The reason it’s better is RIFFS. Andrew Lee is a guitar monster. Oh, and solos! Listen to that Swe-death HM-2 guitar tone at the beginning of “Into the Court of Yanluowang. There are two quick solos before the track even hits 2 minutes. Then the nice “OUGH” that leads into another great riff. There’s more than one “OUGH” as well in that part, followed by another quick solo. With a couple of minutes left, a grunt leads into a slightly slower section, then to another solo. This one’s much longer and finishes the track.

Every track is a certified banger, but I especially enjoy “Living in Effigy.” After a speedy beginning, the track slows roughly 2 minutes in, which leads into a killer solo. If you’d been paying attention, you would have seen that coming. My favorite part is unsurprisingly an “OUGH” followed by a head-nodding riff.

The next one, “Corpse Betrothal” begins with a riff straight from the early 90s DM playbook. Some deeper vocals start it, then that groovy ass riff around 2 minutes brings back the normal hoarse ones. At slightly over 3 minutes, this is one of the shorter tracks, but packs just as heavy a punch.

One of the later tracks, “Cultivating Towards Ascension” sits around the “tree fitty” mark, which I am quite surprised passed the Grammarly test. I’m sure The Loch Ness Monster is pleased. I’m not sure if the goal was to fit as many guitar solos as possible onto an album, but it begs the question. Yngwie Malmsteen probably set it at like five years old or something.

The final track, “Perverting the Funeral Rites, Stripping for the Dead,” has a sexy and alluring title, but also vivacious riffs, which may not have ever been used in a death metal review before. I like being a trailblazer. Regardless, you know what you’re getting here in a shorter form. A headbanging riff, as well as multiple great solos, fill it.

I’ve already told you how I feel about Sanshi. There’s no shortage of death metal these days, as well as an abundance of great bands. I find it difficult to believe anyone into metal will not thoroughly enjoy this. Beware if you listen because you might not stop headbanging. I hope you’re not embarrassed about looking like the Roxbury Guys for a while.

And I thought to myself, ‘Man. I have not heard a homage to Autopsy delivered with some Swedish HM2 buzz in ages’. I mean bands like Ruin, Cryptic Brood and Slaughterday (and of course, Reifert’s own Static Abyss project) have all rendered that sloppy, sinewy sound well, but nothing has delivered it with Murder Squad levels of Swedish death metal resonance.

Then I literally read a review of the debut from France’s Disfuneral, instantly purchased it, and folks we have the new Murder Squad.

Formerly known as Herpes, this group of Frenchmen has added to this year’s bumper crop of excellent old school Swedish death metal, but like Nihilist/Entombed’s earlier stuff, they have a far heavier Autopsy influence to their sound (I mean look a Disfuneral’s logo font..) with oodles of oozing, scrawling sickly riffs amid the D-beat canters and trots.

I mean, just go to the album’s clear highlights in opener “Feastering the Undead”,  “Devourer of Light”, the title track, personal favorite, “Dead” or parts of oozing closer “Funeral Maze” which all could have come from Autopsy’s more sickly, doomy Retribution for the Dead EP with killer moments of shambling, sinewy grooves, although less…..’moist’ than Autopsy.  And they are intermingled with the likes of “Dissolved”, “Eternal” or “Lord of Discord” which just do that whole “Charred Remains” or “Pagan Savior”, gristle-filled, sneering, death metal tumble that Autopsy perfected on their faster songs. Just listen to “Maim, Kill, Burn”. It could have opened Severed Savior.

Blood Red Tentacle certainly adds to the bumper crop of great Swedish death metal due to its hefty HM2 buzz, but also has its slimy (blood red?) tentacles wrapped around 2022s best, more pure, old school death metal as well.

Openers “Rat King Crawl” and “Theater of Pain” set the tone with the same massive, punchy, but catchy jaunts as “Gargoyle”.  The same can be said a few tracks later with the energetic, feral gallops of “The Final Furnace”,  pummeling “War Machine” the title track. Abscession certainly knows their way around the classic Entombed influenced canter (i.e seminal “Revel in Flesh”). But the title track also shows a little more experimentation and variety the band has added, with a nice piano and some clean Edge of Sanity vocals out of nowhere.  That same slight but effective sense of evolution appears on other tracks like “When the Guillotine Falls”- with some more clean vocals from vocalist Thomas Clifford. But they can also rip your face off with more intense riffs like “Rains of Death” (which also features another little Edge of Sanity melodic nod) “Dead Mans Hate” and blistering “Prometheus Unbound”. The only thing missing is a full-on slow, doomy song akin to “In My Coffin” from Grave Offerings. Though closer does end the album with an 80s horror-styled instrumental/atmospheric close out.

Of course, the whole affair is rendered with a thunderous, buzzing production from guitarist ‘Skaldir’ (AKA Markus Skrock), who also does the clean vocals on the aforementioned title track,  at his home, Kalthallen studio. It checks all the boxes with a menacing chainsaw tone, throbbing bass, and killer bottom end. Everything you want and need in an HM 2 styled album.

There’s been a solid handful of releases in this genre this fall, with Organic’s Where Graves Abound and Grand Cadaver‘s Into the Maw Of Death, but Rot of Ages is by far the best of the bunch, and now finally with a second album,  these guys should now be mentioned in the same breath as Revel In Flesh, Entrails and Demonical as far as the genre’s top dogs.

If you are a fan of the genre, you probably already have this or are already headed of to your marketplace of choice to purchase this LP or the CD version. And rightfully so, these guys have delivered a superb effort that delivers all the expected classic Swedish influences, mostly early Entombed and Dismember even more so, but also makes it their own with some cool, doomy, somber, moodier segments and songs.

Opening with the raucous gallop of “Servants of Oblivion”,  every box is filled for genre-philes; thick buzzing guitars,  gruff vocals, cantering riffs and oozing grooves.  And while there is oodles of Entombed/Dismember homage, high energy,  like the aforementioned opener, “Relinquished Flesh”, the melodic strains of ” Purify Through Blasphemy”, “Incursion of Evil”, and “Thy Power Infinite” (all three,  pure, more melodic Dismember worship songs), where the band shines are the slower, more lumbering songs like the crushing “Demonic Enn”, “Cursed Beyond Death”, standout, 8 minute, “Death and the Reaper’s Scythe” and pure doom closer “Convicted Faith”, where the killer guitar tone is allowed to writhe and slither with sickly menace.

Though there are no different tracks or artwork for this LP version, for collectors, there are two variants of the LP, a regular black one and a limited, cool icky yellow/greenish version which matches the album artwork perfectly. That’s the one I’ll be grabbing.

In a first half of the year that has seen solid releases in this style from The Plague, Eye of Purgatory, Endseeker, The Generals, Devoured,  and such, this stands as one of the better ones and would have been so last year also. Let’s see what Entrails and Abscession can bring to the table later this year to compete….

From the opening strains of opener “Unholy Rites”, which is clearly an unabashed ode to both “Of Fire” from Dismember’s Death Metal and “Patrol 17 from the Hate Campaign album, you know what you are once again getting with Mount Carcass; Pure Dismember worship. And that’s fine. It s very well done, and certainly, with Dismember on hiatus, there is a void for that sound, and while many bands are vying for the title like Demonical, Lik, Frostvore, Massive Assault, Iron Flesh, and such, Endseeker is certainly in the conversation, especially with 3 quality offerings under their belt.

Culling heavily from the more groove-based Massive Killing Capacity (just check out “Merciless Tide”, “Bloodline”  “Count the Dead” and “Cult”) and Dismember’s 2000 and beyond, more melodic sound (“Unholy Rites”, “Mount Carcass”, Frantic Redemption”) the delivery is simple, effective, and energetic. It’s not groundbreaking, the HM2 sound isn’t overbearing or overdone like some of their US counterparts (I’m looking at you Gatecreeper and Fuming Mouth), it’s got just the right amount of buzz and heft, and the songs don’t do anything too adventurous. And as you can tell from the video above, the band set out to do all this, while having a bit of fun and not taking themselves too seriously.

As with the debut, where the band covered Bolt Thrower‘s “Powder Burns”, or The Harvest‘s cover of Megadeth’s “Symphony of Destruction”, there is a cover song at the end of the album. Here it’s a slightly different one, as it’s the band’s take on John Carpenter’s theme from Escape From New York (fun, true fact; I recorded the theme from the TV onto a cassette and listened to it on my walkman as a kid). It’s an interesting, different endnote to an other wise, predictably enjoyable album.

It’s about now I say something like ‘some HM2 pedals have made their way to Australia’, but Earth Rot already grabbed the first batch, but The Plague certainly turned everything to 11 on their debut effort and are making no pretenses of their chosen influence ( if Bitter Loss Records didn’t give it away). This is pure early Entombed worship, mixing the dark, raw aggression of Left Hand Path, and the thunderous clout of Clandestine, into one massive, impressive homage.

From the throaty shout of Mike Ryan and his best Petrov impression, to the huge Chris Blacanto mix and master that rivals the like of genre kings Demonical, Lik and Entrails, Within Death is 33 minutes of top notch HM2 worship done absolutely perfectly. There is very little focus on more Dismember like melodies (though obviously still an influence) but rather a pretty relentless, pummeling approach. In fact, its not until, the fifth song, “Hand of Greed”, that the band slow down for a whole song and generates a massive “Blessed Be” like  lumber, as the prior 4 tracks pretty well blaze by in a vortex of buzzsaw riffs, double bass stomps and gallops, with the short stab of “Torment The Living” and “Spawn of Monstrosity” being particularly nasty.

After “Hand of Greed”, the back end of the album has a little more groove, with the huge closing rumble of “Drones”, very Clandestine midsection of “Slave to Addiction”, crawling heft to start standout “Dismal Solitude”.  The title track and “Festering Sickness” round out the album with a little more of a Dismember ish canter and slice, but still has some nasty slower parts to rattle your teeth.

Within Death . Mount Carcass, and Iron Flesh’s Summoning the Putrid are virtually neck a neck when it comes to which one I like more. The Plague has a meatier production and Iron Flesh have a little more melody and variety. But both deliver killer homages to a classic sound and both should be picked up by any fans of Entombed, Dismember, Grave etc.

Amid the standard Comecon meets latter Entombed/Dismember gallops, (i.e openers “Carnival of Sin” and “Seeds of Degeneration”) I occasionally get strains of Cemetary’s Godless Beauty, and Sentenced’s morose moodiness. For example, the third and fourth tracks “Vantablack” and” Melancholia Metamorphosis”, things slow down to a more despondent trot. Not full-on doom metal or even death-doom but certainly a subtle pallor of despondency sets in frequently.

“Lunatic” picks up the pace, but still, the lead guitar work has a certain air of melancholy to it. “Choremania” (a condition of manic dancing- who knew?),  and “The Mighty Madness” however, does revert back more to a straight-up romping, Swedish death metal canter, though the latter still has that same, subtle, sad lead work weaved into the punky pace.Closer “The Last Exit” isn’t subtle at all, being a full-on plodding death-doom number fitting some of their Finnish brethren.

Melancholic Rites is an intriguing little self-released album sure to get snowed under by the likes of LIK, Demonical and other bigger named Swedish styled death metal veterans, but has enough nuances to downhearted makes it a slightly different effort in the genre.

And that’s mainly because the last couple of albums, Visages of the Unspeakable and Monoliths of Madness, just kinda were ‘there’ and really didn’t do anything for me. Maybe it was Johansson-fatigue or the band’s shift away from hokier, B movie horror themes to more serious Lovecraftian themes or just that there were better Swedish death metal options over that period, I just wasn’t digging Revolting as much.

And that ‘meh’ feeling continues with album number 7. I’m just not into it. The 9 song, 31-minute album blows by with typical Swedish gusto, and this project’s more melodic, solo-filled ‘fun’ style, that was kinda cool on the first few albums, but has lost its luster. I mean it’s not like Rogga’s projects are the most experimental or progressive bands out there, you enjoy the likes of Revolting, Paganizer, Echelon, Down Among the Dead Men, Megascavanger, Putrevore, Reek, and such because they are what they are, and you know what you are getting. But at some point, its all kinda the same.

From opener “Defleshed” to closer “Revolted by Life Itself”, none of the tracks really stand out, all delivering pretty much the same pace and structure from start to finish; either a mid-paced stomp (“1888”, “Daggers That Mimic Lifes Pain” or more up-tempo gallop laced with a melodic lead of some sort ( interchangeable quartet of the title track, “Sorrow as a Companion”, “Dragged back to the Cellar”, “To The Bitter Bleeding End”),  and frankly none of it really sticks. None of it is as catchy or death n roll as his recent Reek project from earlier this year or as full-on melodic death metal as his Furnace project or as purely old school death metal as Humanity Delete. It’s sort of a non-commital mish mash of all of them. To be honest, Worthless’s new album, Melancholic Rites, does it better.

However, if you are looking for a meat a potatoes, simple, Swedish death metal album with Roggas trademark riffs, then Revolting is arguably his most Rogga project of all the Rogga projects. But the earlier albums are much more fun Rogga projects.

Tampa Bay isn’t really known for this style of death metal, being the birth home to the legendary US death metal scene (Deicide, Morbid Angel etc), but the lads in Carnal Ruin certainly spent their youth listening to Stockholm bands likes Entombed, Grave and Dismember as well as more modern acts in the style like Entrails and Demonical.

These 4, super beefy HM 2 sounding tracks are all excellent slabs of peer worship. The production and guitar tone (from Hunter Young, who is in his own promising band Graveview) is spot on, especially when things slow down to a bit more controlled, teeth-rattling groove in all the tracks but notably in midway through opener “Elder Spell” or partway into “Scholomance”. But they have those traditional Swedish more melodic slicing gallops as well as heard on “Ode to the Conquered (As the Damned Lie Rotting)” and rambunctious closer ” Iniquitous, Devout”.

The US has some really good bands in this style with the likes of Sentient Horror and Angerot being some of the top tier acts, but based on this all too short EP, Carnal Ruin looks to be the next addition to that top tier, and I’m really looking forward to a full-length album soon.

“Below the Deep and Dreamless Sleep” has some epic qualities going for it this time around and keyboards add an extra atmospheric layer to their style.  The opening part with the female style vocals chanting and then right into the brutal and pummeling heaviness the start n stop grinding riffs and drums make you realize this album is already heavier than its predecessor.  Some killer double bass and rolling drums, equipped with understandable, yet very deep and gruff vocals.  Excellent tones in the vocals alternating with the deep parts and higher register screeches.  About midway into the song we are greeted with a pummeling blast, which then brings in some serious keyboard action.  A monster of an opening song.

“Coalesced With Wickedness” starts rather slow and plodding with excellent guitar melodies and eventually the song gets into speedier territory.  More atmospheric moments and a little Edge of Sanity influence creep in at the 3.20 section and then back into the pummeling moments and more atmospherics.  A very brutal and emotive song, just like the album opener.  “Thy Kingdom Burned” starts with a fast opening, going from classic 90’s galloping speeds to full throttle choke slamming brutal blast beats.  Jason Ellsworth’s guitar work and keyboards are truly inspiring and excellent.  Monster riffs and keys!  Zaugg adds an undercurrent of heaviness with the bass and Matt Johnson’s drums are creative, pummeling and well-layed out.  C.R. Petit’s guitar work and vocals are excellent – I really enjoy his vocals and they go perfect with the music.

All the other songs are excellent, “Counsel of the Ungodly” is also great and “Each Night As You Sleep, I Destroy” is a nice little ditty of an instrumental which is short and to the point.  The album artwork, I knew from the get go is Jon Zig and the production of the album is unreal.  Beefy, heavy and nothing buried in the mix.  If you love Swedish inspired death metal you have to check out Angerot.  They offer melody and atmospherics, along the way, which really creates an excellent listening experience, as well as some new sounds to boot!

Angerot have expanded on their excellent debut and with bringing in a wider range of sounds really boost this style of death metal.  Please like their FB page, order whatever they’re selling and count me as impressed with this band.  The Divine Apostate is an absolute monster of an awesome death metal album.

We last heard Belgian death metallers Carnation when they released a banger of Florida-style death metal in 2018 with Chapel of Abhorrence. Evil death metal… because if I’ve learned anything about Belgium, it’s that they’re so damned… evil. Being that this is a somewhat high-profile release, I was shocked no one else picked it up. So, hooray or whatever. Let’s get blasting.

The first track, “Iron Discipline,” kicks off with a little feedback, then into the riff and a growl. This is definitely old school death metal in the vein of a combination between Dismember and Corpsegrinder era Cannibal Corpse. The CC reference is mostly in the vocal department. The guitars, while they do have a buzzsaw quality are certainly not of the HM-2 or bust category. A cool lead, a solid chorus hook, and we’re onward.

The title track, “Where Death Lies,” comes pretty early in the album as it’s track 3. It starts off with an L.G. Petrov (get well soon) style “UGH,” then into the galloping riff and verse. Before the second chorus hits, there’s a quick section that would put the mosh pit into a frenzy if we had those in this world anymore except for the fact that it’s quite short, just like the track itself.

Admittedly, moving forward, I do get a little lost in the music. Not in a bad way, though. In the focused, grooving along, happy to be listening to this album way. “Spirit Excision” has a little variety in the vocals department, but don’t worry, no cleans… yet. There’s no bad track here, but there’s no standout in the middle. That has to wait until near the end.

That track is “Reincarnation,” which is the standout track for me. It starts with a bit of an elongated intro, which includes some black metal styled keys. Even as the riff comes in, it could still be mistaken for black metal for a moment. As the riff progresses for a moment, it crashes into the realm of death metal and stays there. With a great hook and riff, I felt like this should be the closer.

Until I heard the closer, that is. That’s the next track, which is called “In Chasms Abysmal.” The main riff here is whiplash waiting to happen. A good death metal hook is here again, which is the norm on this scorcher of an album. There’s a great lead opening the door for the bridge which itself is carried by one. With a couple minutes left they let off the throttle for some… clean vocals?! For just a moment, though as it gets right back into blasting. As the riff fades out, some feedback comes in, and the album is over. Bummer.

If you couldn’t tell by that “bummer,” I’m a fan of what Carnation have put together here, just as I was with their previous. It’s short, it’s sharp, it’s fast, bad ass, high octane, testosterone-fueled death metal. You need to pick this up… and maybe buy some carnations for your love while you do.

I really enjoyed 2018s Chaos Manifesto, and World Domination follows suite with a stout, safe Swedish metal release, that leans heavily into the more melodic razor sharp tones of Dismember (as does LIK’s recent Misanthropic Breed), that mixes galloping slicing riffs and stout lopes , of course, all armed with that buzz saw guitar tone we all know and love (once again mixed and mastered by Karl Daniel Lidén).

Opening with “My Kingdom Done”, which recalls, the opener “Of Fire” from Dismember’s Death Metal album, Demonical get right to it with a throttling opener. As does second track “Hellfire Rain”. But as with “Välkommen undergång” from Chaos Manifesto, (delivered about the same  point in the album), it’s the slower, more menacing chugs where Demonical really delivers, and  “Aeons of Death” is that song here as well as the equally monstrous “Victorious”. But the album is largely a satisfying, beefier Dismember ish canter and blast like ” The Thin Darkness”, “We Stand As One” and vicious closer “Calescent Punishment”.

There is one anomaly on the album, the penultimate track “Slipping Apart”, asort of ballad that features vocalist Nils Patrik Johansson  of Danish progressive/ power metal act Wuthering Heights. And his clean croons don’t quite jive with Christofer Säterdal’s growls and bellows, I think they were going for a sort of Gardenian, “If Tomorrow’s Gone”, vibe, but it falls a bit flat.

Still another solid effort from the arguable top dogs in the genre, and now, one of the more consistent and longest running bands in the genre that continues to never get old.

My experience with Japanese metal, let alone old school Swedish death metal from Japan is virtually zero, so excuse me if I rave about the debut from Frostvore, as it absolutely nails the classic 90s Entombed and more specifically Dismember sound.

Much like any other country that usually isn’t associated with a certain sound or style, when they do discover it (I recall Polish death metal of the mid /late 90s being similar) they fuckin nail it and go balls out with a vigor and energy that imbues the original scene. It’s like Frostvore just now discovered Left Hand Path and Like An Ever Flowing Stream, and decided to pay pure, unbridled homage to it even though its been 30 years.

The entire album, with its perfectly rendered self-produced/mixed HM buzz, effortlessly reeks of the classics delivering the perfect balance of slicing cathing gallops, Celtic Frost inspired crawls and lots of groove and melody. From the standout, crushing lopes in the title track and “Extreme Cold Torture” to the razor-sharp canters of “Path To Your Tomb” (with a familiar “Revel in Flesh vibe), “Extreme Cold Torture”, perfectly Dismember-ish duo of “The Reaper”, and killer “Lake of Vein” and rumbling trot of closer “Unholy Mountain”, there really isn’t a weak track, and there are plenty of nods to their obvious peers.

Almost as good as the likes of original but new homage acts like In Pain, Entrails and such, Frostvore has certainly delivered a very impressive debut,  and is one of the more impressive ones in the genre I’ve heard in a while.

It’s clear immediately (after a short intro) from the opening salvo of ” Nihilistic Automata”, the band’s influence is firmly rooted in Nihilist and Entombed’s Left Hand Path, and it’s not subtle at all, as the track reeks of the albums classic opener “Drowned”, and has a very familiar late song riff.

The next 13, generally shorter stabs all deliver pure homage to that album as well as hints of Clandestine and other genre legends, but this is pretty Left Hand Path heavy in its splendidly buzzing guitar tone and riffs. Vocalist/bassist JH Wilschrey has a familiar LG Petrov/ Matti Karki gruff bark as well, to top everything off.

None of it is truly great are there are no killer, standout tracks, but tracks like “God Forsaken”, rumbling “Deceiving Tyranny Manifesto”, “Protect the Coven” “Evolutive Slaves” and “Hideous Manifestation” are all solid nods to the style and contain more than enough familiar nods to that seminal album (short interlude “Nameless Ritual” recalls the famous Phantasm music) and the genre. It’s generally well done, simple, honest, and energetic and makes no bones about its desired influence and sound.

Now while certainly not a top notch release in the style of the genre, as mantles owned  by the likes of Entrails, Gods Forsaken, Gravestone, and Just Before Dawn are certainly safe, Fleshwolf is a worthy, energetic and authentic delivery of the style , and even more impressive is that except for the drums,  its from one person (Robinson also has a one man doom project called Serpent’s Eve).

The 8 tracks all deliver classically styled Swedish death metal culling from the early efforts of Entombed, Dismember, Unleashed and so on, and makes no bones about it (opener “The Rot” even has a distinct nod to Left Hand Path’s seminal notes from Phantasm). It’s a bit rough around the edges, as the guitar tone is a bit gravelly and raw, if still definitely HM2 inspired, but you can tell Robinson is a fan of the classics and passionate about the style.

The material is largely focused on the classic, more grooving trot and gallops of his primary influences as heard on “Transcend”, hefty “Deathstare” and more controlled “Into The Night”. Robinson has a more throaty shout than a traditional growl and throws in plenty of solos to complement the more trundling gait that combines for a solid if unspectacular homage to the style.

But it appears  as if some HM2 boss pedals have found their way to Michigan City, Indiana as the quartet has developed what was a pretty mediocre take on death metal into an improved, Swedish inspired delivery that is pretty good and certainly better than I recall the EP being.

Of course the guitar tone helps, as I generally love the Swedish buzz saw tone. And while no one will confuse these mid westerners for Entrails or even fellow Americans Sentient Horror, but one listen to tracks like the groovy canter of “Hell’s Venom”,  standout slow burner “Red Poetry” or moody, varied 7+ minute number “Faded Scars Return to Bleed” and ambitious, almost 10 minute track, will show how much these guys have moved on from their more Skinless/ Cannibal Corpse influenced sound of before.

Other tracks like “As Your Vital Signs Decline” urgent “The Castigator” and classic Swedish stomp of “Myrmidons” and MK Ultra” are entertaining as well and show a band willing to develop and change their sound even if its from one well know style to another. A band that I was pretty nonplussed about before is certainly on my radar now.

Side 1 : “Unholy Trinity Madness”. A throbbing low end rumbles starts the track before a Bolt Thrower ish trundle erupts than transitions to a punky d beat canter. Then a Grave ish rumble to close things out. The guitar tone is perfect, HM 2 boss buzz but with a more raw punky sneer.

Side 2: “Stumpers”. A shorter, more sudden, more upbeat uptempo 3 minute song with a killer mid song romp and groove. The two new songs show a mild development but still stick to the tried and true Swedish delivery, especially that guitar tone. Killer stuff.

On a side note- what’s going on with that cover?

Well, after 12 years the band has apparently seen the style’s rebirth and decided to give it another go and continue with their Dismember worship with mixed results as Into the Catacombs of Flesh has some pretty good highs and some average sounding lows.

The buzz saw/hm 2 guitar tone is solid and authentic, not overdoing it, even if the mix is a bit weird with some really loud solos. But the songs are a weird mix of fucking killer and pretty dull, as the album has some really good tracks and some snoozers, making for an inconsistent return.

As expected, the great songs are where the band really locks into Dismember’s classic, melodic, hack and slash sound circa Death Metal and Hate Campaign. Tracks like “Mass Obliteration”, “Funeral Storm”, “Red Dreams of Sorrow”, (where they absolutely nail the Dismember sound), “Of Frozen Bloody Grounds”, and personal favorite, killer closer “Among Death and Desolation”.

But then you get a few tracks (largely the album’s mid section) of mid paced, Massive Killing Capacity era mediocrity like “Ossuary Rituals”, “Grave Monger”, “Law of Retaliation”  (which I initially thought was going to be a cover o Entombed’s “Through the Colonnades”), “Suffer the Dead” or blistering but contrived “Chainsaw Impalement” (which must break some kind of record for the use of the word ‘cunt’ in a song) and “Obliteration Bizarre”.

2019 saw some solid entries in the Swedish styled death metal scene from the likes of Revel in Flesh, Entrails, Entombed AD, In Pain, Gods Forsaken, Sentient Horror, Wretched Fate and such. And at times, Fleshcrawl are in that conversation, but at other times they are annoyingly bland and show why they were a bit overlooked in the 90s and 00s.

.  Revel in Flesh partnered with War Anthem Records for their Relics of the Deathkult compilation last year and decided to make the complete jump to them with releasing this 5th album through the label.  For those unfamiliar with RIF, in a nutshell they play Swedish inspired death metal, but they play it better than anyone else, currently.  This particular genre is a bit oversaturated, however there are still quite a lot of great bands, such as Sentient Horror.  Throughout their entire album Revel in Flesh have shown progression.  Their earlier efforts were more brutal and featured more blast beats and as the years have gone on the band has slowed down a bit, but make no mistake RIF are firing on all cylinders once again.  The title track opens the album and is a bit more classic 90’s era death metal with the classic death thrash speed.  It’s pretty rocking and “My Trial” features some classic metal melodies.  I was able to pick out some classic 80’s metal melodies and this makes me smile ear to ear.

Above I mentioned how the band has continued to let their riffs breathe a bit more on each riff and “Blood Oath” is proof of that.  Punishing mid-paced heaviness and the riffs are catchy and most of all menacing with Ralf alternating with his deep bellows and throwing in some well-placed higher register screams.  Excellent guitar melodies during the mid-section of this 5 minute number.  That riff at the 2.26 part is truly the Holy Shit moment.  Heavier than Sherman Tank treads of death and more ferocious than when that brutal mofo snores in his sleep.  Revel in Flesh don’t really kick into the high speed ferociousness until the sixth song “Deathblow” and this song puts the pedal to the metal in terms of the speed and the rhythm section is crushing.

“Pervitin Speed Kill” afterwards brings in the blast beats, finally, I need my blasts folks and right off the jump the song goes to the jugular for a throat slam and stomp.  The song alternates between some atmospheric moments, melodic riffing and scorching blasting with mid-paced double bass moments that are truly chest collapsing.  Ralf’s vocals sounding as outstanding as ever and he throws in some cool growls as well.

Revel in Flesh return to more of the mid-paced rhythms on the next several songs all of which are great.  I will grit my teeth a bit admitting I wanted more of the brutal fast blasting parts, as they’re really are not many on this, as Revel in Flesh go for a more mid-paced and atmospheric album than past efforts.  However, there is no denying the riffs are some of the most thought out riffs and well-structured songs they have ever done.

Just like past efforts RIF close the album with a classic metal cover.  This time it’s Motörhead’s “Rock Out”.  Really a terrific effort capturing the original classic heaviness, and meshing it with the Revel in Flesh sound with the bass guitar, of course, a little higher in the mix for good measure.  Dan Swanö once again is turning the knobs with his terrific skills at Unisound Studios in Sweden.  The sound is full and captures the more mature sounding Revel in Flesh as well as brings out those melodic and atmospheric pieces so beautifully.  The song titles, album sound and song structures go perfectly with the beastly red album cover.  It’s truly ass-kicking.

So raise your blood red glasses to yet another excellent Revel in Flesh album.  Fill all those stockings this year with The Hour of the Avenger cd’s, vinyl and cassettes for your entire family.  A 2019  release not to be missed as 2020 starts  Crushing!!!

Not that Samuelsson isn’t a good vocalist, but for his other project Gravestone (who released a killer album last year) he has a more punky throaty, sneering approach that’s not as imposing as the prior rotation of vocalists (Birdflesh’s Jocke Svensson, Istapp’s Tommy Carlsson), and the two bands would be indistinguishable.

Well, that fear was pretty well cemented, as indeed, Samuelsson’s  vocals are more raspy and punky, and indeed the 2 bands are way too similar now, but that’s a small blemish on yet another other wise solid Entrails effort that delivers everything they have excelled at for 6 albums now.

The production and Dan Swano mix is still one of the best and most devastating HM-2, mid range tones around, with a teeth rattling bottom end and the songs are still a perfect balance of hefty grooves and blasts, even if some of the songs veer into more d-beat/punky Gravestone-ish territory (i.e “Gravekeeper”,  “Crawling In your Guts”, “For Whom the Head Rolls”).

Amid the 11 actual tracks, standouts include “For Hell” with its  catchy Dismember-ish, melodic gallop, “The Pyre” with a nice opening grove and atmospheric mid song break, musty “Gravekeeper”,  massive mid song groove of “Destruction”, sickly crawls of “Evils of the Night” (where that guitar tone just destroys…) , huge sauntering lumber of “In The Shape of Dead” and late album slow burner “Cathedral of Pain”, as its clear Entrails are at their best when rendering thick, meaty grooves and imposing lopes.

The rest of the album is faster, shorter stabs of straight up death metal such as “Miscreation”, “Destination Death”,  and the aforementioned tracks that could be from a Gravestone album. That’s not to say they are chopped liver, but they are certainly interchangeable. And as a result Rise of the Reaper, while another solid Entrails album, it feels more in line with Obliteration, being just an OK effort as opposed to a truly killer album like the bands first 3 or the last effort, World Inferno. And Jeffrey Epstein didn’t kill himself.

Like fellow Swedes Entrails, these guys were active in the early 90s, but didn’t release but a couple of demos, but also like Entrails did a decade years ago, have resurfaced to show everyone how it’s done. And boy is it good, even just with 4 songs and 16 minute runtime, it’s an absolute beast of an EP and a teaser for for band’s full length debut, The Shadow From the Ancient Tomb, later this month.

First off, this is one of those releases that goes to the source for its killer sound with a sick, authentic Tomas Skogsberg, Sunlight Studios sound ( the forthcoming album has a cover of a zombified hand holding a Boss HM 2 pedal), and it’s FUCKING MASSIVE, just listen to that single guitar riff at the 15 second mark of opening track “Die”, and tell me your fillings aren’t shaking around in your head. The influence is clearly heavily leaning towards Grave  and their debut, Into The Grave, with a thicker, denser delivery than their peers, and a focus trundling massive riffs or huge, down tuned grooves, with some wall of noise blasts thrown in for good measure. All 4 tracks deliver all in spades; there’s that tooth rattling opening tone gain to open the title track, classic Swedish canter of “Superior Virus” and Bolt Thrower-y- trundle of “Bleeding Through”. All rendered with Skogsberg’s sick, classic tone and the deeper than heck vocals of Matthias Flintberg.

Every few years there seems to be that ‘it’ band, with the next ‘it’ sound that brings Swedish death metal back with a bang, (Entrails, Demonical, Horrendous, Gravestone, Fatalist) and even this year has seen a solid group of releases in the style (Gods Forsaken, Demonbreed, Wretched Fate,) and even releases from Wombbath (also produced by Skogsberg) and Entombed AD on the horizon, don’t sleep on In Pain, as they actually could be the best of them all…

Yep- I said it, heresy I know, but Fleshletting is a brutal, catchy and dynamic slab of Swedish styled death metal that you’d think a group of seasoned veterans would have delivered. With a guitar tone mixed and mastered by guitarist Mats Andersson ( who also performs all instruments in another unsigned project, Prosthetic), that’s a perfect burly buzzsaw churn and vocals from Adrian Selmai that could be Akerfedlt’s deep growls, this just give me a huge early Bloodbath vibe. Check out Second track “Only Death to Abide”, fourth track “Fear Expulsion” or “Writhe”. Amiright?

Of course other Swedish death metal royalty influences like Dismember, Grave and Entombed  are abound and even the Entrails-y blast and gallop of “Heading for  Beheading”, shows the band allowing newer influences to steer their sound. A couple of atmospheric monkish choirs appear here and there to add a little more character to the tried and tested sound as heard on “Altars of Misery” and “Fear Expulsion”.  They can also deliver the genre requisite crushing slow number effortlessly as heard on penultimate number “Epitaph”. Closer “Split Tongue II” has it all; the atmospherics, Swedeath gallops, the HM 2 wall of noise and massive lurches.

Fleshletting is one of the more impressive, complete and confident  debuts in the style I’ve heard since Entrails dropped Tales from the Morgue back in 2010, and despite some clear influences , has just enough quirk and character to not be a complete clone or rip off. As I said in my review of Supreme Carnage‘s Morbid Ways to Die, I’m digging what Ohio’s Redefining Darkness is doing of late with death metal (especially the HM-2 sound) with this, arguably the label’s best effort so far, the second effort from In Shadows and Dust,  Mutilated By Zombies, Inoculated Life, Skullcrush, Heretical Sect, Six of Swords and the upcoming sophomore effort from Nocturnal Hollow.

Don’t panic, the guys still play Stockholm based death metal with a killer HM-2 sound, but rather than crushing grooves, this EP now leans a little more towards the Dismember/Grave side of things with more blasting, slicing, galloping melodies and solos and more of blistering delivery with a few keyboards thrown in. The result is just as good as Ungodly Forms, with the same guitar tone (again mastered by the legendary Dan Swano), just with a more urgent pace and melodic lean.

Second track, “Bled Dry by the Night” highlights this new sound with a killer melodic lead about 3 minutes in . There are still a few thunderous moments to be had such as opener “Enter Crypts Below” and  the fucking tasty gallop of “Hatchet Crimes”. “Hellmarked” imbues Grave’s debut album with a crushing wall of mid range noise and a nice 90s keyboard break.  The EP ends with a cover of Edge of Sanity‘s “Darkday” from The Spectral Sorrows, indicating another influence on the band’s tweaked sound with keyboards and more melodies and I’m guessing a look into what the next album might sound like.

Sentient Horror have jumped to the top of The US Swedeath group and while only an EP, which I don’t usually care for, it looks like it will be a well placed transitional teaser for what’s to come. Bring it!

The most enjoyable aspect of the album, and one that is present right off the bat with lead track “Gastorture” is a nasty, chainsaw guitar sound that just reeks of death metal at its most basic and awesome.  This track, and most of the others, have an awesome headbang-worthy chug to them while also mixing in some quicker parts.

The vocals of Dirk Willems has a nice deep bellow to it, which accents the aforementioned guitar tone.  His vocals are at times decipherable, and you find him (GASP!) actually saying the names of the tracks in the lyrics themselves and the listener able to pick up on them (seriously, does like ANY genre on earth still do that?!?).  Anyways, it’s something that stuck out if for no other reason than being so rare.

The production overall has a pleasing organic feel to it, which was a great stylistic chose as an over-glossed production would take away from the sound these guys are going for.  This was put out on Black Lion Records, which is a label I have never heard of but after doing some searching it seems like they have some pretty decent bands in their lineup.  Give this EP a listen, as there’s something for most every metal fan to like here.

First off , I was thankful this wasn’t a Kataklysm cover band, secondly, Thirion has done a decent job of melding the Swedish guitar tone and the black metal stylings. And though it tends to sometimes come off as a wall of noise due to the mid range tone not really being meant for tremolo riffs, it still works, and the fact Thirion includes some grooves and power chords that result in an almost Nasum ish sound (“Betrayal”, “Slay”, “Guillotine”) is commendable.

The 12 songs blaze by with most in the 2-3 minute range, again imbuing an almost grindcore vibe, were it not for the shrill black metal rasps and even some occasional symphonic black metal synths (“All is Black”, “Storm of Revenge”). The black metal undertone is subtle, but there, not just on the aforementioned synth flocked tracks but also in the likes of “Falling into Shadows” and  “Mind War”. It’s certainly not as heavy as the cover,  promotion and press sheets would have you believe.  This has far more in common with Swedish grindcore than Marduk, Mayhem or Emperor.

But that’s a good thing, as by the time “Black Heart” signals the  album is over, my ears are ringing, as Thirion brings it for the 40 minute duration but I’m also a little dazed and woozy due to the constant blistering barrage and I really don’t recall a whole lot, other than i Kinda dug the shit out if what ever just ran over me.