CMX – Cloaca Maxima (1997)

When I was growing up in the 90's, CMX was one of the most important bands to people around me. I also listened to their music quite a lot. In Finland, not knowing them was pretty much impossible. They were huge. It's funny to think that a band that started their career with gritty punk music became one of the biggest bands in Finland. CMX comes from the album title Cloaca Maxima, which means the great sewer of the Roman empire. This album is a 3 CD collection of hits, B-sides and live-recordings. The first album concentrates on the band's early songs which are a bit heavier and have fairly rough themes while the second album is mostly haunting and beautiful ballads from more recent albums. The third album is mostly B-sides and rarities. Even though I liked individual albums by CMX back in the day, I never felt like I needed any other albums besides this.



I haven't really listened to CMX that much in the last 20 years. It was fairly soon after buying this album, that I became interested in other musical styles and CMX became somewhat uncool in my circles. Now that I'm listening to the album again, I feel very nostalgic, but at the same time I'm quite amazed how bad some of the vocals are. The lead singer A.W. Yrjänä really isn't that good a vocalist. He has a deep baritone voice that sounds good when he gets to sing low melodies that are simple enough, but whenever he gets a bit higher, his voice breaks and sounds quite out of tune.

There are so many songs on this album that I can't possibly go through all of them. Instead I'm going to mention some highlights. The album starts with a remake of the song Ainomieli. This rock song is a very typical Finnish rock song. The chorus is very catchy and upbeat and I'm sure I have in many occasion partied to this song. Kultanaamio is another clear hit song. The melody is very catchy and there are all the elements of a hit in this song. Nahkaparturi is an example of CMX's early punk style. It's quite aggressive and heavy compared to more recent albums. Nainen tanssii tangoa is a great mix of old-school Finnish tango and progressive rock. I remember this song vividly from the first gig I ever saw from CMX in the year 1994. Kirosäkeet is one of my favourite songs by CMX. The melody is excellent and I remember singing this song all the time as a teenager. I also used to like the guitar riffs that now sound a bit badly played. Linnunhammas has some heavy guitar riffs that were very popular in Finnish pop-music in the 90's. The second CD starts with a church hymn Hiljaisuuteen, which I really liked back in the day because of its beautiful melancholic melody. There's something truly Finnish about this song. Ruoste is one of the biggest hits by the band. It's a ballad with some beautiful melodies and string arrangements. The poetry seemed very deep for a young teenager. Turkoosi wasn't really a hit, but I really liked this song. It sounds like some Finnish folk songs of old. Pelasta Maailma was also a massive hit. This ballad has some electronic sounds and some of the cheesiest lyrics around. The title alone means 'save the world'. I used to play this a lot on a guitar when I was young. Talvipäivänseisaus is an extraordinarily beautiful composition, but the lyrics are so incredibly dark that it's almost funny. They tell about livestock dying in the cold climate and fetuses freezing in the womb. On the last CD I really liked the song Siivekäs, even though the electronic sounds are not that great. The melody of the chorus must've made an impression on me. Marmori was also a great song in all its grandiloquent splendour.

We're talking about a band from the 90's, so of course there are music videos. I remember the music video for Ruoste well. There are similarities to other music videos from the 90's. It really reminds me of the music video for Unforgiven by Metallica. In the music video, the band members enact some classical statues. There are also some medieval warriors etc. that other people are painting.

CMX is one of those bands that really were a big part of my youth, but that I don't listen to at all anymore. It's a great example of how important domestic popular music is in Finland. Especially in the 90's, the charts were filled with Finnish bands and their songs and as a result bands from abroad didn't tour in Finland, because their albums didn't have good enough sales in Finland. There's always been a really strong interest in Finnish literature, music and films in Finland, despite it being such a small country. CMX is one of the biggest bands in Finland's music history.

Listen to the album on Spotify.