So in a year that sees albums from not only legends Grave, Entombed and Dismember, you’ve also got ‘supergroups’ Bloodbath, Murder Squad and Chaosbreed throwing in their respective homage to the Sunlight sound.

And now comes another ‘supergroup’ giving suitable homage to ‘that’ sound and it consists of four unequivocally qualified heathens ready to deliver some mid range carnage and give us another reminder that this style is arguably the most timeless style of death metal there was. Forming this particularly savage group is Emperor Magnus Caligula (aka Magnus “Masse” Broberg of Hypocrisy, Dark Funeral fame), Tomas Elofsson (Santification), Tobben Gustafsson (Vomitory), and the bearded one, Lord K Philipson (The Project Hate).

 It’s with this lineup that GAI attempt to deliver their own homage to pure old school Swedish Death metal, and with a superbly retro guitar tone courtesy of Tommy Tägtgren, they succeed. With a dirtier, grimier approach more akin to Murder Squad, GAI are barbarically simple to the point of redundancy, but the end result, mainly due to the nostalgia involved, is a pummeling, mercilessly simple yet effective album of pure old school nihility. There’s no real point to the album other than deliver stout, downtuned grooving death metal, the way it was done in 1992. The Stockholm/Sunlight sound has been further downtuned to the point of ridiculousness, but its ‘buzz saw in a cave’ effect is smile inducing and at the same time, capable of loosening fillings. Lyrically, the simplicity is even more throwback with a good ol’ fashion Autopsy/Deicide mix of gore and Satanism (“A Gush of Blood”, Chainsawed Christians”, “Headless Nun Whore”), and in truth really doesn’t hold much interest, but the music more than makes amends.

World Wide Death essentially takes the band members past and present activities and throws it into one giant pot of Stockholm seasoned filth, so basically you get an album that holds tastes of most noticeably Vomitory, but also hints of old Hypocrisy (Penetralia namely) and The Project Hate (mostly in the guitar tone, this is free of synths a female vox). There’s’ nothing remotely groundbreaking about this album, but its rendered with such a perfectly executed throwback style it doesn’t need to be, the mid pace tempo littered with a few blast beats don’t require too much cerebral work, you just sit and absorb it in all its Sunlight quintessence.

There are no real ‘standout’ tracks per say but rather each of the 9 belched tracks are solid, head bopping forays of yesteryear that just play and run into each other with nary a moment of sonic frivolity or respite. Just play this loud as fuck and let your calf muscles cry in agony as you mimic the continual malevolent double bass pacing Tobben Gustafsson delivers in “Purified in Carnage” or the savage gallop and chainsaw littered “Chainsawed Christians”. The mammoth lurch of album closer “Uhr -Nazuur” seals the deal with a crawling screaming Autopsy climax that only further solidifies the bands direction and influences.

I’d like to re-iterate the sheer and audacious simplicity of the album, there’s no solos no epic riffs and interludes, just a straight forward old fashion Swedish Death metal, and even then it lacks the lucid time changes of Entombed or the razor sharp stabs of Dismember, but it does have more energy that the latest Grave offering. There’s no doubt World Wide Death does rely on style over substance, but there’s no arguing the end result is a punishing trip down memory lane.

[Visit the band's website]

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