Snowbound Horror is for fans of bands who spend their off time throwing bolts. For the most part, and I mean perhaps all but 1% of the album, it’s full speed ahead, sack to the sand, death fucking metal. However, if you take the first track, “Vengeance in Fur”, as an example, it’s difficult not to think of Dying Fetus in the stomp. The guitars have heft, and the production is cleaner than I anticipated, but it doesn’t take away from the blistering beatdown that enters your earholes mostly uninvited.

A few tracks further lies another example, “As Fangs Go Deep,” which is the fantasy of every alternative person, or so I’ve heard. The riffs are of that signature churning variety. This one’s not going to win any awards for originality, but at just over three minutes, much like the rest of the album, it doesn’t stay around long enough for you to consider such an abominable opinion.

To end the album is the “Land of the Ice and Snow,” which is unfortunately not a cover of “Immigrant Song” by Led Zeppelin. The riff immediately howls from the speakers and buries your face in the frozen tundra. While it’s heavy and played with a sense of urgency, it perfectly encapsulates the entire album. All the tracks indeed sound mostly the same, despite slight deviations that are barely noticeable.

Before you discard Ravaged by the Yeti as nothing more than a clone, Snowbound Horror is a fun time, drive with your windows down, a rollicking, shit-kicking romp through snow-capped mountains. It’s short, snappy, and doesn’t reinvent the genre. It doesn’t have to, though.

There is a substantial amount more happening here than your typical, run-of-the-mill Bolt Thrower ripoff, which is what those who have likely barely listened to the album believe. The blast beats and components of slam help it stand above many of their peers. It’s a fine example of modern old-school death metal, and while I never wanted to get ravaged by a yeti, at this point, fuck it, I’ll give it a go.

I haven’t heard the predecessor, so I can’t speak to that, but the promo materials also say the band “is still skillfully balancing on the edge of death and thrash metal”. And after spending some time with Total Mastery, that is a spot-on description.

There are some clear influences at play here; the opening throes of introductory instrumental “The Pit Awaits” as well as “Mass Human Extinction” reek of Hypocrisy’s slower The Fourth Dimension while later-ish tracks, and the real opener “The Pit Slayer” and the next track “High Ground” as well as tracks like “Ruins of Reason”, recall Hypocrisy’s faster, thrashier melodeath numbers. So yeah, I’m hearing a lot of melodic death metal here, but the burlier, heavier kind, not the more wispy, Gothenburg dual-layered In Flames style.

But then I also get moments of German Dew Scented’s, snarling death/thrash (“One Shot Kill”, “Skeletal Thorns”, “The Tyrant’s Scepter”), and even some riffs you might hear on an Amon Amarth record (“Bloodsport”, “Deathtouch”). None of it is particularly original, but it’s enjoyable, well delivered, and well produced by Timo Hocke (Mantar, Downfall of Gaia).

The only downside is the album’s 51-minute run time, which is a tad long, and the last song, “Cougar Claws (Return of the Leathermilf)”, which I guess continues a character/song from the first album. It sounds and feels like a cover song, with a heavy metal vibe, that doesn’t jive with the rest of the album. I can appreciate the band showing their more humorous side, just not sure if this is it. A simple cover song would have been better, but I’m just some internet hack- you do you Messticator!

While 2022s Tyrants of Doom added a cleaner, clearer sound and some other old school death metal dynamics to the material, it still reeked of Autopsy. And that remains the same for Dread Emperor, as it’s 40 minutes and 9 songs (plus 1 intro) deliver the exact same recipe as the last few albums.

That could not be more obvious from the scrawling intro “Enthroned” and the first tracks, “Obliteration Crusade”, and “Rapture of Rot” which could have come from any Autopsy album, especially the crawling solos,  just with a less sinewy, icky tone.

The rest of the album is pretty much the same, with lots of moments that make you go “oh that’s Autopsy” such as the rotten sway in “Subconscious Pandemonium” and the doomy lopes of the title track and “The Forsaken Ones”.

But Slaughterday, at least don’t deliver a complete rip off, as they do have some standard European Death metal moments here and there, such as the classic Stockholm death metal gallop of “Astral Carnage”, grooving death ‘n’ roll of “Dethroned”, which could be a latter Entombed song, or Bolt Thrower rumble of closer “Golem”.

In all, another fine addition to the band’s discography, that should appease fans of Autopsy, as well as just good death metal.

Fast forward to 2025, and they are back with another bludgeoning album in the form of Cosmocrator, a 35:56-minute killing machine that expands on the ideas from Visions of a Plague Ridden Sky, which was a respectable 24:71-minute epic Death Metal monster.

Cosmocrator is a rip ride bringing more of the Morbid Angel/ Hate Eternal vibe from Visions of a Plague Ridden Sky. Opening track “Purgatorial Pyre” comes rising on ethereal keyboards and spare guitars before the chugging starts to take form and the blast kicks in, and with that they’re off to the races: blistering riff after blistering riff flows like lava from the speakers.

In preparation for this review, I went and spent an entire day with Cosmocrator and their back catalog. I’ve got to say that Cosmocrator is a leap forward from Foretold Monuments of Flesh, with its murky atmosphere and Portals to Oblivion, where the murkiness left and a more streamlined Death Metal beast began to take form. Visions of a Plague Ridden Sky showed them adding more depth with Middle Eastern vibes that ultimately elevated that album. Cosmocrator still has these moments, but they’re not as pronounced as before.

“Fetid Eden” bursts out with 7:19 minutes of quality Death Metal in a way that only Khnvm can do. Rumbling drum and bass that serve only to bludgeon your face into a pulp. Its unrelenting delivery is followed by “Mercurial Remnants” bringing some Hate meets Sinister themes to the forefront.

“Fathomless Enigma” is the subtle instrumental that forms the center of the album. It sets up the brutality of the Gorguts-ish of the relentless title track, with a little bit of Belphegor thrown in for taste, if you will.

Produced and recorded at too many fucking places to list could’ve meant a slogging mess, but this album sounds phenomenal.

“Venom Spawn” has a sick as fuck breakdown with skronky pinch harmonies amongst the flurry of blasting. This comes in around the 4:26 mark and rides that death horse till song’s end.

Track seven, “The Haunting Blight” begins with some Dooooooom guitars and some tremolo picking sweeps up the stray notes, but for the most part, this is a mid-paced brutalizer that’s the perfect way to end Cosmocrator.

Khnvm is back, the brutal masterpiece that is Cosmocrator has arrived to blow your mind and speakers. For you nutters who like Hate, Morbid Angel, and Belphegor, this is the real fucking deal. Not for the weak, fucking get it!

“Into the Burning Lands” opens with nice guitar harmonies and a hopeful feel.  Like, I could see a crowd bouncing up and down to this song. Members Simon Mengs (Drums), Fabian Hildebrandt (Guitars), and Manuel Glatter (Vocals, Guitars) have all been together for a while, and they gel. At a little prior to the three-minute mark, with the nice heavy chug groove.  The song then shifts to more of that melodic tone and honestly, super, duper vanilla here, folks.

“Storm of Resistance”, with the battle charged lyrics, has cool vocals and you know I am hearing a lot of Gorefest influence, but not the sicko grinding death metal Gorefest, that is the best, but rather the Erase – Chapter 13 era.  This song is a melodic death and roll romp, and at times Manuel gets into some lower register growls, but it’s not until song #5, “Embrace the Void” that there is really any type of fast part.  The opening is a gallop, old school in nature, and I wanted this moment to keep continuing, yet the song shifts to more of that slower melodic style.  The guitar work is well done, and I appreciate the musicianship on this.  There is a lot of emotion played in this song.  It does have some depressive melodies.  This is a really good song – the best one here.

“At the End of Our Reign” has more of that hopping up and down vibe.  With the isolated vocal moments, then right into the chugging groove, this moment has a big feel to it.  Like I could see these moments, in a live setting, being highlighted with white lights coming on to accentuate these moments as the crowd is headbanging in unison.  Very cool guitar harmonies all over this song. The album ends with the title track.  Again, very melodic, guitar harmonies all over the place, and more of the mid-paced groove.  The song is one of the better ones on this album and a few moments of downbeat heavy chu,g, and when Manuel goes deeper in his vocal range, those are the moments I tend to like the best.

Veins of Fire is a fair-to-middling Deserted Fear album.  The band is shifting towards more of a melodic flair of death metal, which, while some may appreciate, the songs on this are just vanilla.  There is no really great song on this.  There is very little resembling the Deserted Fear, which I originally enjoyed.  I think the band can do better, but when bands usually shift to certain styles later on in their album discography, that is usually the continuing trajectory of their sound.  A let-down album in my opinion.

It’s ok though because Leper Colony was formed to fill that sizeable void. As fate would have it Rogga Johansson (ex- too many fucking bands to list; literally the list of bands he’s been involved with is massive) and Marc Grewe are buddies and that’s the TL/DR version.

They released the Self-titled album in 2023, and now we’re sitting squarely in the middle of 2025, and Those of the Morbid is the 2×4 that is a welcome smash to the face. It’s a meat-and-potatoes Death Metal album that throws nine lethal tracks with morbid glee.

“Facing the Faceless” strikes hard, Rogga’s buzzsaw guitar tone slices with such killer, old-school style riffing that makes me feel like it’s the 90s and I’m cranking Like an Everflowing Stream. It’s ridiculous how people can just come up with killer riffs out of fucking nowhere and Those of the Morbid is a perfect example of that inhuman ability.

Marc leaned on some heavy Morgoth vibes for this one. “Master’s Voice” features some killer blasting, and I might dare say there’s a bit more blasting this time around than on their first effort. Be that as it may, that track and “The Age of Insanity” are fucking raging, Death Thrash interspersed with furious blasting and some more grotesqueries played out with diabolical dexterity.

The artwork is fucking gory and fits the music on offer in the tin. So, of course, the production matches all of it, too, right? Fuck yeah! It’s suitably raw compared to the semi-polished sound of the debut.

“Flesh to Rot to Ashes”  is one of my favorite tracks; it’s just straight bludgeoning riff after bludgeoning riff. That’s not to say they don’t groove at times, when they do, it’s done with that OSDM menacing groove. “Those of the Morbid Inclination” is an example of this sort of crawling and sulking approach, giving off some Dismember vibes once again, and there’s a bit of a Grave feeling to the midsection as it slams forth. A super sick solo courtesy of Håkan Stuvemark pieces this festering corpse together.

A shredding intro and “Apocalypse Whore” takes off with soaring guitars. One minute it’s breakneck speed, the next it’s slow and pummeling, especially at the 2:12 mark, where it’s like a slow-burning, hack-and-slash job.

The almost required Cthulhu hymn “Creature from the Deep” features this dude, Oliver Recker playing a fucking mouth-harp for added oceanic menace, it’s suitably plodding and monstrous. Surrounded by these agile sea serpentine riffs it’s followed by “A Story in Red” not quite as good as  “Dreaming in Red” from Indecent and Obscene, by Dismember but whatever, this is by far my favorite song on Those of the Morbid, it just hits me in the goodies if that makes sense… Probably not.

Leper Colony has advanced since their debut, with a production that is conducive to crushing heaviness; they manage to keep that OSDM spirit going forward even into these tumultuous times. Therefore, it is only fitting that I recommend this beast, and for you rotting corpses that love Morgoth, Ribspreader, Dismember, and Paganizer. Fucking ripping death!

Saying Landkreig is a step back from Feldwärts is probably a bit over an overstatement, as Scalpture still delivers their trademark style of lumbering Asphyx, Hail of Bullets, Bolt Thrower inspired death metal, but personally, there is just something that isn’t quite entralling me as much as Feldwärts did.

Moving on from WWI, Landkreig tackles the religious German 30-year war of 1618 – 1648, and as with the band’s past efforts comes with meticulous historical research and references, rather than simply a death metal album glorifying war.

The 10-song effort continues the band’s sound and style, again with a paint peeling Marco Brinkman (Evoked, Carnal Tomb) production and mix, and with vocalist Thorsten Pieper who still delivers one of the better Martin Van Drunen rasps and wails around.

The focus is largely somber, rumbling mid-paced death metal, with expected bursts of blast beats. However, one thing that detracted me was the use of gang chants in a number of the songs, no doubt meant to represent the shouts and chants of the soldiers at the time, but I found them a bit offputting (there is even a song called “Hell’s Choirs Chant”).

Song wise, the band is still competent and delivers plenty of massive, mid-paced riffs, but nothing really grabbed me like say “Landships” or “Through Hell and On” from Feldwärts. But there are still some solid tracks here such as opener “Into Catastrophe”, lumbering “Schwedentrunk”,  and the moodier numbers like “Of Siege and Besieged” and closer “Bellum se ipsum alet”.

Landkreig isn’t a bad album at all. But whereas Feldwärts was a contender for one of 2022s best death metal albums, it’s likely that after writing this review, Landkreig will get deleted from my phone as I move on to other, better death metal albums here early 2025 (i.e. Dormant Ordeal, Skaphos). Maybe a shift back to WWI could be in order to bring back the true excellence that Scalpture is capable of.

I’m not sure where I was going with that, but Rats of Gomorrah and their debut (despite being active under the name Divide for over a decade) Infectious Vermin know where they are. It’s a trip to the old school. It’s not without some unexpected turns on that journey, including the opening track “Swarming Death,” which has some NWOBHM guitars within the sloppy death metal muck. One of those unexpected twists comes in the repeatable chorus of “Run, baby run…” Don’t worry as there are plenty of grave digging riffs and powerful leads to supplement.

A few tracks later is “Narcissus,” a masterclass on old-school, churning death. Vocalist Daniel Stelling has that David Vincent annunciation and pitch with his vocals. It’s brief at barely over 3 minutes, but no less potent. If I’ve not mentioned it before, I’m a fan of pinch harmonics unless they’re overused, and they are tastefully executed.

A bit further into the album is a death doom track called “Night Orbit.” A riff not far removed from being on an Esoteric album starts, which is almost immediately eclipsed by keys, which are in the background for most of the track. I mentioned it’s a death doom track, so of course the other riffs are slow. It’s mostly a fist-pounding anthem (not fist-pumping as that is different). That feeling quickly goes away, though.

I try to keep my reviews relatively brief, so I might as well skip to the last track, “Vat of Acid.” Here the vocals are perhaps at their most vicious. While there are a couple of brief slow sections, the one beginning around 2 ½ minutes in, has lightly distorted guitars, but doesn’t take a lot of time. Otherwise, it’s a beat down to end a heavy, modern, yet old-school death metal scorcher.

If there’s one critique, the album being 46 minutes is it. Sometimes there’s just too much of a good thing. It’s not a slog by any means. It’s more of an attention span issue. I can and have listened to the album on repeat multiple times, which is something I rarely do. Otherwise, there’s no issue. I can’t imagine anyone who enjoys the early ’90s Swedish Death Metal sound not feeling the same about Infectious Vermin. Thankfully it’s no jar of farts.

Then I dug into the band a little and found it a more melodic Swedish death/black metal-based project started by Harris Sopovic (ex-live guitarist for Diabolical, ex-Smothered), aided by current Diabolical bassist Paul Viscolit and another former Smothered member, drummer Viktor Eklund. Also, the band at some point featured Netherbird members and  Niklas Sundin of Katatonia, who appears as a guest on the track “Demon in Heaven”. So while not quite a supergroup giant, there are some veterans here, and it shows.

Interestingly, for album number 2, the band recorded two versions of all the songs; one with additional new symphonic/orchestral keyboards and one more like the debut, a more straight-up Swedish melo-death sound. The band apparently settled on the symphonic version, and thus we have Sodomisery‘s second album and a snazzy new logo to match the new sound heard on Mazzaroth (Hebrew term for ‘Constellations’).

And I’m glad they did. I went back and checked out the band’s 2020 debut The Great Demise, and it is a decent to good NWSDM album, but nothing special. But as with most things (in my opinion)- added keyboards make Sodomisery a far better act, and as a result, Mazzaroth is a killer melodic black/death metal album.

There’s a huge amount of polish and confidence on all 9 songs here that recall the genre’s late 90s and early 00s heyday (In particular, Grief of Emerald came to mind). The Ronnie Björnström (Centinex, Revolting, Bodyfarm, Ribspreader, Olkoth), mix/master is crystal clear and powerful, and the keys really add an extra element of grandiosity and majesty to the solid melodic black/death metal backbone.

All eight tracks are top-notch with moments to enjoy, but in particular, a few really stood out; opener “Coming Home”, with its Dan Swano-ish clean vocals, “A Storm Without A Wind”, with its wondrously catchy chord progressions, the lovely chorus of “Master Your Mind” and “Demon in Heaven”, whereas I already mentioned, Niklas Sundin helps out withy the choral vocal bridge.

Sodomisery’s Mazzaroth is up there with last year’s Pestilent Hex, I Am The Night, and Mist from the Mountains albums as far as pure 90s throwback glee and is a great little appetizer for an upcoming fall that features some similarly spectacular old school symphonic black metal releases from the likes of Moonlight Sorcery and Sylvatica.

Lukas Flarer again delivers a stout HM2 sound with a thick chainsaw buzz and throbbing bass while vocalist Maxi Careri renders perfectly done gruff growls, not to ‘broodle’, not to raspy. And behind it all, thick, classic riffs inspired by the big three of the genre; Entombed (feral canters), Grave (thick grooves), and Dismember (slicing melodies), though newer bands like Entrails can be heard here as well. The end result is a killer album that can go to toe to toe with their modern peers like the aforementioned Entrails, Demonical, Abscession and such.

“Ropedragger” starts with gorgeous church choirs before erupting into an urgent, Dismember-styled hack and slash number with little mercy given. The monstrous second track “Waste Monolith” displays the Grave influence with a thunderous late song groove and lurch to die for. The start and end of the 6 plus minute “Schizophrenic Execution” slow things down with a steady militant mid-paced, slower gaits, so three songs in to start the album you get a little of everything. There’s good stuff later in the album as well with a killer mid-song lumber in “Caged in Tomb”, the somber last half of the title track, “The Howling”, which has a virtually perfect genre-riffic gallop that I had to research and make sure it was a cover, it was so fucking  spot on.

Not quite as diverse or Edge of Sanity influenced as Abscession’s, Rot of Ages, (there are no clean vocals or moody breaks) Where Graves Abound is a more direct, savage salvo that goes for the throat and delivers exactly what a second album should with a very nice, better follow up. I can’t wait to see what the all important album #3 brings.

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.

And while the style you’d expect is largely on display here (buzzing, HM2 Swedish death tone etc), the focus is actually far more based on rumbling, tumbling Death ‘n’ Roll akin the any of Entombed’s post Clandestine albums, (notably Wolverine Blues) or Comecon’s debut. Stuvemark delivers a throaty LG Petrov-ish shout, the riffs are far catchier and the songs are shorter, groovier, simpler stabs of the sound. And the result is largely successful and pretty fun, if a little safe at times.

Look no further than the likes of “Flesh Golem”, “The Eaters”, (which truly imbues “Full of Hell” from Wolverine Blues) , “Horror Waltz”, “Foaming at the Mouth”, “Black Hole Star” or romping closer “Rain Down Salvation”, for thick, robust, grooving riffs and thunderously simplistic but fun gallops. There’s little deviation; things get a little bit faster ( “Tyranny of the Blood”, “Fuel for the Pyres”), or a little bit slower (“A Matter of Time”), but it’s never too blasting or doomy.

Mixed by Stuvemark at Studio Nostalgica and mastered by Thomas Von Wachenfeldt (Wombbath, Wachenfeldt) at Bowstead Studios, the guitar tone is perfect, and not too overdone or polished, having just the right amount of smokey buzz and heft without sounding too clean.

It’s obvious there was a clear vision here for Reek; to sound like Entombed’s latter offerings and deliver raucous Death ‘n’ Roll. And with Death Is Something There Between, whether we needed it or not, they certainly have succeeded.

While there are definite hold over traits from Allure of the Fallen still within Horrified‘s sound, the ’90’s flavored progressive tech-death aspects of Sentinel‘s material have been raised and developed to immense levels. Whether or not this will hold over to a new full-length is anyone’s guess, but I can tell you that these six tracks of blistering and intriguing death metal brings to mind, more than a few times, a crushing conglomeration of Death/Control Denied, Pestilence, and even Asphyx that hits just right, soothing the soul of this death metal enthusiast. Every single note on Sentinel is a success in my book. The material is catchy and driving, full of heaviness, and doesn’t have to rely on an overt brutality or down-tuned gimmick to achieve any of their might and heft. This is progressive/tech-death the way I like it. Not a widdly wankery of 21^st century shock and awe, but a thinking man’s metal, reminiscent of a time when some of death metal’s original pioneers  branched out to expand upon the endless capabilities and opportunities that this extremity we call death metal could, and would, ultimately become.

Album opener, “The Pessimist”, starts out subtly enough with some tasteful melancholic and slightly folkish clean picking luring you into a false sense of safety before transforming into a splendid display of driving, progressive, ass kicking glory. Every player, instrument, and performance lines up perfectly and really creates a fantastic aural adventure that would definitely bring a smile to Chuck Schuldiner’s face. The drumwork of Michael Jordan is fluid and adaptable to the material’s twists and turns, always complementing and never overstepping, while guitarists Dan Jordan and Daniel Alderson simply rip and tear, providing both menacing and interesting riffs as well as some thought out and well played solos that add a great flair. Though I have to say, it’s bassist, Lee Anderson, that is Sentinel‘s secret weapon; his playing is simply fantastic and fits well alongside mentions of bass legends DiGiorgio, Patterson, Choy, and Malone. The man’s ability to drive, complement, open up, and even lead the songwriting through much of Sentinel‘s proggy, tech-death is quite an impressive feat. Even during “Awaiting Restitution”, with its overtly more Allure of the Fallen driven attitude, Anderson’s bass lines add a warm, welcoming, and complete feeling to the material. Simply put, Sentinel, and Horrified itself, would suffer a bit if Anderson’s bass wasn’t present.

Whether it’s the already aforementioned tracks, the thrashing and pulsing rhythms and impresive lead-work of “Crestfallen”, the fluid, yet never too flashy for its own sake, Schuldiner-esque happenings of “Forgotten Thrones”, or the devoid of distortion, though full of beauty and heartfelt emotion, instrumental, “Celestial Tears”, Sentinel colors me impressed with every listen. Though with all of this already talked about awesomeness found on Sentinel, my personal favorite offering comes in the form of  EP closer, “The Perceiver”. A bit more of a rager, the track features some nice blast beats alongside a somewhat blackened tremolo riffed melody, as well as compelling guitar leads and moving bass lines that shine and propel the track. The drums are constantly moving in creation, not only driving, but also never becoming stale or borish, especially when the track opens itself up into subtle, almost jam like nature, showcasing some quality instrumentation and a feel of Allure of the Fallen driven doom, without really ever laying down any bonafide doom at all. Sure, overall it may not really be anything that hasn’t already been done before within the parameters of this style of death metal, but nonetheless, “The Perceiver” is quite a nice ardent journey of progressive death that mixes brutality, brains, and beauty. What more could you want?

I only have one complaint with Sentinel; it’s release date. Yeah, I know, Horrified probably don’t have much, if any, say so in the matter, but albums, be they full-lengths or EP’s really get done a disservice when labels choose to release them during the Christmas holiday season. I get that it’s the music “business” and that business means making money, not taking a pause for the cause so-to-speak, but December, and even November release dates can inadvertantly put a band on the back burner right from the get go. The fact is, most people/consumers are in a totally different mindset during the holiday season and buying/checking out new extremities in metal isn’t necessarily priority number one. Couple this with the fact that the majority of metal news/review sites and publications have their “best of lists” compiled and ready to post/print by October’s end, does nothing but hurt any noticement, notoriety, or accolades that would be afforded a band at any other time of the year. Horrified and Sentinel are a perfect case in point. If released at the beginning of fall last year, or even spring this year, chances are Sentinel would be on the lips of a lot more people. It is what it is though, and what Sentinel “is”, is a fantastic piece of material that many a metalhead will be singing the praises of after allowing their ears to be graced by its presence.

Kristofor Allred

And its not because  it isn’t HM boss Swedish death metal so, don’t let that scare you off. But If you are craving some no frills, bludgeoning  death metal that culls from the Floridan scene of the 90s, Poland’s death metal scene and a little European, Dutch ish tones, then Foretold Monuments of Flesh with fit the bill. And while on par that might seem like a truly awesome mix, the end result is a bit forgetful, if vehemently so. At Times, I’m reminded of Finland’s Sadistik Forest with the plethora of influences I hear, so take that as you will.

The 7 song 28 minute affair is well produced , Obliterator has a Glenn Benton like Deicide layered, demonic growl/shriek,= making the likes of the opening title track, ” Invocato Deo Plaga ” or initial slower churn of “Heathen Beast” have some initial attention getting furor. But beyond that there is just too much other great death metal being released in 2019 to give this more than a passing glance.

Fans of the genre will probably be ordering this as I speak, but yeah this is a pretty solid debut that checks all the boxes with a big fat, midrange chainsaw riff. The style and delivery lies somewhere between Grave’s first three seminal albums, Into the Grave,  You’ll Never See, and Soulless (there is even a track called “I, Soulless”) with an emphasis on churning blasts and heaving throbbing grooves.

Opener “Suffocate in Blood” is a rip-roaring number with a classic, razor-sharp Swedish canter and from there the next 10 tracks deliver plenty of genre satisfying moments of clout. From the steady but short romp of “Shrouded in Darkness”, to the killer late-song groove of “Macabre Rites”, to  the moodier slower start to the otherwise rollicking  “I, Soulless”, blistering title track (with a really strong Grave musk) and finally,  closer “From Beyond” which has more of a Dismember hack and slice feel.

The band was kind enough to include the two tracks from their 2014 demo on this album and pure, classic Swedish canter of “Death Battalion” and more Bolt Thrower -ish “The Result is to Collapse” have the same overarching Grave influence, just with a slightly different production.

Another strong addition to the seemingly endless number of bands playing the style, and paying it well, and yet another solid addition to the Testimony records Roster, and I excited to hear the label’s next offering from German/Bangladeshi act KHNVM.

“Deadly Superstition” has a little more up tempo beat with quite a good break at the 1.35” which is heavy, but not devoid of melody.  The isolated guitar riff at the 1.58” part is the Holy Shit part when soon enough the rest of the instruments erupt and with a well-placed growl this mid-paced section is excellent.  Above average guitar soloing and then the song ends the way it pretty much started, with excellent double bass.  The title track ends the ep with a killer Bolt Thrower inspired opening which could have been on The IVth Crusade and the song enters more of a meaty slow part with some great chanting growl parts.  This part returns again midway into the song.  I love how the guitar riff and undercurrent of bass heaviness permeates at the 2.35” section.  This is the strongest section of the ep and even harkens back to Grave’s You’ll Never See era, really well constructed section.

The other 2 songs are also good.  “Confessions in Fire”, continuing with mid-paced rumbling heaviness and “Suprema” the song which really brings the speed.  Throw in a little blasts here and there and the song truly rips.  This is my second favorite song on the ep.  So there you have it.  Decent ep, missing some of the heavy brutality that was evident on their debut album and the songs on Hunting Heretics are more streamlined.  On their debut album the band experimented with some spoken word type of vocals interwoven into some of the more brutal moments and it worked so great, creating an epic quality which I would love to have return for album #2, since it’s missing on this ep.  The digipack is thin and has a very cool cover design which reminds me of a slow-burn 1970’s horror movie poster.  Lyrics are printed on the inside of the panel.   This is a pretty cool limited edition cd ep Demonbreed has released.

And having mastered this release from Sentient Horror (with  mixing assistance from Damian Herring of Horrendous), he has hands on experience with the band (who had a couple of release under the moniker Sentience) and album, he should know what he is talking about, and boy is he right! There has been some killer Swedeath released in 2016 (Demonbreed, Fatalist, Brutally Deceased, Interment, Sorcery, Nocturnal Hollow, Ulcer, Revel in Flesh just to name a few), but Ungodly Forms is right near or at the top of the list. Not bad for a band from New Jersey.

Like all the bands mentioned above, Sentient Horror are not reinventing the wheel; they are crushing it with a mid range HM boss pedal onslaught. They have the guitar tone, as every band of the style does, but like Demonbreed and Revel in Flesh’s latest, it’s just that that cut above the rest, and purely devastating. But it’s the song writing that makes the difference when everyone has a killer guitar tone, and that’s where Sentient Horror rise above.

The perfect balance of beef, speed  and catchy is reminiscent of Entrails where doing with there first few albums, where the homage was spread across the big three (Grave, Entombed and Dismember), as well as nods to early Gorefest and Edge of Sanity (sometimes the press release is actually fucking spot on…..) and with a sick production to make it even more destructive.

Want a massive, crushing slow number? Check out the title track. Want that classic, catchy Stockholm trot and chug, check out “Suffer to the Grave”. Want faster, Dismember-ish hack slice? Then opener “Abyssal Ways” is for you. Want a longer, moody slow burner, (except for the mid section) then closer “Celestial Carnage” should do the trick.

I really like what Germany’s Testimony Records is doing as this, Demonbreed’s Where Gods Come to Die and The Dead Goats’ All of Them Witches are putting the label right up there with countrymates FDA Records as one of the finest purveyors of the style out there right now.

Folks, if you are looking for one of the years beefiest, chunkiest and chainsaw-iest guitar tone, look no further than Where Gods Come to Die.  While the song structures are still  some of the band’s prior iteration, a big burly form of European death metal that culled from the chunky Danish death metal scene, these guys have clearly been listening to a lot of early Grave, Bloodbath and Entrails, and now have a sound that’s a full on, bruising midrange filled lope. The songs are generally a more mid paced affair with a few blasts and grooves, but the whole thing hits like a ton of boulders falling on you, especially with that simply gnarly, uber beefy, down-tuned guitar tone. Don’t get me wrong, these are far from great or game changing songs, but my gosh do they hit home, and the speakers in my truck actually bottomed out a few times listening to this.

After the classic 90s spooky intro title track, the hard charging “Vultures in a Blood Red Sky” starts things off with a bang and then you get the more menacing, lumbering “A Thousand Suns Will Rise”, which is a little more indicative of the albums overall pacing. “Summon the Undead” is a beastly, groovy track and “Revenge in the Afterlife” has a familiar, hefty Stockholm gallop that’s the backbone of so many great songs in the genre, as does “Red Countess”, adding some blasting Grave-isms, and the monstrous “Perish”. Tracks like this are a pure, simple pleasure that need no fluff, just big, beefy D beat canters and huge grooves. And its bolstered by the equally huge vocals of Jost  Kleinert, who has a downright imposing roar.

A few tracks break the mold such as “Empty Grave”, which has a bit more somber Dismember-y melody, the Bolt Thrower trundle of “Barren Wasteland” or the cover of Edge of Sanity‘s “Blood Colored” from Purgatory Afterglow ( complete with somewhat iffy attempts to mimic Swano’s clean vocals). It’s a brave choice of songs to cover and it’s placed oddly as the penultimate track, before punishing closer “Seeds of Ferocity”. Covers should end albums after the album for real is over, just my tiny two cents. But in all, a damn good effort that along with Nocturnal Hollow‘s Deathless and Fleshless and  Ulcer’s surprising  Heading Below is one of the better examples of the style this year and that’s a little more than Lay Down Rotten 2.0 .Country mates Revel In Flesh have some competition it appears….