It’s early days in 2024, but German newcomers Acrid Death (though with veteran members of other bands like All Its Grace, Driven by Entropy, and Synchronic) along with Ceremonial Death (on their split EP with Unformulas) look to be frontrunners for 2024s best HM2/Swedish death metal guitar tone.

Fans of Entrails take fucking note here, as these guys are almost identical in their tone, delivery, and songwriting.  The emphasis is on massive lumbering grooves and classic Stockholm canters rather than blast beats with blast furnace deep roars backing it all up.

The production from young producer Emil Cezanne in his new Nighttime Productions Studio (Sun Eater, Janus, Awaken the Mutes) is fucking huge and makes the whole album rattle when the chainsaw riffs and grooves kick in, putting these guys right in the mix as the best new band in the genre of the last couple of years. Nighttime Productions could be one to watch if they nailed their first HM2 production this well.

The 9 songs will scratch the ever-loving shit out of any HM2 itch you might have. Whether it’s the furious opener “Huntsmen”, blasting “Presence”, the big-time lumber of “G.L.O.R.R.G”, the punky gallop of “Dreg Heap”, or the more aggressive “Negative Space”, even if they are lacking that truly classic, album-defining song or riff.

A promising album from a band and a studio that looks to only get better with experience for future albums.

[Visit the band's website]

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