Angry Metal Guy

Demonical // Death Infernal
Rating: 3.0/5.0 — A shepherd’s pie of retro Swedish death metal
Label: Cyclone Empire
Websites: demonical.net| myspace.com/thedemonicalhorde
Release Dates:  EU: 2011.04.15 | US: N/A

I’ve said it before and now please allow me to say it again. I love old school Swedish death metal. I think it was one of the best pure metal sounds and when done right, its like a little slice of hell on Earth. I recently sang the praises of Blood Mortized for doing the style enormous justice and now here comes Demonical, yet another Swedish retro death mob. Death Infernal is their third release and as with their prior material, it’s a full on love fest for all things Entombed, Dismember, Grave and Unleashed. Featuring members who did time in Grave, Interment and other SDM acts, these guys have been around the block and clearly know what they’re doing genre-wise. While there’s little to no originality on display here, that need not spell disaster if a band executes their chosen influences and style with skill and conviction. For the most part, Demonical manages to do just that and delivers some decent Swedish flavored death mayhem. While not not a perfect album, it’s solid, serviceable and at times pretty darn good. Continue reading

Crucifyre // Infernal Earthly Divine
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — “Wictory and death!”
Label: Pulverised Records
Websites: myspace.com/crucifyre
Release Dates: EU: 17.01.2011 | US: Unknown

The late 2000s have seen a resurrection of the old school Swedish death metal that Sweden became so well known for in the underground before the Gothenburg sound took the world by storm. In the last year we’ve had releases by tons of bands waving the flag of true Swedish death metal—and it’s been fun as hell to hear! Crucifyre is another band that is doing something that I would definitely not describe as new, but something I would describe as ultimately ridiculously entertaining and worth a listen if for no other reason than to experience this “all star group’s” vision of the old school. Continue reading

Saeculum Obscurum // Into the Depths of Oblivion
Rating: 3.0/5.0 — Has promise.
Label: Thunderblast Records
Websites: myspace.com/saeculumobscurum
Release Dates: EU: 14.01.2011 | US: 01.14.2011 [Digital]

As you can tell, my resolution for 2011 was to review more obscure and underground music that no one has ever heard of. I want you to know that this means that I am reviewing like everything I get, if it’s possible, and really I’ve had some good luck and some really fucking horrendously terrible luck. I’m going to say that Saeculum Obscurum falls on the good side of the luck barrier. I figured with a name that means “The Dark Age” and a logo by the mighty artist and logo magnate Christophe, this one deserved a fair shake at least. Continue reading

King of Asgard // Fi’mbulvintr
Rating: 3.0/5.0 — Good, but it ain’t Mithotyn
Label: Metal Blade
Website: kingofasgard.com | myspace.com/kingofasgardsweden
Release Dates: EU: 16.08.2010 | US: 08.17.2010

Few names rate as highly among fans of “viking metal” and melodic death metal as the classic Swedish act Mithotyn, which sadly went defunct in 1999 after three excellent full lengths (In the Sign of the Ravens, King of the Distant Forest and Gathered Around the Oaken Table—all of which come highly recommended). Since then, they have gained a near cult status as one of the leaders in the genre and one of the best to ever touch the folk-viking metal legacy. For fans of the band, or at least for this fan of the band, Falconer was never an appropriate replacement for what was a unique and fresh band that went sadly under the radar during their tenure. So you can imagine my excitement upon receiving a copy of Fi’mbulvintr (which, btw, shouldn’t this be Fímbulvintr?), from the new incarnation containing the former guitarist from Mithotyn as well as the band’s drummer. Continue reading

Grave – Burial Ground
Rating: 4.0/5.0 – Unbury this death metal monster!
Label: Regain Records
Websites: grave.se | myspace.com/gravespace
Release Dates: EU: 14.06.2010 | US: 06.29.2010 [Unsure]

It seems safe to say that after surviving 22 years, Grave has become an official death metal institution as well as being one of the founding fathers of the classic “Swedish death metal sound” along with Entombed, Unleashed and Dismember. Therefore, when the esteemed Grave Institute releases a new album, long time and newbie death heads alike should sit up and take notice. Burial Ground is album number eight for these long running purveyors of deathly tidings and being their usual consistent, quality selves, this is a solid, old school slice of vintage Swedish death metal but with a few surprises as well.

Continue reading

Ruined Soul // My Dying Day
Rating: 2.0/5.0 — So much potential here…
Label: Suicide Records
Websites: myspace.com/ruinedsoulswe
Release Dates: EU: 23.04.2010 | US: 05.04.2010 (?)

Ruined Soul is a one-man project firmly based in the Gothenburg scene. Johnny Johansson apparently missed the scene because of his age, but having learned from the best (and right in his backyard, as it were) he has produced a record that wouldn’t have been out of place in 1999, released alongside Colony by In Flames or Projector by Dark Tranquillity. With a whole slough of big named guests from the Swedish scene and one Andy La Roque as the prodcer, it’s hard to imagine how a record like this could go wrong. Right? .. Right!?

Even Angry Metal Guys feel a little guilt when they’re about to pan a DIY kid who missed out on the scene. The fundamental problems are probably already obvious from the introductory paragraph, but this is not the fault of Johnny Johansson himself, but instead his parents who birthed him a few years too late. The Gothenburg sound has been getting tired for years and as stated earlier this year with my review of Arise‘s new record, while this record still holds some appeal it’s hard to imagine ever really getting into it because the sound is something that I’ve heard so many times before. It’s Gothenburg thrash. It’s literally just a rehash of Colony and  Slaughter of the Soul with a little bit more black metal thrown in. Not even copping the tricks of the ultimate At The Gates ripoff artists The Black Dahlia Murder and adding more blast beats, this stuff is straight out of the book of Swedish death metal, as it were.

But we all loved this sound at one time! It’s not like there aren’t things going on here that are good, because there are. It’s obvious that Johansson has thrash metal running in his veins, and  he’s written some fantastic riffs and great melodies that are definitely reminiscent of the greats. It’s hard to listen to this album without nodding your head along with the mid-paced riffing and humming the guitar melodies. So, this record would still be pretty salvagable were it not for probably its greatest weakness: some of the most trite and ESL lyrics I’ve heard on a release for a long time. I recently made fun of Unleashed for their cheesy lyrics, but this takes it to a different level. While Unleashed is screaming about being Viking death metal, with the subtlety of a warhammer, Ruined Soul‘s lyrics just meander into the painfully cliché and cheesy territory.

Now normally I ignore lyrics if I don’t get a booklet, but there are things on here that I can’t help but hear because of the way it’s mixed and the way its screamed. Lyrics like “You are my only friend / my only friend until the end” from “Rewind” just make me cringe. The opening lyrics to the song “Rivers of Blood” are worthy of Joey DeMaio as well “The world isn’t what it used to be / It’s something in the air tonight / I’m standing in the eye of the storm / [inaudible] is heading this way” works out to about 3 cliché’s in just one verse. Not to mention the acts of closing one’s eyes until the bleed (I’m not actually sure how one even goes about doing that) and other just ridiculously cheeseball approaches, it’s just hard to take this record seriously. Like many musicians Johnny Johansson is probably a guitarist and musician first, lyricist second. But this is what producers should be for: where the hell was the person saying to him “Dude, that’s fucking cheesy as hell.” Nowhere, and so we get stuck with choruses like the one from the track “Bleeding”: “I hear your voice and words, my ears are bleeding / I see your razor eyes, my eyes are bleeding / I feel your touch, my skin is bleeding / I breathe your air, internal bleeding!”

There are really cool moments, hell, even the chorus from the cheesy “Bleeding” song actually has really great guitar melodies and a good feel. But for a band to really pull this off and make it convincing and worth the time of listeners and something that is going to pull in new listeners, they have to be amazing. Instead, despite the production, the guest musicians and the time and energy put into this album, we’re left with something that would’ve probably been pretty good if not for the lyrics (though, honestly, I liked Children of Bodom and their lyrics were just as retarded) in 1999. And that’s just not enough for this Angry Metal Guy anymore.

Unleashed // As Yggdrasil Trembles
Rating: 3.0/5.0 — The Manowar of Death Metal strikes again!
Label: Nuclear Blast (EU | US)
Websites: unleashed.se | myspace.com/unleashed
Release Dates: EU: 19.03.2010 | 03.19.2010

Unleashed is not without their appeal. They’ve been around for a couple decades now, putting out their first record Where No Life Dwells in 1991, and they’ve been pretty consistently well-respected in the scene for being among the first to do the whole Viking Metal thing. But they’re a band that this Angry Metal Guy has never been able to get into on the basis of one thing: Unleashed is the Manowar of death metal. Now, some people are going to say “But Manowar are the Kings of Metal! Should we not be praising Unleashed for translating such kinglyness into the Death Metal genre?” To which there can only be one response: “Absofuckinglutely not.”

Like Manowar, Unleashed writes some pretty great metal. Musically, the band produces a melodic form of tear-your-head-off death metal that has been associated with Sweden since the early 1990s. The music is powerful, pummeling and thrashy it makes the listener want to headbang! Like their Swedish brethren Amon Amarth, Unleashed likes trem-picked melodic passages that are littered with good groove and plenty of chances to headbang manically. The guitar solos are wickedly thrashy and, surprisingly enough, the bass is even audible! Musically, there isn’t a song on here that I don’t like! And the record pounds out of the gate with amazing tracks, “Courage Today, Victory Tomorrow”, “So it Begins” and “As Yggdrasil Trembles”.

However, like Manowar, Unleashed has a lyrics problem. This chink in the armor becomes the most obvious when one hits the 4th track on the album “Wir Kapitulieren Niemals”, and Johnny starts screaming “Viking Death Metal!” This is not the first time, or the last time, on this record that there are lyrical issues that stand out and make the listener a little bit embarrassing. This sort of idea that one can write about the meta-aspect of heavy metal is one of the reasons that power metal is considered to be so ridiculously cheesy. How does one take  seriously a band that sings about themselves being awesomely metal? And in some ways, its even easier with a band like Lost Horizon or Manowar because they’re wearing loincloths anyway. Unleashed are just a Swedish death metal band cursed with terrible lyrics.

We’ll stop there with our little Manowar comparison, because frankly Unleashed produces way more consistent and interesting music than Manowar ever has. While the latter has a few good songs on every record and then a bunch of shit that litters the side about how metal they are and about how big their “swords” are, the former writes consistent, enjoyable death metal. As Yggdrasil Trembles is par for the Unleashed course, littered with great songs and solid riffs. If you can bring yourself past the silly lyrics, which is often times pretty easy with death metal bands, and you’re a fan of death metal and viking metal, you’ll probably really enjoy this record. Don’t expect to be wowed by their deep interpretations of the Norse myths in reference to our every day, modern life. But then again, when was the last time any metal lyricist wowed you?