and Final Doomsday have done a nice job in that regard. 

Rutto - Ilmastoitu Painajainen EP

Label: Final Doomsday Records; Year: 2022; Format: 7" EP

Just like above EP the second Rutto EP was originally released on IKBAL, this one in 1984. A-Side has in my opinion the best songs Rutto recorded as those thrashers are as fast, frantic and chaotic as any Terveet Kadet song to make the comparison since Piasky served on bass. Guitarist Makinen (also of Kuolema) rips through those songs while Kana struggles to keep up screaming but the end result was as good as many of the far better known acts from the land of thousand lakes. It's a shame that the B-Side is a letdown and contains a badly produced mid-tempo punk song that quite frankly should have never made it onto vinyl. Still, if you are like me and can never get enough of that chaotic '80s hardcore punk from Finland then this is worth picking up for that one side only. As mentioned above I don't think anyone will place Rutto in the same league as Rattus, TK, Kaaos et al. but these reissues are nevertheless worth your hard earned cash.