This fall/early winter, a group of excellent Swedish-styled/HM-2 death metal releases will be vying for your attention and hard-earned cash. Belgium’s Carnation,  Prosthetic Records’ 2023 foray into the genre, Xorsist, Australia’s The Plague, reliable German vets Endseeker, and the best of the bunch, the long overdue second album from Sweden’s Gravestone. The 2018 debut, Sickening, […]

For those of you in America and around the world still very much in the hellacious grip of global warming’s wrath, I apologize for what I’m about to say but – ’round these parts, the creeping chill of autumn’s arrival is very much starting to make an appearance, and frankly I need it to just […]

When your promotional materials boldy claim that your album is the ‘Best Swedish death metal of 2023”,  you’ve got some balls on you, that’s for sure. But you certainly got my attention. The thing is…… the claim might be right. Even with some hefty competition from the likes of Wretched Fate, Iron Flesh, Angerot, Coffin […]

So at 2023s midpoint a few bands and their respective debuts are arguably vying for the year’s best Swedish death metal release (with Iron Flesh Church of the Dead, Angerot and Wretched Fate certainly in the conversation for non debuts). One, Come, Sweet Death’s, hacking, slashing Dismember homage, Imperishable. And two, the debut from Swtizerland’s […]

Swedish death metal played in the USA is more of a needle in a haystack type of deal.  California’s now-defunct Fatalist was one of the better USA type of bands and they had a short run, with minimal output but their material still owns. Trying to find another band that, captured that buzzsaw Swedish sound, […]

“Sweden’s Wretched Fate is a new band formed by members of melodic death metal band Non Divine Sun, and their debut album, Fleshletting is the album that Bloodbath should have released last year.” That paragraph above was the opening paragraph from my review of the 2019 Wretched Fate debut, Fleshletting. And with the band’s second album, Carnal Heresy, I’m feeling […]

The second album from the duo of the excellently named vocalist/guitarist ‘Wolven Deadsoul’ and drummer E.H, was a completely blind grab for me. But when it threw around words like ‘Swedish death metal’, ‘Asphyx’, ‘Grave’,  ‘Benediction’, and such, I had to check it out despite the aggressively purple cover.. I was greeted with some excellent […]

Carnal Savagery is a Swedish death metal band with ties to Cromlech, who like fellow Swedes Entrails and In Pain, were knocking around in the early 90s but never really got truly going other than a few demos . After Cromlech, some members went on to form short-lived but solid melodic death metal acts Divine Souls, […]

We last heard from French Dismember worshipers, Iron Flesh back in 202o/21 for Summoning the Putrid, a damn fine release of Swedish death metal with a nice balance of melodic slicing riffs and more doomy passages. Well, for the follow-up, Iron Flesh continues the same sound going full-on Dismember homage with 48 minutes and 10 songs […]

There have been some great Swedish /HM2 style death metal releases in 2022; Necrom, Entrails, Demonical, Katakomba, Sentient Horror, and Ripped to Shreds Disfuneral, have all released killer albums so far this year. But this autumn, a few more releases will drop and compete for your hard-earned cash. Back in September, Tampa Bay’s Carnal Ruin […]

I imagine being a Swedish death metal band, playing Swedish-styled, HM2 death metal AND hailing from Stockholm carries a little weight with it, what with Entombed  Grave and Dismember all hailing from your hometown. However, youngsters Katakomba are up to the task and have delivered a fine, if not damn brilliant homage to their hometown […]

Behind the scenes here at Teeth of the Divine, we’ve often discussed what the next chapter of Deathcore is going to look like. Thanks to Lorna Shore‘s insane (and well-deserved) popularity, we all know that the whole Blackened/Symphonic Deathcore thing being the latest style du jour that everyone and their brothers, parents, cousins, and dogs seem […]

I don’t think there is any doubt that the first three albums from Entrails,  2010s Tales From the Morgue, 20011s The Tomb Awaits, and possibly the band’s 2013 Metal Blade debut, Raging Death are the pinnacle of the Swedish death metal revival. However, subsequent albums Obliteration, World Inferno and Rise of the Reaper didn’t quite […]

I was just recently randomly listening to  Unsane, Insane, and Mentally Deranged, the debut album from Sweden’s Murder Squad, an early 00s supergroup featuring members of Grave, Entombed and Merciless with a guest appearance from Autopsy’s very own Chris Reifert. And I thought to myself, ‘Man. I have not heard a homage to Autopsy delivered […]

I’m a longwinded guy, there’s no doubt about it, but when it comes to Celestial Extinction, the debut full-length from Australia’s Cryptivore, there is simply no beating around the bush; this album kicks ass, plain and simple. This one-man band from multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, Chris Anning, sounds like anything but, having a full band intensity […]

The undisputed heirs to Dismember‘s throne (here’s hoping for a reunion after the 2022 Maryland Deathfest), Demonical is back with album number 7, and as expected, there are absolutely zero surprises or curveballs from a band that features former members of Centinex and Grave.   They can pretty much do this in their sleep. Essentially delivering […]

Along with Abscession’s Rot of Ages, the best Swedish-styled HM 2 album I heard last year was the second effort from Italy’s Organic. The follow-up to 2019s solid debut Carved in Flesh, delivers everything a sophomore album should; improving on a fine debut with improved songwriting and confidence delivered a tried tested, and popular sound […]

Classic Buzzsaw Swedish Death Metal + legendary vocalist + group of accomplished metal musicians + some current or former dude from Katatonia = Bloodbath… right? Right. Except… not? I’ll tell ya, writing a supergroup review can always be an arduous task. We’re talking a collection of big names, dealing with unreasonable expectations, weighing it against […]