Young bucks on the Swedish death metal scene Usurpress are, having yet to release an official full-length album. However, that hasn’t stopped the Uppsala fiends from creating solid, if not entirely original, death metal in the realm of classic Dismember, Grave, etc. Having just released their second EP In Permanent Twilight, the band is on to something with the eight songs they’ve created.
Clocking in at just over twenty-one minutes total, In Permanent Twilight hits all the right marks in all the right places. The overall production is clean enough to where all the instruments are audible, though it retains that crucial grittiness needed for a proper death metal album. Each song follows the typical old school NWOSDM formula of not too fast, not too brutal, not too slow, etc and thankfully there isn’t a lousy filler song in the bunch. Though the songs are rather paint-by-the numbers in terms of how the Swedish bands of yesterday created the scene, Usurpress have added a sort of renewed vigor into a genre that has only recently started to breathe new air into its lungs.
Like stated previously, nothing Usurpress does on In Permanent Twilight is original in the least; these cats proudly wear their influences on their sleeves and don’t hide it. They are obviously influenced by the best albums the scene ever offered and there’s no shame in that. Thankfully for the sake of their style of death metal, Usurpress haven’t infused cheesy female or clean vocals into the mix and they have stayed away from the pointless noodling and arpeggio-filled nonsense that so many of today’s younger bands are guilty of.
In the end, In Permanent Twilight is virtually the perfect introductory piece for someone new to this fresh band. With only two EPs and a few splits to their name, the future is pretty bright for Usurpress. It’s unknown whether they’ll become forefathers of sorts of this resurgence of traditional, old school Swedish death metal, but their fresh take on a sound that grew stale by the late 1990’s is a welcome treat to these ears. Here’s to looking forward to their proper full-length…
