“Way back in 2012, the a little band called Night Flight Orchestra issued an under-the-radar gem called Internal Affairs. Despite having members from two past-their-prime metal bands (Soilwork & Arch Enemy), the music recalled the golden age of ’70s radio rock with passion and quality. Fast forward three years, we get word that NFO has released their follow-up, Skyline Whispers…a few days ago. We missed them twice!” We feel shame.
“Sterbhaus’ style crosses borders between thrash, death, black, fun and simply retarded.” They have a song called ” Frogboiler” so what else needs to be said?
“The festering stench of classic Swedish death metal is surely one of the most comforting and addictive scents in the metalverse. Try as I might to disregard the bulk of subpar bands pedaling the oversaturated style where bands are so often prone to lazily ripping off their idols with blatant plagiarism, when the words ‘old school Swedish death metal’ are thrown about I generally sit up and take notice.” Fun Fact: you can’t spell Feral without fear.
“As child of the ’80s, and metal fan of the mid-to-late ’90s, Sweden was a signpost that meant “great metal.” Sweden was a magical haven of everything my neighborhood wasn’t: filled to the brim with amazing bands. Ironically, by the time I moved to Sweden, the things that were left over were the things I liked the least….” That doesn’t sound like a promising start to a review.
“Swedish musician Ola Englund is a busy fellow. Between stints helping rejuvenate The Haunted on their solid return to form platter Exit Wounds and breathing a glimmer of life into the caveman corpse of Six Feet Under on their Unborn album, Englund has also built a solid and prolific output with his main band, Feared.” Sometimes simple death is good death.
“Civil War bears an amusingly ironic moniker as they’re made up of four fugitive members of Sabaton who fled the mother ship and essentially created Sabaton’s evil twin band. They even appropriated the exact same sound, song structure and overdone military/battle shtick before launching a struggle for Cheesy War Metal supremacy using their former act’s own sound against them.” War is hell, but people sure love writing songs about it.
“If someone told you that their band was basically Xasthur but with no riffs, no vocals, less distortion and no variation in tempo, would you bother to listen? Thank heavens that labels have hyperbole to sell their records because bands like Hypothermia are lost without it.” When minimalism goes too far.
“Along with Blood Mortized, Entrails are one of the few retro Swedish death acts that don’t give me Old Timer’s Fatigue. It’s hard to say why that is, since they ape classic Entombed and Dismember just as hard as all the other pimpanzees in the throwback zoo. All I know is their music usually avoids feeling old and excessively stale. Instead, it feels plenty putrid and rotten, and that I love.” Time to look at the entrails and see what is foretold.
“The first long length from Gothenburg doomsters Monolord, last year’s Empress Rising, enjoyed a surprising level of success and acclaim, the likes of which is usually the result of a combination of solid, but not great music and circumstances which fall under the banner of “hype.” Releasing a second album just a year later and following such a highly esteemed record made more likely the possibility of the enthusiasm bubble bursting. Vænir (named after Sweden’s largest lake) could have easily turned out a dud.” Hype, drama, doom – it’s all here, folks.
“Unleashed finally perfected their sound on 2012’s Odalheim, but can they continue on this upwards path with Dawn Of The Nine or do they fall back down in the seemingly Sisyphean task of trying to remain relevant after 25 years in the game?” Midvinterbrutes!
