Metal Minis - Vilifier - Okkulta

Vilifier - Rehearsal MMXI [Demo]

Vilifier are a rather intriguing black/death act to appear from Australia. Their material is does not defy the Australian traditional of gore soaked raw bestiality, but their three track rehearsal demo provides a little more than standard, compulsory black/thrashing onslaughts or fluent, dissecting raw black metal inclinations that seem to be getting popular every day, simply by exposing the music with almost sophisticated touches. Think of a slower Teitanblood or a more chug laden Antediluvian, fuse it with glimpses of unbridled ruptures, and you have Vilifier. The band excels at constructed well-maintained bridges to fluctuate between monotonous death/doom trudges and voluptuous moments of festering precision, blasting out rancid, piercing tremolos here and there. While it is short, the fifteen minute demo introduces and introspective channel that finds its way through darkness and chaos, and therefore there’s plenty of variation here, with the cherry on top of the cake being the abrasive, ear-shattering growls of the vocalist, a cavernous experience. Even amongst the more seasoned and professional acts to emerge from Aussie, Vilifier somehow stands out, and any resident war metal fan should have no problem welcoming this demo.

Okkulta - Witch [Demo]

Okkulta hail from Sweden and they’re yet another traditional heavy metal act to embrace the old school fervour they possess. However, their inclinations lean towards a somewhat eviler brand of traditional heavy, as stated on the title of the demo. The occult, evil, blasphemy and sorcery all seem to be themes that interest the young outfit, but queerly, they don’t fail at projecting that fervour onto their music, and all of a sudden you have two concise tracks, darker than any usual aspect to emerge from Sweden, and the slight deviation serves as the fulcrum of the demo. ‘’Devil’s Truth’’ leads the listener viscously with a visceral guitar tone and a couple of catchy tremolo passages, ultimately finalizing too quick for the listener to properly appease /himself/herself. Almost black metal-esque chords disseminate as they melt into a hooking verse and the vocals sing along truculently, a little immature but still decent. The following piece ‘’Witch’’ keeps a slightly more intricate persona, and scatters the demo into a more ritualistic hymn. Perhaps not all the aspects of the demo were well done, but I still enjoyed it. This may augment into something more promising in the future.

Vilifier: 8.50/10

Okkulta: 8/10

Morbus Chron - A Saunter Through The Shroud

With last year’s ‘’Sleeper In The Rift’’ Morbus Chron firmly established themselves as one of the effective and cunning death metal bands of the last five years. It was their sheer eloquence, their fleshy brand of Swedish death metal that set them apart from the hordes that engulfed the death metal scene, and with their impressive manoeuvres, the found the spotlight and won numerous accolades for their lasting, fluent effort. Now, it seems the band has got a tighter grip on large audiences, signing with Century Media Records, an undoubtedly advantageous move for both. Century Media has long been signing crappy modern metal acts, therefore this release may put off some strict underground fans, but of late, the label has been picking up some of brighter bulbs in the batch, and these fellow Swedes are one of the label’s front runners without a doubt.

Their debut showed substantial promise for the young act, and their Ep ‘’A Saunter Through The Shroud’’ continues to pursue that goal, but rather than having a huge impact on the scene, it forms the basis for an upcoming sophomore, and it serves as a joint that binds itself to the upcoming record. Morbus Chron has already escaped from the clutches of the generic Swedish death metal cliché with the debut album, but this Ep enlarges their innovative sight a deal further, and with a little more technique and experience, the band has now simply surpassed all the obstinate hindrances of the genre, and is vigorously charging towards an even more intriguing future. The main two influences I can put together are ‘’Human’’ era Death and ‘’Deception Ignored’’ era Deathrow, hints of carnage-riddled Voivod, even nuances in between arduous passages that resemble certain Finnish death metal acts, particularly Demilich and Convulse, and there’s tidbits of Autopsy as well, hidden in certain bowel-disintegrating lurches. All of these influences congeal into a brazen fusion, and once you insert a hostile, ferocious cross of Chuck Shuldiner and John Tardy, an organic and somewhat unpredictable array of drum beats, you have a gulping, menacing combination that reeks of originality even though all of its pieces are snatched from other sources, and it sounds as if Morbus Chron is inaugurating the flowering of something new.

The coming of a completely new advent does seem like delusional idea from a distance, but the band has just started to churn its fruitful compositions, and I can only hope there still much to hear from them. That said, Morbus Chron’s excursions are very alien too. On the Ep, the band almost never dementedly charge of pummelling, crushing bombardments of heavily-bestirred Swedish grinding, but instead keeps tangling the listener with fluctuating chains of gore-riddled technicality, and such incursions are nearly unpredictable and seem alien even after numerous spins. The vocals are the main powerhouse of the band here; the growl out ferociously and their serving is far more primal, however well used. I can’t help but listen vigorously with diligence to the band’s hostile work, their astute approach to classic death metal, and albeit this Ep will not appease the most voracious of listeners, it will most certainly keep the drooling constant. 

Highlights:

Channeling The Numinous

The Place Of The Four Hundred Volcanoes 

Rating: 84%

Puteraeon - Cult Cthulhu

Swedish death metal is a trend that has been repeated countless times and is yet to be manipulated and manifested by more bands in the future. Although many acts simply copy the tasteful tone and crunchy hardcore tinged incursions of Dismember, Grave, Grotesque or Entombed, one cannot doubt that Puteraeon, a relatively young Swedish death metal band are much more dominant over the genre’s aesthetics compared to their peers, as they grasp the sound and deform it, mangling it into several pieces that are not impervious to changes and queerer influences. This is, at least what seems to be the case in their sophomore, ‘’Cult Cthulhu’’. They show that they’re aplomb and open for new influences, although stricter fans will be happy to know that experimentation is not overdosed, and massive, guitar with a spectral touch of brooding melodies are still quite well working, pummelling their way through the listener’s ears.

Compared to their debut, Puteraeon give more room to cathartic expressions and melodies quadrants that form up most of the diversity of the riffs. Awkward, but I relate them to Necrovation as both bands had a change is sound after releasing one rather standard and eclectic piece of Swedish death metal, simple, nonetheless still very strong by all standards. Necrovation came through with a bigger and far more changed sound, adding almost classical overtones into the heavy churning of hostile old school death metal, while Puteraeon simply added subdued melodies under the hefty cloak of chainsaw driven guitars and bass lines, and expanding their tone into a more spacious one, to give off a nice dose of atmosphere. ‘’Necrovation’’, which came out mere months before this album, worshipped ethereal pulchritude and was musically tweaked a lot, but such a huge change is not seen on ‘’Cult Cthulhu’’, although I still a huge sucker for its thickly embroidered spurts of crushing hostility.

I’m simply very content with the release as it did not turned out to be forty four minutes of chugs and furious barking, but it turned out to be a much more intriguing bag of riffs that lasted forty four minutes, propulsive and lurching. You’ll notice a semi-transparent black metal tide flowing over you spectrally especially in ‘’Children Of Dagon’’, while doomy goodness is laid upon absolutely gigantic magnifications of amplification on ‘’The Great Epidemic of 1846’’ and ‘’Liberation’’, sweltering with epic and atmospheric elements, but Puteraeon always make you feel home with classy, chunky attacks from ‘’Flesh Architect’’ or ‘’In The Vault’’ – both as forceful as robust iron hammers. I suppose some of the increased melodies and gloomy aspects came from their increased love for Lovecraftian themes, and to be honest, as a fan of the horror master himself, I found the fresh attributes to be well placed. As a whole, ‘’Cult Cthulhu’’ redeems you from your lust for massive guitars and filters, but it also offers it with slight distinctions, so you’re bored to death. We have so many Swedish hounds now at hand that I honestly don’t know where to keep them, so someone had better find a solution. 

Highlights:

In The Vault

Flesh Architect 

The Great Epidemic Of 1846

The Azathoth Cycle 

Rating: 88%

Flagellated Seraph - Beyond Salvation

I’ve always had a substantial amount of respect for Sweden’s enveloping black metal scene, even though I’ve never quite been into many bands besides Marduk. It’s a queer thing, because Sweden is usually known for housing scores of depraved death metal bands—bands which especially dislike the Norwegian black metal scene that started to get big in the 90’s, and now, a whole new dose of fresh Swedish black metal hits me right in the face with pummelling grooves, sublime savagery and a love for chaos. Hellthrasher Productions is not the first label that would come to mind when you say black metal, especially because almost all of their releases are pure, old school drenched death metal, but somehow, a bile spurting black metal group called Flagellated Seraph found their way into the label’s door. Yes, it’s black metal, with strong death metal overtones, Flagellated Seraph forge a blade sharp enough to cut through even the strictest of death metal fans, and one blade that can definitely call a number of black metal blasphemers to the banners.

‘’Beyond Salvation’’, the debut full-length by these Swedish extremists, is rather enjoyable listen, mainly because its level of accessibility is high and the music itself is more primal and demented rather than raw, excluding raw, gritty black metal aspects and replacing them with more voluptuous elements in order to add a subtle hint of melody, vivacity and tinge of tremolo driven rambunctious pulchritude. ‘’Beyond Salvation’’ is certainly not as teeth gritting as you’d expect it to be, but atmosphere is an attribute that’s hugely embraced throughout. The majority of the riffs slow stridently with immense intensity, showing hints of right hand guitar prowess, and rather positive aura dominates the atmosphere. It’s a combination of primitive black metal barbarity and the late coming atmospheric Norwegian black wave, grouping together elements of both, with a propulsive touch of thrash metal crust. Its accessibility is a tremendous element to throw in, spraying light upon each and every riff, yet the textures and guitar tones are gritty, cantankerous and laden with serrated sharp teeth.

There is a sort of negative part of the coin, though, one that may cut the entertainment short for many. The album consists of six songs, and with two of them being a depressive, drudgy laments, there’s only thirty minutes of energy driven black metal viscera left for us to enjoy. Nonetheless, it’s still not the shortest metal album in history, so you’d better learn to enjoy it. Each song is rather extensive, but still exceedingly fluent all the way, and each riff is a reasonable follow up to its predecessor, continuing in the same diverse vein with only some nuances hinted here and there. The verse and intro sections of all the songs are a rough mish mash of black metal fury and musty death metal, but the chorus sections rise to the climax of the atmosphere all the same. The vocals are the perfect harsh rasps you need in your black metal, guttural, and sometimes even buried deep within the plethora of crunchy riffs despite their sharp shrillness.

I think it’s safe to say that Flagellated Seraph haven’t produced anything innovative here, but the music is an absolutely terrific mixture of engrossing death metal textures and atmospheric black metal aspects, chaotic, rough and dynamic. ‘’Beyond Salvation’’ puts many black metal releases behind itself thanks to its refreshing features, and it’s just another bonus point for Hellthrasher. I am pierced, shattered and mourning at the same time.

Highlights:

He Who Bears The Mark

Beyond Salvation

Redeemer Of Nothingness

Rating: 86%

Corrosive Carcass - Composition Flesh

Flesh, flesh, flesh. What a wonderful thing it is. Flesh, gore, and blood are things that have been manipulated countless times in the metal universe, and little surprise there; it's one element that simply wants to be grasped by scores of bands. Especially when the matter is Swedish death metal, and when bands can't find anything to talk about other than ghouls and zombies, vivisection, dissection and butchering seem like very appealing lyrical subjects, and whether you're bored of the same gore laden lyrics or not, let's admit it, the plasma creature with numerous flesh webs sticking out of its bodice is a pretty cool armament for Swedish slaughterers to use to boast their mighty heavy churning of old school Swedeath. It's another Swedish band, another list of blood-dripping caustic songs, so I ask you, what the hell is special about Corrosive Carcass and their brand of infinitely duplicated Swedish styled death metal? Nothing, if truth be told, but besides a few bands, this is the best imitation  I've heard all year, and I'm aplomb that you'll find the scathing turbulence of the music pleasuring, if not wholly convincing.

This seriously is a complete composition of Dismember/Entombed worshiping, but then again, what band that engrossed the similar chainsaw textures didn't gimmick? Sure, there's been bands that added a twist of melody there and a hint of black here to prove to be more efficient and more original, but once you have such a cunning barrage of corpse-mangling, buzz laden violence, one can only care. Something that restores the energy here is definitely the length of the songs. Almost each song is as fast as a grindcore piece and as rambunctious as spiking thrash attack, and the intensity serves as a viable instrument to behold and set loose the immense plethora of fury driven riffs that reek of old school, and of course, flesh. Even the track titles seem as if they were written by some mad butcher, or some serial killer, as the album bears titles like ''Chainsaw Dissection'', ''Twist Of  Knife'', ''Butchershop'' or ''The Flesh Is Not Enough'' which are so obsessed with murder and flesh that they seem more laughable rather than taken seriously. Over the thirteen songs on the album, only a couple of tracks show slight variation with different pacing of a few elements to garnish to the aura of the record, but as a whole, you'll find nothing but pure crushing insanity and horror obsessed death metal monstrosity.

''Collector'' has to be one of the more efficient tracks on the record, dealing twice as much pain as any with its near five minute length and sheer force that comes untouched, and some distinct aspects hidden in the brief clean guitar medley near the end. ''Composition Of Flesh'' is vulgar and abrupt in every matter, but that doesn't stop it from attaining a decent level of musicianship throughout, as I find the mass explosion of crunchy riffs to be as stamina draining as they are shattering, and the subtle melodies to be well composed and well placed among the other riffs. Yes, the path of the flesh is set, and set well I would say, but now, it's totally up to the tissues that form it to either thrive it further, or drown and distort it with their rancorous vibrations. And this album remains as one of the numerous pieces that are linked together in the formation of the flesh, and a robust piece at that.

Highlights:
Butchershop 
Collector
Hunger


Rating: 84%


Follow the Swedish death metallers from Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Corrosive-Carcass/142603437551

Corrupt - Slavestate Serenades

There's not much that could be said about Sweden's Corrupt. They started in 2002 as Corrupted and then with a sudden change, they altered their name to Corrupt in 2004, and after a good ten years, they've finally conjured up the material to strap together and form a debut full-length. Corrupt's style can be easily characterized as a simple gimmick of mid/early 80's bitter thrash style, drawing influences from mainly Kreator, Sodom and Celtic Frost maybe, with some occasional bay area violence snatched from Vio-lence, Slayer and Exodus. With it's basics channeling through territory everyone is acquainted with, you'll have no trouble comprehending ''Slavestate Serenades'', so much as you'll find it technical or sophisticated, but either way, it can still grant you a fun listen.

Oh, I've heard the similar intense drumming and generic chugging for a long time, as long as I've been familiar with metal, so there was really nothing new offered. Corrupt do tend to excel at fast, vicious thrash attacks of the most standard kind, I appreciate how the energy is raw and and not canned, with speedy riffs flying everywhere, but even the tone is bleak and relatively weak, so you won't be able to fully pleasure yourslef with the metallic chugs and all. ''Perjury'' and ''To What End'' are prime examples of the album's vicious, rapturous barrage of slashing riffs that attack like barbaric hounds without chains to bind them, and a ''Pleasure To Kill''/''Endless Pain'' influence has a strong dominion over the riffs during their assault. Even when the length of the tracks stretch, the vivacity is maintained and the music doesn't sound half as bad as the better ones, but all in all, I was scarce interested by the musicianship.

''Slavestate Serenades'' is not a tiring listen, though, and you'll be surprised how pleasing you'll find its one-dimensional look upon thrash. The riffs are as I stated, brawny and gormandizing in a muscular attitude at all times, but I've actually enjoyed the semi-cavernous, hoarse rasps of the vocalist, consisting of traits belonging to typical black/thrash suspects. In order to boast my theory of this being related to black/thrash, I'll also bring some of the sharper riffs and tremolo pickings found ''Era Of Terror'', or the completely propulsive exploitation savage riffs on ''Dwell In Disgust'', all simple attributes, but they resemble black/thrash all the same. Even though the compositions and song writing capabilities of Corrupt are clearly futile, their debut record will still hit you like a storming whip on the back, and while it's not wholly hefty, it's as piercingly cunning as an assassin dicing away flesh in the middle of the night.

Highlights:
Era Of Terror
Perjury
Possessed By Evil


Rating: 74%

Necrovation - Necrovation

Necrovation's humble beginnings showed no differentiation from all the other Swedish death metal bands that consumed the scene as they played a generic brand of old school Swedish death metal, complete with all the typical traits; buzzsaw guitars, chubby tones and hardcore-tinged crust attacks. But their self titled tide is no meager gimmick, and it almost seems as very few of the traits on the previous recorded have been bequeathed, and left me in confusion. ''Swedish Death Metal'' is an understatement for the eponymous Necrovation release, a dark, looming apparition born of the shadowy tides shown at the cover art, proving to be a magnificent churning of technicality, surpassing efficiency, crushing all the rules that were laid down by masters like Entombed, Unleashed or Grave, thus renewing the spirit of death metal as we know it, creating a fresh area for the genre to spawn and rejuvenate. Yes, it has only been four years in between two releases, yet the changes are dramatic, and it feels as if the band has aged near ten years.

Necrovation's self titled album is a major departure from their previous sound, so it's basically departing from the generic ''Swedeath'' territory as well. This album is eclectic, and you can notice that from its every move and from all the elements used to create its formula. I can name a vast array of influences that I found effective during the construction of the album; a strong feeling for the old sound is still present borrowing some attributes from Tormented and Tribulation especially, but besides those, there's a keen focus on some more technical details that many tend to omit such as ''Deception Ignored'' era Deathrow, hinted in the usage of queer notes and semi-technical melodies, showing a rather perverse attitude while compared to other Swwdish death acts, some Revenant slithering through the general flow of the record (especially in the vocals), and maybe even some Death circa ''Human'' as the flux of melodic thrums and solos often remind me of Chuck Shuldiner's blazing leads. These are some influences I could think of, but it's obvious that Necrovation have conjured their own sound besides those.

Atmosphere is not the right word to describe the spectral feeling that dominates you while the guitars and drums rage and collide in the background.  It's more of a feeling, a dark, gloomy feeling, but to make a long story short, it's beautiful, and sinister in the right way, without mutilating the function of the record. The guitar tone is something else on its own, thin, metallic, chilling, yet still maintaining density throughout; it cuts deeper than an executioner's blade, but it's lighter and swifter than needle while it plunges into the flesh of the listener.  It's no easy job to avoid the eerie rasps of the vocals, dispersing in a bleak, dark aura not over but in the back of the riffs, muffled and distorted yet still very vivacious and savage, no different than any sort of classic Swedeath vocal work. All in all, the technical prowess and togetherness of the music is perfectly balanced as each piece of the puzzle fits right in, and it is not feasible to construct such a dark monolith.

The level of queerness is parallel to the level of innovation and eccentricity, and whether it be the sudden changes of tempos, varied chugs, bizarre melodies engulfing the record or the most interesting piece of acoustic interludes and symphonic instrumentals found on ''The Transition'', these record is incredibly original and proficient, and in my eye, it's a collection of odd compositions embracing the bleak, dark aura of death metal, with lots of derivation, and it's near perfect. Such assorted diversity hasn't been offered to me by any band this year, and I'm extremely content with the brilliance of this album. A mixture of anxiety, confusion and wonder surrounds me while I listen to this. You will no doubt awe as I did, even if you won't like it.

Highlights:
Necrovorous Insurrection
Dark Lead Dead
Resurrectionist
Ill Mouth Madness (The Many)


Rating: 93%

Metal Minis #1 - Innsmouth/Mongrel's Cross - Uncanny

This is the first of the ''metal minis'' series wherein I will shortly review EPs or demos that I can't find much to say about. I will generally review two releases in each part of the series, though sometimes I may review more than two releases. It's really up to me.

The names up there in the title are not release names, but the names of the bands that have released the demo/Ep that I am to review. So now, I give you two fantastic bands:

Innsmouth/Mongrel's Cross - The Plutonian Drug/Starfire Communion [Split]

Here, we have a two way split done with two Australian bands; Innsmouth and Mongrel's Cross. Mongrel's Cross already impressed me beyond belief with the release of their debut full-length, ''The Sins Of Aquarius'', a filthy chunk of spiteful blackened death/thrash with tons of crust and cunning, but Innsmouth are a stranger to me, and if truth be told, the only reason I was drawn towards Innsmouth at first was because their name and content reeked of Lovecraft, and ''Shadow Over Innsmouth'' has to be one of my favorite Lovecraft stories. Books aside, Innsmouth play some seriously heavy, buzz-driven filthy Finnish death metal for the most part, and their brand of old school death metal is surprisingly catchy, melancholic and distorted. There's a heavy stench of Finnish death metal snatched from bands like early Sentenced, Purtenance, Convulse, Abhorrence and alike, flourished with a raw production tone,again, resembling the Finnish death metal bands. Mongrel's Cross also bend towards a more raw and blackened overtone, disposing of the heavy death metal influence that was present on the debut album and leaving dirty, crusty thrash with a chaotic black metal spice on top of it, just the way old schoolers like it. Innsmouth have enough material to make a full-length, and I'm already highly content with the Mongrel's Cross album, so we'll just have to wait while salivating over the thought of a new album.

Uncanny - Path Of The Flesh [EP]

Ah, yes. The Swedish death metal trend continues to spread across the circulatory system of the metal universe like an infectious disease, so common that many already show symptoms of the plague, but fortunately this time we have a band who's actually among giants like Entombed, Dismember and Grave as Uncanny had their debut album released way back, in 1994. So thankfully, they're not exactly imitating anyone, bu they're not exactly bringing fresh meat to the butcher either. Nonetheless, I have a substantial amount of respect of chainsaw oriented madness with the corpulent and copious guitar tone, and Uncanny are inserting a very good measure of groove into their music, sensationally pummeling the listener whilst driving neck towards the edge to destruction. It's frantic and it's still rotten, and even if you don't enjoy this sort of music that the current scene is plagued with, it's good to know that some purveyors of death are coming back from the graveyard dust to smack metalheads with a heavy current of old school Swedish filth. The Ep has only two songs, and it can still be counted as a departure from their former sound, but fans will enjoy it nonetheless.

Innsmouth/Mongrel's Cross: 8.50/10
Uncanny: 7.75/10

Decomposed - Decomposed

I'd been following Sweden's newest death metal massacre Decomposed ever since the release of their 2011 demo, ''Stench Of Death'', another fine slab of punk soaked chainsaw driven Swedish death metal which unfortunately didn't get enough attention as it should have gotten. With the release of their eponymous debut full-length, I can see that they've grown even more mature, and although their style isn't extremely distinguished, few old schoolers will dislike the festering crunch and crust of this maniacal chainsaw assault. Decomposed present surprisingly heavy, cadaverous Swedeath that draw influences heavily from Dismember, Entombed, God Macabre etc, and with a few merits of its own, the music becomes rich in sparse innovations and some twisted melodies, surpassing the boundaries of boredom and repetitivity, forming a rather lasting current of rotten goodness.

I do see some maturity compared to the demo, with a more professional sounding production quality and sturdier riffs, but besides those, it's obvious that they're not changing the basis of their sound, sticking to the classic Swedeath formula for the entire duration of the album. The great thing about ''Decomposed'' is that even though the riffs are nothing new, they're ridiculously catchy and groovy, and besides typical grinding power chord incursions, atmosphere is also a favored aspect, as you can notice from the frequent usage of spectral tremolos and a cavernous, sonorous atmosphere inundating the riffs. That being said, I'll also have to add that there's a threshold of murky, doom laden riffs amongst the bloodier ones doused in subtle horror. To be completely honest, I've never found the crushing, hardcore-tinged bit of Swedish death metal too pleasuring as they sound rather dull and too copious at times, but I've certainly enjoyed creepy melodies and Autopsy-esque song writing aesthetics to the fullest, and ''Decomposed'' mostly excels in inserting a healthy dose of mid paced gloom horror, giving shape to the macabre figure on the album cover.

That's right. This album is a blood chilling experience throughout, simply not excluding the melodious moans for a single minute. Despite its terrifying approach, ''Decomposed'' still has to maintain its muscular balance, as it is, after all, an aggressive death metal album. Brawny chord progressions are dotted with thrash, and they sound especially menacing and crusty with the violent percussion occurring behind, but still channeling inside a resonant sphere. The drums sort of drown in the production and get smothered, but it's only natural in order for the album to preserve the ambiance, and the vocals are another great touch; muffled groans and growls with plenty of chunk and density to them, fitting right into the murky aura of the album. The album is resonant, but not as thrilling as say the debut of Horrendous, ''The Chills'', a slightly more engulfing experience. That pretty much covers all the aspects and elements of ''Decomposed'' as they are unfortunately not plenty in variety, but that doesn't stop them from being high quality. Heads will bob as tracks like ''Infernal Torment'', ''Stench Of Death'' or even ''Ceremonial Slaughter'' lay waste to the earth, but I also loved the ghastly horror melodies on ''Macabre Vision'' or the over six-minute grand finale, ''Ethereal Landscapes'', a sanguinary Swedeath/Autopsy magnum opus of doomy beauty.

Decomposed's self titled debut full-length impressed me beyond belief and now, it's firmly placed in the ''Hope Of Death'' rack of my collection, along with Horrendous, Tormented, Funebrarum and alike. Many complain that the scene is over-saturated with copious amounts of Entombed/Dismember worshipers, but I say nay, for this scene is yet to be befouled by many, many other blistering beasts that will come out of nowhere. Come, we await your presence.

Highlights:
Ethereal Landscapes
Stench Of Death
Ceremonial Slaughter


Rating: 87%


Follow Decomposed on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Decomposed/184061241645341

Tormented - Graveyard Lust

Emerging from the depths of the graveyard dust, slithering among fiends and skeletons, the modern masters of Swedish horror return with yet another stomach-churning release of putrid, irresistible chainsaw driven groove and archaic flesh that fill not fail to achieve what Tormented achieved in the near past. Tormented are one of the most successful bands to create top-tier Swedish death metal, the way it was made in the 90's. Tormented are no strangers to this style. Their debut album ''Rotten Death'' was a prime example of old school Swedeath, and they succeeded in churning the ghastly sound of chainsaw oriented punk madness with some of their own twists, bringing contrast and quality to their music. Their latest EP, ''Graveyard Lust'' is the exact continuation of the previous release, and many fans will be pleased to hear that their sound has stayed fresh (although still very rotten), so this is simply another slab of horror laden graveyard metal, decorated with all the fine elements of elegantly composed brutality.

Another thing that you should be content about is that the EP rages for a good twenty-five minutes packed in six songs (only eight minutes less from the album), so many will gladly feast upon this bloodied piece of thrusting carnage. As I said, this basically starts where ''Rotten Death'' left, so don't expect to find too much variation compared to the debut. Tormented's classic brand of tinging, brooding melodies flow just like they flowed previously, bringing an even more eerie overtone to the hefty riffs. The riffs still preserve their putrid stench, channeling through a combination of mid-paced chord progressions, standard tremolo picking that get slightly muffled in the mix and rabid gushes of punk inspired chainsaw mayhem--all, the traditional traits of Swedish death metal. I can't really dub the material here as original, because Tormented have mostly borrowed styles rather than creating their own, but every track is a burden of groove and a sensational onslaught, crushing and hostile in every way, and still, Tormented manage to get some liveliness into those raw riffs, with hint of looming melodies, a dash of distorted production and that fantastic buzz saw guitar tone to top it all.

It's fun yes, but I just couldn't help but feel that Tormented wasn't dwelling upon whilst writing their songs as some tracks had little to separate themselves from the others. The title track and ''Slowly Twisted In Death'' are superb compositions of necroptic Swedeath, but some other pieces like ''Revel In Blood'' or ''Horror Of The Faceless Man'' just stick to the very basics of the formula, sounding a little bit repetitive at times, even though they're still farm from dull or boring. The production here has a tiny bit of more spark and light on it then before, so the riffs don't entirely drown and die, and the drums sound much more efficient and clear this time, sounding like more of a beast than a monotonous metronome. Each track is nasty and cryptic of course, and we have the fantastic vocal delivery of singer/guitarist Andreas Axelsson. HE sounds as if he didn't age a bit even though there's been a good gap of three years between this EP and the debut album, and his sick voice is muffled and obviously manipulated, adding a hollow dissonance to the harsh, throaty snarls and growls. He  growls well, but I'd say his voice is also suitable for a vicious, fast thrash metal band in the vein of Sodom, Kreator, Morbid Saint, etc. This EP brings good news to fans, because with six tracks already recorded and released, a second full-length shouldn't be very distant. Until that comes out, enjoy this piece of grisly Swedeath excellence.

Highlights:
Sick In The Dead
Slowly Twisted In Death
Graveyard Lust


Rating: 85%


Follow the Swedish masters from Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tormented/161161300563301

RAM - Death

RAM are actually growing more and more popular with each release, and they could actually be dubbed as one of the leaders in the sudden blast of Swedish heavy metal bands. Their sound is quite similar to the sound of their fellow countrymen Portrait, In Solitude and Trial. Their growing popularity is probably one thing that renews and replenishes their quality, and now that they're signed to Metal Blade Records, you'd expect them to act with more caution and produce even better material then before, maintaining the solidity of their music. I can't really say this whether this is a step back or an improvement compared to the previous album, but I couldn't really feel the whole of RAM's potential bursting out of its veins. They've definitely cultivated the might and power of their riffs and they've found perfect old school traditional heavy metal spot to land their music to, but other than those aspects, this album isn't flawless.

For a start, many tracks can't really attain a distinguished sound, but I suppose the sharp delivery of the vocals and shrewd drumming makes up for those minor gaps. Yes, if you're into pure energy and power then for the most part, ''Death'' may be a good fit for you, but for listeners who delicately investigate every single detail and aspect, then the album may not be that near to excellence. Tracks like ''Defiant'' or ''Release'' me are your one way tickets to a time ride going back to the late 70's and early to mid 80's, having a certain accent and some Judas Priest worshiping done right. Once the groovy riffs are nailed right they sound absolutely great, chunky, catchy chugs and gallops accompanied with thumping drum beats from behind and maybe an occasional melody lingering about, boasting the velocity and energy of the riffs. RAM have definitely captured that old school heavy metal sound, but when it comes to projecting it perfectly on every aspect and keeping the whole balance of the album even, the band does have a few gaps here and there that eventually start to eat through the good bits of the album. Some highlights are left gnawed and slightly eroded due to the big flaw when linking together two separate sections in songs, but fortunately the gnawing and biting scarcely effects the overall performance of the album.

There are some truly stellar stand out tracks on the album like ''Defiant'' or ''Flame Of The Tyrants'' that are tracks which definitely should capture a good number of traditional heavy metal dorks right away, and I'm not even omitting the thrash laden intro assault on ''...Comes From The Mouth Beyond'', but I feel the biggest gap on this album is the number of unnecessary riffing and sequences that bind other riffs together. ''Frozen'' speaks for itself, its monotonous chugging and desolate clean arpeggio sections lead by an array of classy mini solos should almost be reminiscent of the 80's doom metal sound, with a tinge of classic heavy metal, obviously. The musicianship doesn't make me gape, but the nice combination multiple, simple aspects can bind together at times to form something that's fairly intricate. The vocals are strong and ear shattering all the same, and their presence is always noted, never agitating, so it covers a large portion on the negative qualities that the album possesses. Had more songs like ''Release Me'' or ''Defiant'' been made, then the album could have surely risen to larger heights, but right now, what it already present is very good, and still leaves many modern heavy metal bands running for their money.

Highlights:
Defiant
Release Me
Flame Of The Tyrants


Rating: 83,5%

Steelwing - Zone Of Alienation

I suppose many of you are already aware of the expanding mass of Swedish traditional heavy metal bands, aside from the turbulent assault of Swedeath monsters. The scene never seems to dwindle and with every new band it grows stronger, even more robust then before, and this overgrowing tumor of bands also boasts the quality of older bands, thus giving birth to an abundance of quality bands. Steelwing made a strong enough appearance with the release of their debut ''Lord Of The Wasteland'', and while their sophomore may not be able to surpass the mark that the debut had set for itself, the sophomore still manages to come close. For people who have little idea of what Steelwing sound like, allow me to briefly explain. Steelwing have the obvious traits of heavy metal, and obvious influences that should bring Maiden and Priest to the mind of many. While they sound a lot like the acknowledged masters, Steelwing still bring a fair amount of melody and their own differing twists and turns into the music, creating something that's still relatively diverse yet succinct and comprehensible by pretty much any listener.

''Zone Of Alienation'' doesn't explore many various elements, and perhaps keeping the music a little too concise may have been a mistake, but in during the collision of harmonious melodies and catchy riffs, one scarcely notices the lack of creativity. Plus, you have to admit, this is music that just sounds better when its plain and not very complex, so I can't really deduct points from the band for sounding simple. I'll still persist on my opinion time to time, but all the positive factors of this album would easily cover up my theories. ''Zone Of Alienation'' is lyrically driven towards themes associated with space and all things alien, while the music is simply a soothing gust of wind that's flurried in a soft way, but at the same time slightly assorted in its own terms, repeatedly shifting between various tempos and styles that are all riffs that could be easily found on classic heavy metal releases, only offering a few peculiar attributes. Most tracks have the typical verse-bridge-chorus structures, plain but very enjoyable and memorable nonetheless, and chorus sequences are usually boasted with that epic power/heavy touch with long duration power chords flying around the high pitched vocals soaring over everything -- a beautiful sight.

The good thing about the album is that it's relaxed and never too serious so that it can have the same sort of effect on the listener, chilling his/her mind, and there's no desperate foraging or search for a crucial sound, so the band doesn't fail miserably while trying to attain something utterly different and complex. I love how spate, harmonious guitars linger around shortly along with the soft, chord driven passages. Steelwing is not a group that's up for violent, forceful music, and you should just let the gentle music ooze viscously and effortlessly, with no display of showing great force. Certain sections of ''The Running Man'' and ''Tokkotai (Wind Of Fury)'' are relatively rapid and spiky, while ''Full Speed Ahead'' is a song that's one with its name, showing some serious speed/heavy badassery and incredibly dynamic riffs, both strong and melodic, and the ten minute mega-chain ''Lunacy Rising'' links together everything that has already been offered on the album with almost unnoticeable, brief passages.

Steelwing did a bloody decent job with their sophomore effort, damn near to their astonishing debut. I hope that the waves of bands that come after this are just as good as Steelwing, for if they are the blossoming heavy metal scene in Sweden will suddenly turn into a bountiful treasure of bands. Steelwing are very good at what they do bringing all the common aspects of heavy metal then offering them in the best way possible, but the good thing is, there are scores of bands that play their metal very similar to Steelwing, and unless you didn't like this, you would torturing yourself by not listening to these other groups such as Katana, Portrait, In Solitude, Trial and many more. I'm almost ascertain that that these bands will continue to go ''Full Speed Ahead'', exhaling the enamoured sound of the 80's with ease.

Highlights:
Zone Of Alienation
Lunacy Rising
Full Speed Ahead


Rating: 87%

Ribspreader - The Kult of The Pneumatic Killrod

Ribspreader are just another band lost in the endless current of Swedish death metal bands that are getting increasingly popular and also increasingly agitating. These guys have been around for roughly ten years now, and so far nothing that they've offered was brought a sort of liveliness or contrast to the already expanding scene of Entombed/Dismember worshipers, and their most recent album ''The Van Murders'' was no exception, a rigid piece of mortal flesh that was lost in the vortex of Swedish bands, outshined by the likes of Tribulation or Torment, bands which have projected the classic Swedeath sound exceptionally, by adding their own aroma to the music. ''The Kult Of Pneumatic Killrod'' is just another face in the crowd, another slab of monolithic death/thrash chugging and hardcore tinged chainsaw chord barrages. Rogga Johansson is a man who has been up to a number of old school Swedish death metal bands, and despite this being relatively derivative, I can't help but wonder if Johansson actually slightly got bored and experimented a little, and toyed with the music, just for the sake of fun.

The sources are blatantly obvious. Entombed, Dismember, Carnage, God Macabre and alike, though perhaps due to the change of technology over the years, this monster weights a few kilos heavier than classics like ''Left Hand Path'', ''Like An Everflowing Stream'' or ''The Winterlong''. What I found really boring and uninteresting about the album is that it tends to contain numerous passages that I find completely irrelevant, passages where dual guitars all of a sudden break loose of the frantic battle that was happening a second before and slowly harmonize, change the mood of the album in an instant, thus reducing the quality of the album. Sure, I have a fair amount of respect to raging mammoths like ''Flash Psycho'', but even during its short lifespan, the song transforms into sludgy, melodic turtle. And I found ''The Hegemony Of The Hammer'' to be a completely unnecessary element, its rigid personality mangled with black metal chord sequences and doomy melodies lingering about. This melodic attribute that seems so dominant over the music could be only transmitted from one source: D-i-s-s-e-c-t-i-o-n. It turns out that these guys have experimented a little here, and they've experimented in the wrong way, resulting in a most impotent incursion of simplistic riffs.

Had Ribspreader inserted differing styles and sounds in a more elaborate way, with more focus, precaution an care, then perhaps I could have enjoyed this slab of futile death metal. Even so, Ribspreader still offers some decent death/thrashing Swedeath from time to time, and being extremely accessible is another advantage that the riffs always hide under their cloaks, and the traditional Swedish groove-like sensation is never far apart from the monolithic riffs, battering the listeners neck relentlessly. ''Into The Filt'' can be a prime example of the band's choppy rhythms with a very small amount of that Dissection-esque black metal melody injected into the riffs. The good news is that the music is still fun because it's nothing that can be taken too seriously, and the shortness of the songs increase efficiency, thus enabling the construction of able-bodied, robust tracks that still pretty catchy. No doubt, this album had its flaws, yet its strength is undeniable an it's still a pleasuring listen for those who don't mind it when their meal is too cold, or poor in variety, but just gobble their food for the sake of saturated stomach.

Highlights:
Enter The Megaflesh
Flesh Psycho
Nocturnal Manslaughter


Rating: 73%

Katana-Storms Of War

Anyone acquainted with the current metal trends should know that that Sweden tops off many other rivals when it comes to producing the best material, and recently the great tide of Swedeath monsters have also been boasted by an additional force of traditional heavy metal bands, In Solitude, Portrait, Steelwing and Trial to be some of them. With so many bands forming an thick blockade, it would be naturally a hard task to surpass the quality of all the other bands, but Katana seems like a band that shows promise. I can't really scoff at the waves of traditional heavy metallers, even though they come in abundance and repetition is inevitable in each one of these bands, but lots of bands have tasty and fresh sound to them, rendering all the doppelganging almost useless. Katana is one of these bands. I haven't collided with their debut before, and I enjoy the more traditional, somber side of heavy metal more than this style, but Katana still manages to cut through your flesh.

Just the cover art, and the band name tells what Katana is all about. Samurai, Asian tales and wars and of course, the decisive slash of the katana. In each song, the band is obviously telling tales, and the story progresses thus gradually comes to a conclusion as the song ends. The stories are a good way to keep the listener entertained, so that he/she can swiftly channel between classic NWOBHM galloping chord sequences and soaring vocals as well as some classy shredding solos that never fail to garnish the music. I love that there's always something spiky, something dynamic around the corner. The riffs are composed using simple aesthetics, but they display substantial amount of groove and catchiness and they're hard-hitting effect is also backed up by the force of the vocals. The vocals principally act as a guider, a narrator to tell the tales picked up from the the seven corners of earth, but at the same time, they're a mighty force of their own, an ear-shattering experience once they're set to their max, and although I've heard many heavy and power metal singers that soar on top of their lungs and excel in epic, melodic moments, vocalist Johan Bernspang really stands out for some unknown reason. Naturally, the riffs have a hint of technicality even though it's nothing mind blowing, and headbang-friendly speed/heavy metal tremolo pickings pop up every once in a while, adding a refreshing ferocity to the music.

I don't know whether I can appreciate this form of traditional heavy metal to the fullest, but Katana definitely did a fine job, and many songs have a subtle diversity to them, giving the album color and aroma in a bountiful measure. For example, ''Wrath Of The Emerald Witch'' is one ridiculously catchy track in particular, having both versatile riffs and having an extremely memorable verse-chorus structure that even mainstream people can get a hang of easily, ''Khubilai Khan'' offers a more melodic sound with more epic moments rather than striking moments and I just can seem to stop listening to the vigorous bursts coming from the group vocal attacks on ''City On The Edge Of Forever'', a stimulating experience. Many people are probably engulfing themselves in the vast majority of Swedish death metal ghouls, or perhaps other heavy metal bands coming from Sweden, but heed my words, because Katana is a band that ought to be contemplated with. ''Storms Of War'' is a good album, and I hope Katana can conjure up even better material for the upcoming album, so that the katana's next blow will be more decisive, more deadly.

Highlights:
Wrath Of The Emerald Witch
Khubilai Khan
City On The Edge Of Forever


Rating: 84%

Follow the Swedes on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KatanaOfficial

Kill-Burning Blood

Due to the increasing number of war metal bands popping up, my Mp3 player is starting to fill up with more and more of these bands and my ears are starting to taste even better meals than before. What Kill offers on their album ''Burning Blood'' is simply nothing new, but all the great aspects of war metal are gathered in one package, and thus the pure essence of dark, chaotic, blasphemous black/death is renewed once again. I see many great bands slowly dwindling and dying with each release, and I also see a great number of bands emerging from the decrepit passages of evil black metal, and thus turning into the modern masters of black/death. Kill, is no doubt one of the flag bearers in this evil society and with ''Burning Blood'' they will show that the war metal world still lives, with all its strength and they'll also bring forth numerous other bands to rise from Sweden's underground metal scene, giving a big ''Fuck You'' to the massive death metal underground that never seems to cease (Not that I don't enjoy Swedeath).

''Burning Blood'' is a venomous chalice of pure corrupted black metal, the way the old schoolers did it. It's abundant in riffage as well as it keeps channeling through black and death metal, as some riffs may tend to focus on the opposing genre. The production on here, is not as raw as you'd expect it to be, yet the vocals have a somewhat sharp and a very provoking edge to them. They sound very close and very raspy, and during the climax of those hoarse screams and barks they add the raw feeling that the album seems to be missing. The cleaner production quality is no major deal to me, because too raw is a displeasing experience for me. Anyway, onto the riffs now. As I said, the riffs come in a huge abundance and they constantly fluctuate between death-laden and black-laden riffs. There's also a fresh thrashing energy added to the substance that gives ensures the listener that he/she will be in a headbang fest, and perhaps most of the clean ambiance comes from the invigorating feel of the freshly baked thrashy black metal riffs. Of course, the album is not at all that clean. The ending sequences of ''Veni Satana'', ''Poison Chalice'' and songs rich in similar styles have lots of atmosphere to them thanks to the frequent usage of classy, epic black metal tremolo attacks, enabling the album to maintain that wreathing and dense ambiance.

The riffs may all sound very similar, but once you take the time and inspect them closely, you'll see that they're varied just as they are diverse. All of the songs are ably composed and each link that binds the album together is forged exceedingly well, making ''Burning Blood'' one tough chalice that is simply not easy to refuse. Now, I'm not quite sure which songs to pick as highlights since all of them are great and there can only be a few winners, and even as I'm writing this review, my mind is constantly torturing me, forcing me to pick one song instead of the other. The black/thrashing madness that's present in tracks like ''Nails Of The Cursed Steel'' and the title track are extremely tempting at first, but then we have the engulfing atmosphere of ''Beckoning Grave'',  and even I put those aside I just can't deny the eleven minute epic ''Poison Chalice'', the ultimate numbing enterprise for black metallers. It's not easy to make a choice separately, but it's certainly no big job to accept the effectiveness of the blasphemous monstrosity that ''Burning Blood'' created, because every aspect that Kill made on this album is absolutely killer.

Highlights:
Desecration Temple
Kill
Nails Of The Cursed Steel


Rating: 87%


Kill on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thetruekill

Trial-The Primordial Temple

It seems that the sudden burst of Swedish death metal bands has also evoked a cool Swedish heavy metal scene consisting from bands such as Portrait, In Solitude, Ghost and the most recent member; Trial. This new wave of heavy metal bands that hail from Sweden bring a different spice to the typical sound of heavy metal, thus creating a different brand. While still having the same dynamic feel of catchy bands, Trial and the aformentioned bands add more melody and feel to their music, rendering the atmopshere moody and rather saddening, sometimes even leaning towards doomier tendencies.

It's a great thing that Trial emphasizes on the atmopshere and moods of the music rather than just directly focusing on the catchiness of the riffs. The riffs tend to get more complex than typical heavy metal bands, though still pretty comprehensible. Every instrument has its moment of catching the highlight on the album, so that no instrument is shunned or left behind. There is a wide range of moods and feelings on the album that really alternate within each track, though some tracks may even fuse multiple feelings and sounds together in order to create ultimately epic moments. Every track is stellar in its own way, and each attain a different style, a different taste. ''Flaming Fate'' and ''The Sorceress' Command'' are truely vigorous tracks that are filled with passion and energy while the title track favours more somber moments, leaning towards that doom influence I was talking about a little more than the other tracks and ''Opener Of The Way'' has a darker edge to it, nonetheless still very dynamic and authentic the whole way through.

The most striking feature of ''The Primordial Temple'' is, for me atleast, the vocals. The vocal delivery is outstanding. Some people state that they aren't powerful of energetic enough-well they can go to hell. Not only can the vocalist scream his lungs out like a shreiking banshee, but he can also compliment every riff very well, channeling through different styles as the riffs vary, and how the vocals blend into the instrumentation is amazing. People probably complain about the vocal delivery due to the irregular usage of the soaring banshee screams. Well, I think its a better idea to reveal the goodies at seldom, so that the listener keeps running for it with voracious desire to overgorge, instead of offering spot-on highlights on every section of the album, which will gradually start to bore the listener. The leads are just as killer and crucial as the vocals, since there's a crazy lead trapped in the bones of every song, waiting to be exposed. It's just insane. There's a fresh solo under every rock that the album encounters on its way and the album spots many, many rocks. The fast, power-chord driven are flourished with huge harmonies soaring on top of them, and eventually the melody and sound attained by all the music becomes so intense that an epic feel becomes innevitable.

The album is pure old school heavy metal with all the features that heavy metal had in the 80's, and even more. Moods vary, riffs get your headbanging face on, vocals soar on top of everything and leads rip with harmony all the way trough. I just hope that such a promising band like Trial won't die unnoticed, because it that does happen, I would be very unhappy. Now that a new wave of Swedish bands have started their assault, the ears of metalheads will be tinging even more, particularly fans of traditional heavy metal. ''The Primordial Temple'' may have its peculiarities compared to the most typical kind, but that certainly doesen't mean that the music is worse.

Highlights:
Opener Of The Way
The Sorceress' Command
Flaming Fate

Rating: 91%

Blood Mortized-The Key To A Black Heart

Just like many bands these days, Blood Mortized follow the favoured trends of Swedeath though I think it would be safe to say that their style slightly differs from any typical Swedeath sound. Because the band includes ex-members of Amon Amarth or Crypt Of Kerberos, slightly varied styles blazon at times on top of the straightforward Swedeath influence. Different this may be, but it's not always such a great trait to attain. The band sometimes experiments with unnecessary sounds,displaying experimantal and melodic styles, which frankly are a bit unusual and don't compliment the music in an excellent way. Though overall the music hits hard and even tends to become rather blackish at times.

Firstly let me point out that Blood Mortized don't play some of the most aggressive Swedeath around, and their style leans towards more experimental sounds usually. There is a number of good, hard-hitting riffage, which are solidly constructed but the band likes to try experimental guitar tones and randomly decorate the riffs with them, which can create a different experience for the listener. One thing that I certainly approved is the atmopshere. It lingers for the whole of the album, even though at times its density isn't as inundating as other moments. The atmopshere follows the riffs everywhere, whether it be weak of prevalent, its always there, and I think the experimentation really helps the atmosphere build up to its best. Clearly Blood Mortized are more influenced by the more moody and depressing tendencies of the sub-genre, thus they have forfeited most of the raw and vicious attitude that is much common is Swedish death metal. These stylings hace no doubt created something less derivative than the currently followed trends, but the question is, does this change always bring up notably healthy results? The question deviates in different people as all have different opinions, but in my humble opinion, for the most part experimentation enables the album fresh.

Despite the relative change in sound, the alnum can definetely conjure some hulking riffs, particularly thrashy and even showing glimpses of technical prowess. ''To Murder A God'' and ''Unleashing The Hounds'' are build principally on this furmula, with little flourishment and more concentration on the solidity of the riffs, to give out vicious waves of crushing Swedeath monstrosity. Towards the album's conclusion, the riffs attain more black metal influence and epic tendencies than they've ever had. ''Shadow Of The Quater Sun'' is a good mash up of moody black metal and straight up death metal attributes, which were seen quite frequently on the previous tracks. While the songs are at striking speed, one cannot avoid the the feeling of depression and the overwhelming atmopshere ranging over the riffs. The musicianship is there, the technical prowess and the experimentation done to stray from the usual path. ''The Key To A Black Heart'' is not for everyone, because of its peculiar oddity and urgent tendency to commonly deviate from sounds that are more extensive.

Highlights:
Doomsday Architect
Dead & Rotten
To Murder A God

Rating: 85%

Malfeitor-Dum Morior Orior

Malfeitor has caught more than just my attention with their style, country and most importantly, their music. They consist of ex members of OSSDM monsters like Egypt or the mighty Excruciate and the moment I saw that, I fell in deperate need to obtain this album. Apparently they've been around for over 20 years and have finally released their debut album, ''Dum Morior Orior''. Thankfully, Hellthrasher Productions have provided me with a promotional copy, and I was absolutely pumped about the upcoming experience of OSSDM. And the album has striked me down with a very expected blow, but there were some peculiar twists which I had not quite apprehended.

''Dum Morior Orior'' is a vigorous piece of tormenting Swedish death metal, played in almost the exact vein of forfathers and fellow countrymen Entombed, Dismember or Grave. Though the album certainly did come with a few twists of its own that I had not included in the ''Upcoming Assaults'' list. While I had expected a more doomy, depressing atmosphere to overwhelm me, the riffs came quite the oppoiste as they were rabid tremolo bursts and shatteringly brutal chughs with bits and pieces of technical glimpses scattered here and there. When I mean brutal, I certainly don't mean the same pervasive and boring sound created by brutal death metallers. I mena real riffs, with striking energy and comprehensible structures and patters followed easily, and thus still very crushing and intricate. The riffs channel in between thrashy, chord-driven stompers and descending tremolo pickings that follow a more distinct trail, and get constantly refreshed in dynamics with the multiple usage of drum chokes and other percussion tricks that go pretty well with the album.

There is no great separation between the songs, besides a few spot-on highlights that support different structure and sound. All the tracks and outrageously vigorous and brutally constructed, but unfortunatey there's little that tells them apart. ''Exile From Sanity'' or ''When The Last Breath Fades'' are very straightforward and versatile tracks, filled with a tons of muted tremolo progression and conspicous open-string riffing along with a small dose of Swedish grooving to build up the backbone of the anatomy. The thing that I loved about ''Dum Morior Orior'' is that it's like train of pounding brutality that never ceases in speed. There may be mid-paced sections that show up every once in a while, but the abhorrently tremolo-driven riffs are always non-stop and absolutely ferocious and even sometimes catchy, at that. Even the vocals which seem to be rather chaotic and less expolited in the delivery, are full of energy and carry immense spunk to support the rest of the song. This effect may be numbing after a while, but it's damn worth it if you want some great Swedeath.

The melodious sections are fairly limited to only a handful on this album, which is a saddening thing, because I can never think of my Swedeath heroes Emtombed or Dismember without a blood-chilling groove frequently appearing in the background and thus bringing up some immense atmosphere to the album. There riffs are usually muffled and have an old-school vibe to them, so the atmosphere is usually attained easily. But overall, once you consider the album as a whole, it becomes a great gem in your eyes and earns, atleast for fans of Swedeath, high ranks, especially when you put into consideration the amount of good death metal bands that have appeared this year so far. The songs are hard to separate, so I can't really point out obvious highlights, but all tracks are almost equally well composed so it feels like the highlight of the album, is the album itself. ''Dum Morior Orior'' could have been more eccentric and could have used some more ambience, but other then that, I wish you a good headbang.

Highlights:
And The Sky Turned To Rage
Rolling With Corpses
Soujourn Hell
When The Last Breath Fades

Rating: 90%

Intestinal-The Rottening

Intestinal are a five-piece straightforward Swedish death metal act, playing a rather plain Swedish death metal with a tinge of brutal death metal and a small measure of twists and turns. Admittedly, I haven't listened to any of their previous efforts though I must say that I'm pretty content with what I've heard from ''The Rottening''. They don't exactly perfect the OSSDM formula, though the stylings are still similar, with melodic passages and crushing riffs put all together. So as you may understand, the music is rather simplistic and straightforward though still quite entertaining.

The only thing that really ticks me off on this album is the vocal variations. They sometimes sound intimate to screamo shreiks, which throws me off and ruins the riffs everytime it occurs. Fortunately, the vocalist still sticks to the low, guttural delivery for the most part and that is all I can ask for. The riffs are quite hefty and although they're simplistic they can still be punishingly heavy and intense thoughout. The riffs are hard-pressed and almost never lose the efficiency and speed, which immedeately gives points to the album. The impact that the guitars create along with the drums are shrill in a dense and crushing way and they pierce and shatter bones like cutting butter with a knife-a savage way to devastate. Despite the riffs being so plain and basic, the sructures of the song egt more and more complex as the listener ventures deeper into the album. It feels as if hundreds of straightforward riffs strike and burst out in a single shot, managing to sound full and put the whole ''simplistic'' approach aside and create a thick sheet that insulates the simplicity of the riffs.

The production is pretty clear on the album, so you can say goodbye to traditional Swedeath buzzsaw guitar tone and brooming atmosphere right away. While this may be dissapointing, once you look at it in another way the album will be more entertaining listen for you. The clearness of the production actually emphasises the quality of the riffs as they often tend to be thrashy and stomping. There is absolutely nothing frail about the riffs due to their incredible solidness and I daresay that if the production was to be shattered or dark, the riffs would not have gone well with them. Sure, you may need nostalgia for great acts like Entombed, Dismember and Grave at times during this album and it may not be there, but that shows that ''The Rottening'' can still be reminscent of OSSDM not matter how different it may sound.

That pretty much covers the basic aspects of the album. ''The Rottening'' is not going to be awarded for a deft diplay of originality of old school sounding formula, but it still manages to attain a good amount of energy and make your head band vigorously and the tracks pass. The album is fun, plain, crushing and viscous. I may not peer upon this with queer rapture but it will stay as one of those album that will remain in my library for me to bang and mosh every once in a while, in times of depression or just sheer boredom and exhaustion. Some modern sounds may be involved, but they are outnumbered by the old school stylings so I almost don't hear them while I listen to the album because overall it was solid.

Highlights:
Flesh For Living
Torture
Sensation Of Death

Rating: 82,5%

Anguish-Through The Archdemon's Head

After waves of death and thrash bands bashing against my ears, I finally come across a band with a different aspect. What do Anguish play? Do they play prog, or perhaps black metal? No. Anguish play some brilliant doom metal, in the same vein as their forefathers Sain Vitus, Cathedroll and Candlemass. This is a great piece of doom metal metal that can only be found at seldom since other exremists usually prefer taking faster roads. But Anguish have even topped that, and twisted their wonderful album and combined it wit tiny aspects of their own. While this is no crushing effort it has a great twist of originality and complimental influences spread out as fragments all around the album.

This magnificent piece of album attains a great death/doom feel only prevaelnt in the riffs and in a small amount. It grabs hold of the listener and suffocates in bitter sorrow and kin, thus pulling the listener into the debths of a rotting graveyard, effective enough to smother the listeners ears in sorrow filled blood. The album almost feels as if it has a gothic feel to it and at times one cannot avoid the hate and misery that applies on itself. The songs are outrageously long, but simply keep you perplexed and fascinated the whole way through. I for one am a sucker for old school death/doom and for some reason this album is a clear reminiscent of Cianide, Autopsy and such. There is obviously no death metal influence but one clear aspect of the album is that it's heavier and darker than the aformentioned forefathers of doom. And at times you may even have a sense of epicness mixed with callousness. Especially during the passages in the song ''Dawn of Doom'', which is the second longest track on the album, the album rises into a curageous atmosphere and then suddenly descends into a furious riff that when accompanied by the vocals, sounds almost like death metal. Such transitions are rare and are often found in seperate fragments in different sections of the album. However, when the two come across, the album reaches its absolute climax.

One great aspect about the record is that it's able calm you soul in way of ululation, much like typical doom bands. The album achieves epicness and bitterness with its avengeful anger and misey-laden atmosphere, and after that point the whole album is practically ear candy. The album scarcely alternates tempowise, since most of the riffs are quite obviously slow. When the album tends to change into a faster tempo, things can be pretty entertaining with more stomping riffs while still sticking to the dismal metal furmula that carries vital importance. The biggest gap in the album is that they don't tend to change their tempos and beats to often and a little more variation would have been better, especially since the album is nearly an hour long and needs some good music to kkep the listener entertained all the way throught. Fortunetely, the positive side of the album already wipes away most of these negative aspects to you still get a very solid effort. The drums beats vary slightly withing their own terms but still manage to create wonderful beats to sufficiently aid the doomy riffs. The guitar riffs alternate between more rotting, chord-driven riffs which is the main structure of the album and more melodious and simultenous guitar harmonies executed assidiously and tinge with a glimpse of goth and a hint of black.

With instrumental department complete, the only thing left is the vocals which are by the way superb. They have a slightly blackish feel to them abit like the riffs and sound as if Quorthon joined early Tiamat in terms of vocal delivery. Duing the the more angry moments of the album, the vocals do the same thing as the guitars to sychronize with them. Again, during the ferocious burst in ''Dawn of Doom'', the vocals, for only a few seconds become outrageous death metal vocals barking with ferocity. And once the vocals are embarked on the rest of the album, you have an amazing doom metal album, with slightly different twists than their forefathers, yet being able to capture just as much attention. For the residue of ''Through The Archdemon's Head'' are two ears bleeding in misery, rotting of old school doom metal.

Higlights:
Dawn Of Doom
Book Of Fox
The Veil

Rating: 88%