Horrifier - Horrid Resurrection

 

Bullet belt clad Norwegians crafting punishing death metal? Yes please. Horrid Resurrection is the latest from Horrifier, an old school death metal band who understand the fundamental glory and triumph of the genre. It's hard not to be thrilled with the vision they bring to the table on Horrid Resurrection and though this is certainly a style we've heard before, it's also one that doesn't get old. The band has a deep understanding of what makes death metal so addictive and they execute on it with aplomb again and again for the eight tracks that make up Horrid Resurrection. 

It's a lot of fun to really immerse yourself in a record like this, an album that leans into so uch of the gurgling gore and violence that has allowed Horrifier to attain these heights. Horrid Resurrection is the sound of gloriously skull crushing metal executed with a taste for blood. The band understands why people gravitate towards this music and they deliver, with slowed down, doomy riffs, high speed thrashers and tons of manic solos. The end result is exciting, fun and overall a release that is going to keep you head banging and stage diving. What more could a death metal maniac ask for?

So yeah - this album has its flaws. Some of the songs drag on a bit, and the tropes are well worn. However - if you're looking for something that will keep you obsessed with death then nothing is going to lure you in deeper than the inherent blasphemies that Horrifier lay out and slit throats with then the music on Horrid Resurrection.  It's death metal for maniacs, and if you're looking for more, then their excellent label, Personal Records might be the place to go. 

Pre-order the album! 

https://personal-records.bandcamp.com/album/horrid-resurrection

In Pain - The Thing From The Grave

The Swedish death metal revival has been a blast to witness these past couple of years. While of course it has been spearheaded by many of the classic old names, it's exciting to see the underbelly of the genre. Such is the case of In Pain. While they released some demos in the early 90s, they have rapidly accelerated their growth after years of dormancy, and now are releasing their second full length, The Thing From The Grave. This is Swedish death metal done right, with glorious gutturals and chainsaw guitars that leave you gasping for air. 

While In Pain certainly don't stray too far from classic Swedish death metal formulas they execute on them with aplomb. Tracks like "Decapitated By Lightning" will impress you with their vision and deep understanding of the genre. There is an apocalyptic sense of chaos that fuels a lot of this record and it's easy to really immerse yourself in the bloodthirst of these offerings. There is an undeniable groove to a lot of what's going on here too that I think helps to make The Thing From The Grave a really addictive listen. Factor in some really excellent production that nicely spaces everything out in the mix and you have yourself a helluva record. 

In Pain have managed to push themselves above and beyond with The Thing From The Grave proving that perhaps old dogs know the best tricks. There is a sense of death metal devastation that In Pain execute on at a very high level and letting them crack your skull and infest your brain with ear maggots is a delight. The Thing From The Grave is an absolute crusher of an album and fans of classic Swedish Death Metal are going to find themselves really thrilled with the end result. This is death metal done right and if you're looking for something to make you drag your knuckles, search no more! 

Pre-order the album!

http://regainrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-thing-from-the-grave

Disrupted - Pure Death

Any time a band kicks off their record with dizzying Swededeath riffs and a cry of "BLOOD WORSHIP" you know that you are in for a good time. Suffice it to say - this record is a perfect example of what modern day Swedeath worship can be at its finest. It's brutal, fast and over the top. This is the sort of death metal slaughter that goes for the throat and makes listeners suffer. Memento Mori Records has found a real winner in Disrupted. Pure Death is a devastating listen and one that will crack listeners over the head time and time again. 

There is a maddening power to this band and the raw power that they seem to bleed on this record. Tracks like 'Human Stew' are rich with swagger and remind us that this is not a band to be messed with. They are coming at you knuckles dragging and heads banging. This may be ignorant and demented, but that's exactly why we love it. Disrupted aren't here to play games, they're here to crack skulls and make you wish you were dead. With flashy solos and riffs so massive they could be mistaken for the thundering feet of elephants, Pure Death is a blast from start to front. The band understand on a fundamental level tempo shifts, songwriting and how to get the pit raging. 

Disrupted are the rare band who border on the scary. You can sense their primal madness and the raw energy with which they deliver on Pure Death is almost unmatched. There is a sense of wondrous insanity that decorates the entire offering and the more time I spend writhing in the murk with this record the more impressed I am. Disrupted are death metal to grind bones and make children suffer. Pure Death is a straightforward statement of vicious intent and getting lost in the terrifying crush of what they deliver is a rare treat. 

Find them on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/disruptedofficial

Revolting - The Shadow At World's End

The torrential death metal outpouring from Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, Ribspreader, Those Who Bring The Torture) is a little bit insane. Revolting is just one of his long running projects and it builds on his signature sound, proving that there is a new generation to Swededeath and it is goddamn thrilling. There is something one can really get lost in with this band and their latest offering (And 7th album overall) The Shadow At World's End is masterful. With melodeath fringes decorating buzzsaw guitars, Revolting have found a way to crack skulls once more and prove they are among the modern day greats. 

One of the things that really gets me about this album is the incredible use of 'Blech's' and other one off percussive grunts. On top of that though is the appeal of the melodic guitars which sit nicely under more conventional Swedeath riffs. They give the entire record a sense of breadth that can't really be matched by too many of their peers. It's easy to get lost in the magic of what they are doing and much of it is downright masterful. The crunch on a track like '1888' is disgusting and full of swagger. Revolting are in so many ways straight ignorant and that's a huge part of what makes them so delightful to listen too. 

This is an exciting record and one that will deep appeal to death metal freaks across the globe. Revolting might not be dramatically adding too or revolutionizing the canon, but they are building on the tropes in a meaningful way. This is Swededeath the way it was meant to be played and it's such a pleasure to lose oneself in the twisted melodies and demented offerings that the band so eagerly unveil here. The Shadow At World's End is what death metal is all about and I think every death metal fan should immerse themselves in it.

Find them on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/revoltingdeathmetal

Angelblast - Rotting Paradise

 

Swededeath is - as a genre kind of popping off right now. There's a lot of interesting things coming out of the scene and it is no doubt spurred on at least in part by the current wave of Entombed worship coming out of North America. Angelblast sees members of Excruciate and Darkened coming together to craft a thrilling three track debut EP, Rotting Paradise, that fires off seven inches of fury. This is a record that blasts forward unrelentingly, fascinating the listener and reveling in its own brutality.

It's hard not to be charmed by the balls out assault of a track like Descending Of The Immortals. The blast beats perfectly underscore hyper speed guitars and percussive vocals. There is a sense of raw energy communicated here that perfectly taps into what makes this type of death metal so fun. The punky assault of this record is counterbalanced by flashy guitars and even a harmony or two. It makes for a dynamic listen and is continually a reminder of just how good these guys are. The way that they seem to relish the bloodshed of a pit starter only serves to make Rotting Paradise all the more appealing.

When it comes down to it, this record is just over eight minutes long but manages to accomplish a hell of a lot. It's a potent coming out party of r a band who seem determined to take on the scene at large. With its unrelenting assault and sense of bombast, as cemented by album closer Incarnation Of The Fallen I think that this band has a decent chance of being the next group to fascinate the death metal longsleeve wearing legions. Rotting Paradise is a masterful debut, now let's see if the bands upcoming full length holds the course!

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/AngelBlast666/

Wretched Fate - Fleshletting

Before we get into this, let me just say that Fleshletting is a really sick name for a death metal record, especially a rip roaring Swededeath record. This is the sort of Swedish death metal that understands the full scope of the genre but also brings so much to the table. It has a sound that is powerful and brutal, over the top and fast, endlessly addictive and a testament to the face melting magic that the power of raw riffs can bring to the table. Chaotic and borderline terrifying, Wretched Fate have unveiled something truly next level.

There is a breadth to the sound here that is inherently exciting. While the band is certainly pulling from more traditional Swedish death metal elements here with touches of Entombed and Bloodbath, you can also hear a hearty dose of the Gothenburg sound in a few of these tracks. The band wear their influences on their sleeve, and as they crush forward through weighty HM-2 inspired affairs, the band has managed to unveil the sort of twisted and unrelenting aural blasphemy that scenes are based around, that is not only a tribute to a sound that once changed the entire metal scene, but also a hint of what more is to come.

Dynamic and bombastic, Fleshletting entirely lives up to its name. The album art promises hard hitting and insane death metal madness and that's what you get for every crazed minute of this sonic fiasco. This is pure musical punishment and those of us who fell in love with the genre in the first place are going to be well rewarded by multiple spins. This is a record that understands its own inherent drama and the circle pit inspiring mojo that the band has brought here. Ferocious and over the top, it's hard not to fall in love.

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/WretchedFateBand/

Wombbath - The Great Desolation

This is an absolute motherfucker of a record. Wombbath is perhaps the Swededeath band who have aged best since their comeback in 2014. They have released several triumphant offerings, but this latest one, The Great Desolation, well, it's something else. Not only is this the sort of devastating aural blasphemy that makes for compelling listening no matter the season, but it represents a step forward for the band. It shows they have been paying attention to the current trends of heaviness, but building on it to make their take on death metal more compelling than ever before.

The chaotic assault of tracks like Born Of Filth and the demonic melodies that underscore large chunks of this record only serve to make The Great Desolation all the more fascinating. this is an album that can't help but to draw you in. It's not just death metal at it's finest, it's an example of how strong songwriting can make or break a band, and say what you will about Wombbath, but this album has some incredibly strong, delectable songwriting. This is a death metal fans death metal record, it's an album that takes insane twists and turns but is constantly defined by thrilling riffs and over the top sonic blasphemies.

Coming searing out of the gate from track one and refusing to let up the punishment until you are beaten and bloodied, The Great Desolation is a masterful offering. It's an album that careens forward and hints at so much more to come from these gore hungry freaks. It's insane to me that nearly thirty years after their inception Wombbath can be better than ever, but here we are. This is an album that you are going to want to spin time and time again simply because there is so much to digest. So come on in, the blood is fine.

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/Wombbath/

Gravestone - Sickening

Man - Swededeath is a genre that is incredibly hard to pull off. The buzzing guitars, twisted riffs and all out assault so often just sounds plain derivative and doesn't really inspire the listener. When the base elements are so simply legions of pretenders are going to of course be attracted to the genre so they can play the genre du jour. That being said - these Swedes absolutely kill it and unleash something that is completely stunning. With titanic riffs and monster choruses Sickening is a death metal fans death metal record.

There is a twisted assault that has come to define Gravestone that is only tempered by their incredible songwriting prowess. Exciting riffs on tracks like Fucking Your Corpse In Hell give way to even better choruses. These guys nail the aesthetic both visual and auditory making for an album that you want to come back to time and time again simply for its bloodthirsty magic. Toss in a few top notch guitar harmonies and production that pays a fitting tribute to the genre and the magic within and you find yourself digesting a masterpiece. This is a record that you can get lost in and one which will continually impress. It ebbs and flows - but one thing is for sure - Sickening will continue to pummel you with riffs.

When it comes right down to it there is something undeniably fun about Sickening. This is a record that jams hard, that paints all sorts of unique ideas and which blasts forward with the sort of twisted pagan majesty that got so many of us addicted to Entombed. Rather than being a straight homage though Gravestone bring so much more to the table and have me, and countless other fans starting to freak out about a new force brewing in Sweden - these guys could very well be the countries next great death metal export!

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/pg/GravestoneSwe

Gutter Instinct - Age Of The Fanatics

Oh Swedish death metal, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. The simple fact of the matter is that Swedish death metal is super rad, and perhaps the raddest of these bands is Prosthetic Records very own Gutter Instinct, a band who invoke the burning power of the genre and simultaneously move the whole genre forward. The balls out attack represented on their latest offering, the wonderfully punishing Age Of The Fanatics pays tribute to the old masters whilst also hinting at greater things to come.

Overall the execution on Age Of The Fanatics is stunning. In particular the development and implementation of the bottom end is stunning. The buzzing assault that comes in on songs like Counter-Culture allows the listener to fully embrace the basement dwelling vibes of the band. At the same time, the sheer quality of the compositions, and the rhythmic contrasts and overall tightness found on Age Of The Fanatics shows you just how goddamn good Gutter Instinct are. Cynical and bitter, a dark reflection on modern society, perhaps it is appropriate that the band bring in so many black metal elements into their trademark music.

Age Of The Fanatics is a record you can get lost in. Not necessarily because of the breadth of the soundscapes but in the way that the band is able to craft a larger atmosphere with the tripped out guitar solos and crushing rhythm section. The balance between chugs and blast beats is perfect, and few bands understand the intricacy of the genre as well as its balls out depravity as well as Gutter Instinct do. Pulsing and vicious, this is a record that goes for the throat and leaves a pint of blood on the floor.

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/gutterinstinct/?fref=ts

Hellreign, Night Rite, Sentience and Abstruktor at ABC No Rio

The cigarette scented magic of matinee shows at ABC No Rio speaks to a very special kind of person. Their is a certain nostalgia I have for the underground as my career continues to advance and I'm left with fewer and fewer opportunities to go back to the roots and honor why I got myself into this mess in the first place. So now - slightly sick, and very tired, I'm taking a chance to look back and reflect on four bands I got to see tonight that gave me a refreshing glimpse about why we call this scene our own.

Hellreign are the first band that I've seen play in full corpse paint in far too long and their sound - reminiscent of truly old school black metal, a la early Mayhem or even Venom was wonderfully executed and very fun to watch. Taking themselves very seriously these young bucks thrashed across the stage with some crunchy riffs that definitely got the increasingly rowdy crowd off to a nice start. Though the audience skewed younger (This was an all ages matinee after all) Hellreign definitely pull of something that could appeal to metalheads of all ages, it's buzzing and glorious - speaking to an oft forgot part of the beauty of black metal.

A big part of why I came was Night Rite and their extremely talented and lovable guitarist Jeff Monge. Playing stripped down and groovy blackened crust punk (Or something - at this point genre designations start to break down) these guys slalomed their way through their first set ever. While it certainly felt like a first set the band seemed to be fairly comfortable with the whole thing and delivered accordingly. There are some very solid ideas here and I get the impression that Night Rite could be a very valuable addition to the New York City scene. These guys get what it means to deliver punky black metal to the masses and the world certainly needs more of that!

I was really impressed with Sentience, a death metal band who wear their Swedish influences on their collective sleeve and proudly rocked their way through a forty minute set that left the whole crowd smiling. Sentience are a lot of fun to watch live because they understand the pure bombast that death metal can have. They get to the spirit of the genre and leave you headbanging with your fist in the air and your voice screaming along to every chorus. This is a band that understands the pure sonic poetry of their work and create music that is surprisingly fun to listen too given how dark it is and leaving you wondering what more is in store for this band.

At first I was a bit pissed waiting around for Abstruktor. Their was a huge gap between them and Sentience and I was cold and wanted to go home...until they started to play. As one fan said after the show "They must be the closest you can get to having seen Metallica back in the day" and I have to agree. Abstruktor put on an incredibly energetic live show, spewing out thrash metal inspired by Nuclear Assault, Motorhead (In fact multiple members of this band have Motorhead tattoos), and of course Metallica. Abstruktor get what thrash metal is all about and it's impossible to watch them and not have the time of your fucking life.

And so the night came to a close and I took the subway on home, watching all sorts of demons and ghouls pass me by. It had been an interesting afternoon and certainly one I won't soon forget. That's what makes this scene special - waiting around all day to see a band you've never heard of, and then instantly falling in love. But fuck it - I never know what to say in these closing paragraphs other than that local shows are a huge part of what makes this whole thing work. If we want to continue to allow the magic of metal to spread - this is what we need to help make it survive.

Find the bands on Facebook!

Hellreign: https://www.facebook.com/Hellreign.official/?fref=ts

Nightrite: https://www.facebook.com/NightRite/?fref=ts

Sentience: https://www.facebook.com/sentiencedeathmetal/?fref=ts

Abstruktor: https://www.facebook.com/Abstruktor/?fref=ts

Moondark - The Shadowpath

There is something strangely charming about Swedish death metal. Its slowed down grooves and punishing attack is the kind of thing that really lulls you into a sense of calm. I don't know why, but after a certain point most death metal loses its aggressive edge and instead becomes vaguely meditative. There are a lot of tropes that bands like Moondark conform too, but with a record like The Shadowpath that's kind of the point. Within these tropes Moondark are able to create some kickass sounds and truly expand the listeners mind for the better.

I think that the depth of emotion that defines Moondark actually makes more sense when you realize they've been around since 1993. The trudging sense of oblivion that helps to make this band so undeniably heavy comes from years of grinding it out in a freezing fucking country in a repressed fucking culture. What I'm trying to say is that Moondark are a product of their environment and their music acts as a reflection on that. Perhaps that is what makes The Shadowpath truly art. You find yourself coming to a deeper knowledge of the musicians, and you get the sense that the ominous and brooding destruction found on the albums closer, the truly top notch World Devastator allows the band to come to terms with their own suffering.

Moondark isn't for everyone, I'll be the first one to admit that. Yet as I sat here this evening reading Chuck Klosterman and reflecting on the earth shaking power of these tunes I found it hard to deny that Moondark also get the fundamental power of death metal and what it can do for a regular Joe like you or me. Their songwriting opens the mind and gives you a look into a brutal and more profound reality - but that's kind of the point. The Shadowpath is death metal that enhances the sense of self - and for that reason it is glorious.

Find them on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/moondark666

At the Gates Interview : Track-by-track guide to "Slaughter of the Soul" with Tomas Lindberg (Pt.3/3)

Boy oh boy have I got a treat for all of you, my beloved readers. After generously extending the duration of our interview by agreeing to go through both the entire tracklist of the new record as well as our list of questions, At the Gates vocalist Tomas Lindberg agreed to grant us one final big surprise to close off this interview. With our current year marking the 20^th anniversary of the bands’ most celebrated record Tomas agreed to take us along on a trip down memory lane to bring us a track-by-track recollection for none other than melodic death metals’ own cornerstone of excellence: Slaughter of the Soul.

1. Blinded by Fear
“Blinded by fear” is one of those songs that just written very fast because the album was lacking something. When we wrote the record, we intended it to be a full-package classic record comparable to our favorite records. We aimed high to come somewhere in between I guess, but later on it has been rewarded by lots of praise. We really wrote the song as an opener, we wanted a fast straightforward easy track as the opener. In my world it's really the little brother of "Slaughter of the Soul" lyrically. It has the main themes from The Dice Man presented there too, only presented in an "easier" way as an introduction, almost like "Death and the Labyrinth" with At War with Reality. That's maybe what was in the back of my head when I wrote the lyrics to those songs too, because it's also nothing more than the introduction to the title-track. The "fear" of course is the darkness I saw in society at the time, so it's very personal "politics", I guess.

2. Slaughter of the Soul
As you've said before when you were talking about The Dice Man (see pt.1 of the interview, link below), it's about the experiment of breaking down your character and your soul to be able to be "born again" and create yourself anew. It tries to ask the question as to what a soul is, for example, and all of these other questions just pop up. It starts like an experiment to see how far you can go into breaking down your own character and your own soul and I just transferred that experiment into death metal lyrics. I thought it worked pretty cool.

3. Cold
Lyrically, I wrote the song in about half an hour. The title is pretty self-explanatory. A lot of our songs are aggressive but this one is illustrates more of a feeling of having given up. I was watching a lot of those movies that came out in the mid-nineties: Boyz N the Hood, Menace to Society… all of those kinds of movies. I just gave up on a lot of mankind; I became very cynical when I wrote that song.

4. Under a Serpent Sun
Actually, that's a song that ties together with the older lyrics of At the Gates, having references to Aleister Crowley and what I would call "Socialist Satanism" (laugh), not the sort of "personal" Satanism but rather philosophical and socialistic. It also goes back to the songs from With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness which has references to Aleister Crowleys' personal life as well: his soul-search through a lot of drug intake and whatnot, which tied in with the concept of the title track with the idea of destroying oneself and ones' soul to create something new.

5. Into the Dead Sky
“Into the Dead Sky” serves as the instrumental sister to "Under a Serpent Sun", because it's also about drugs and not just the good sides of it if you understand what I'm saying (laugh). So that was inspired a lot by the psychedelic bands in the 60s' and their way of looking at drugs actually. The booklet to the album included a quote by The 13th Floor Elevators Roky Ericksons' first band. He had a lot of weird ideas but when I was working on Slaughter of the Soul I was 22 years old and I was inspired by everything that impressed me. I would just be like "Oh shit, what is this!" and I would do something with that, whereas with At War with Reality I had really figured out what I really wanted to write about and made a concept about that. Back then I was like "Oh shit, this is cool!" and I did something with it, and it tied into a concept anyway, but lyrically I was just fired up and inspired by everything I found out at the time.

6. Suicide Nation
“Suicide Nation” is sort of a social comment. Sweden is a very safe country, but sometime in the late 80s' and early 90s', it felt as though Sweden had lost its "virginity" in a way. Everything was still in the 50s' in Sweden almost; it was very safe and kind of... boring in a way (laugh). It's still there but a lot stuff happened: our prime minister got killed in the late 80s' and a lot of other stuff happened that made us question stuff. So that kind of feeling, this deep darkness that was always buried underneath while this country was being portrayed as being "heaven on earth" and "socialist heaven". This was way before the internet so you couldn't google everything, but here was this thing going around at the time where Japan and Sweden had the two highest suicide rates in the world. Being such a "safe" country, this was always a disturbing fact for us. I don't know how that really is, but that’s' what inspired the song.

7. World of Lies
That's a punk song really (laugh). It could've just been Minor Threat or a song from the 80s' punk rock scene: the politicians are lying to you, everybody is lying to you... that kind of naïve, aggressive song (laugh). The lyrics are pretty straightforward on that one really.

8. Unto Others
This one also goes back to the early days, as it is very anti-organized religion. That’s' the whole concept of the song. I actually haven't thought about that song for quite a while, some stuff on that kind of borders the writing style that I used on At War with Reality actually. It has this idea of breaking down dogmas that we don't really think about, stuff that have always been there so we don't even know that we could question them.

9. Nausea
Again, a very aggressive, hateful one. World of Lies and Nausea were written in the same kind of vein. It deals about questioning stuff like the media as well. It also has the whole idea that if you have a "materialistic safety" you'll feel good but of course you don't, you need some more values in life to not be nauseated by our life today. So it also questions our lifestyle, materialism and the Medias' role in feeding us needs we don't have.

10. Need
Lyrically, this one is actually almost our cover of "Killing yourself to live" by Black Sabbath. That's how that song started. It even has the line "Killing yourself to live" in it. It's the end part of the concept of the Dice Man idea, getting up the furthest point and asking yourself if you're capable of stepping over that line, into something else. It doesn't have to be suicide as the song sort of hints at, it's more about the idea of crossing that line.

11. The Flames of the End
This one kind of states "THIS is humanity, we are the flames of the end, we are the flesh that never rests": We are destroying ourselves and the world. That's the social comment on that one. The interesting thing with that song is also how it was written musically as well. Anders wrote everything at home, it was like a movie soundtrack that he did and we had a lot of fun with the guitar parts on that one too. All of that feedback is created live, with all of us wrestling with guitars in the studio. We thought that it was a great finale to the record that captured the mood really.

 

Interview by Robin Ono

Interview with Tomas Lindberg

Part I: http://tinyurl.com/o2f6yth

Part II: http://tinyurl.com/nfwcmsq

Be sure to check the rest of the photos of the show on our facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Two-Guys-Metal-Reviews/120456451348727

PS : A huge thank you goes out toTomas Lindberg, Martin Marx for her amazing work as well as to Deborah and the rest of the Rockhal staff for their incredible hospitality, without which this interview would've been possible.

At the Gates
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