OZ - La Oz [Beer]

The Oz brings together Finland's answer to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, raw and unpolished, and somehow more Scandinavian for that, now pressed on beer-colored vinyl.

Formed in 1977 in the small town of Nakkila, Oz spent five years developing towards a debut album that would make them Scandinavia's biggest heavy metal band, even beating out Swedish band Heavy Load, no small feat given how seriously that country takes the genre. Mark Ruffneck on drums, Ape de Martini's vocals, Tauno Vajavaara's bass and Kario Elo's guitar built something that owed a lot to Priest and Sabbath while sounding unmistakably like four guys from a small Finnish town who had found their way largely on their own.

Saturday Night is a pure weekend anthem, riffs designed for a room full of denim and leather. Capricorn Man leans into the theatrical, slightly mystical stance that the genre demanded at the time, and Second-Hand Lady earns its bolder reputation with a swagger that never apologizes.

Raw, direct and completely unconcerned with subtlety. The Finnish metal scene owes this band more than it usually recognizes.

List of titles

Side A 

1. Hey You
2. Call from Your Eyes
3. Runnin' the Line
4. Rather Knight

Side B

1. Saturday Night
2. Second Hand Lady
3. In the Chains
4. Capricorn Man