Monster band has Finland fretting over face it shows........

They have eight-foot retractable latex Satan wings, sing hits like "Chainsaw Buffet" and blow up slabs of smoking meat on stage. So the heavy-metal band Lordi expected a reaction when it was chosen to represent Finland at Eurovision, the European song competition that launched Abba and Celine Dion.

But the Finnish monster band did not imagine its selection would inspire a national identity crisis.

First, Finnish religious leaders warned that the Freddie Kruger look-a-likes could inspire Satanic worship. Then critics called for President Tarja Halonen to use her constitutional powers to veto the band and nominate a traditional Finnish folk singer instead. Rumors even circulated that the five members of Lordi were KGB agents sent by Vladimir Putin to destabilize Finland before a Russian coup and that explained why they refused to take off their freakish masks in public.

The backlash migrated to Greece, winner of last year's Eurovision and site of the next contest, in Athens in August. An anti-Lordi movement called Hellenes urged the Finnish government to "say 'no' to this evil group." One young Finn calling himself Suomi (Finland in Finnish) wrote to a newspaper blog saying: "If Lordi wins Eurovision, I am leaving the country."

The lead singer, Lordi, a former film student who goes by the name Tomi Putaansuu when not wielding a blood- spurting electric chainsaw, is philosophical about the uproar.

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The affair, he says, has exposed the insecurity of a young country whose language is spoken by only six million people worldwide and whose sense of identity has been dented by being part of the Swedish kingdom and the Russian empire until gaining independence in 1917. Most Finns, he adds, would rather be known for Santa Claus than heavily made-up monster mutants.

"In Finland, we have no Eiffel Tower, few real famous artists, it is freezing cold and we suffer from low self-esteem," said Lordi, who has horns protruding from his face mask and sports black fingernails 15 centimeters, or 6 inches, long.

As he stuck out his tongue menacingly, his red demon eyes glaring, Lordi was surrounded by Kita, an alien- man-beast predator who plays flame- spitting drums from inside a cage; Awa, a blood-splattered ghost who howls back-up; Ox, a zombie bull who plays bass; and Amen, a mummy in a rubber loincloth who plays guitar.

Dragging on a cigarette, Lordi added, "Finns nearly choked on their cereal when they realized we were the face Finland would be showing to the world."

Often derided as a showcase of kitsch, Eurovision is one of the most watched television programs in the world. It pits pop groups from all over Europe and the Middle East against one another, with the winner decided by popular vote by more than 600 million television spectators.

It is not the first time the contest, which premiered in 1956, has spawned discontent. Last year's Ukrainian entry song was rewritten after being deemed too political because it celebrated the Orange Revolution. When Dana International, an Israeli transsexual won in 1998 with her hit song "Diva," rabbis accused her of flouting the values of the Jewish state.

But not everyone in the country views the monster squad as un-Finnish. Some Finns say Lordi is right at home, and that its use of flaming dragon-encrusted swords and exploding baby dolls express the warrior spirit of the Vikings.

Alex Nieminen, a Finnish ad executive, says the band harks back to the Hakkapeliittas, a legendary Finnish cavalry unit that fought as part of the Swedish Army in the 17th century. He argues that the slasher-film wannabes embody Finnish self-assertion after decades of isolation.

"Lordi represents a rebellion by Finns who are saying, 'Hey, we are not all the Nokia-wielding people the government would like you to think we are,'" Nieminen says.

Lordi won the right to go to Athens with its Kiss-inspired anthem "Hard Rock Hallelujah," with its English-language lyrics, "Wings on my back/I got horns on my head/my fangs are sharp/ and my eyes are red."

The Finns' fascination for Lordi may reflect their eternal hope after coming in last at Eurovision eight times. Some Finns rank that on a level with national humiliations like the nation's appeasement of the Soviet Union or losing in hockey to Sweden.

Finns attribute their Eurovision losing streak to the fact that contestants have typically sung in their mother tongue, adifficult Uralic language in which words with three umlauts are not uncommon.

"Finland, zero points" has become a source of deep embarrassment in the nation's psyche," says Ilkka Mattila, the country's leading music critic. "So Lordi's success must be understood as a vote by people who feel we have nothing to lose."