“Without fail, I always seem to come back to my mass of Swedish death metal albums in a given calendar year. During that time, I pass from album to album, band after band of angry-at-the-world vocals, heavy-as-hell riffs, and the bludgeoning anti-Christian, death, and war themes. Much like the thrash movement in the States, there are arguments over the “Big Four” of the genre.” And guess who isn’t getting included in anyone’s list?
“The death metal super group of all death metal super groups is finally back from the grave after six long years moldering in the soil. Bloodbath needs little introduction, as the preeminent standard bearer of all things retro Swedish death this collective composed of members of Opeth, Katatonia and Witchery once included the likes of Dan Swanö and Mikael Akerfeldt, but both have fled to other pursuits, leaving the band’s new era in the hands of Nick Holmes (Paradise Lost) who now handles vocals.” Can Mr. Holmes shed his rave club past and bring his share of gore to the bathtub?
“We haven’t reviewed any Swedish retro death for a spell, so here’s a big chunk of it to fill our crust quota. But Vallenfyre isn’t your average Swedish retro death band, mind you. They hail from the U.K. and are a super group of sorts, helmed by Gregor Mackintosh, longtime guitarist for goth/doom troupe Paradise Lost. Joining him in these brootal endeavors is Hamish Hamilton Glencross of My Dying Bride and Adrian Erlandsson of At the Gates.” Quite the pedigree of death, eh? It’s all in the breeding.
“No matter how over saturated or played out a musical genre may become, there are always one or two bands that can make it all vibrant, fresh and new again. Whether it’s their raw conviction, enthusiasm or killer song writing, those bands make the years melt away and remind you how it felt to hear the style for the very first time. That rush of excitement, feeling of awe and the sense of being there at the next step in metal’s evolution, that’s what it’s all about! When it comes to classic Swedish death metal, Blood Mortized is THAT band for me.” Stand back! Steel has been waiting for this one with baited breath and now he’s on it like beast at a beast emporium.
Torture Division is what some would call a “supergroup,” made up of Lord K. Philipson (The Project Hate, ex-God Among Insects), Jörgen Sandström (Krux, The Project Hate, ex-Grave, ex-Putrefaction), and Tobias Gustafsson (Vomitory, The Project Hate). And let’s just say that these guys play a mean fiddle.
“In the retro Swedish death sweepstakes, you can’t get much more committed than Sweden’s Entrails. Having been around in one form or another since the original wave of Swede death, they weren’t able to release anything until 2010s Tales From the Morgue. While I went quite gorilla shit over that platter and its 110% pure Entombed worshipping awesomeness, I was let down by their The Tomb Awaits follow-up, which seemed watered down and lacking in the raw charm of its predecessor.” Can Entrails recapture the glory of their (of more accurately, Entombed’s) debut? Does anyone even care that they changed their logo?
In our new monthly feature, which will show up here on the 15th of every month and run over the next few days, I (Angry Metal Guy) will select 5 bands at random (usually those who have followed my directions and have bandcamp accounts) to get blurbed by every member of the AMG staff. The idea is to do at least a bit of our part to point out that the metal underground is still an important part of the world of metal. While we simply don’t have the manpower to produce regular reviews of unsigned bands, this is my attempt at a minor mea culpa if nothing else. So enjoy Angry Metal Guy’s Unsigned Band Rodeo and our fourth entry for April 2013: Infested!
More Swedish death?? When Rogga Johansson, Dan Swano and Paul Speckman are involved, you’re damn right its time for more Swedish death! A veritable Who’s Who of death metal rallied to turn out the debut by Megascavenger, and it shows.
We haven’t had any old school Swedish death for awhile, so here’s some of that! Nominon does that beloved, old school style, but with much more thrashing, crashing, bashing and harassing. It sure is speedy, but is it good?
If one thing has become clear lately, its that Madam X loves zombies, gore, death and dark stuff. Since Zombified is all about these things, who can be surprised she loves their Grave worshipping brand of nasty death metal.
