Filed under: death metal, popular music, punk | Tags: Bathory, Black Mark records, Blind Guardian, Century Media, conflict, Doctor and the crippens, FETO records, Fired from the circus, For the fallen, Grave, In requiem, Increase the pressure, inner groove distortion, Manic Ears records, manufacturing, Mastic Scum, Memoriam, Mortarhate records, Nightfall in middle earth, Nuclear Blast, paradise lost, problems, Threeman recordings, trypes, Trypes ston paradeiso, Under the sign of the black mark, Unleashed, victory, vinyl records, Virgin records, you'll never see
The format that has come to signify authenticity in music consumption more than any other is the vinyl. The vinyl record has become synonymous with the authentic and to offer a, supposedly, unique listening experience by virtue of being associated with one of the very first sound recording and reproduction technologies, namely the gramophone. In other words, it happened first on vinyl… The discourse of vinyl as an exceptional and authentic music-carrying format has been further advanced by audiophiles, music fans, and record labels. The stakes associated with praising vinyl records vary, ranging from claiming expertise, showing off or being fashionable, fan completism, to record companies attempting to maximise profits by increasing repeat consumption (read Tsukuda and Goto 2020) and imposing artificial scarcity on music artifacts (read Oakley and O’Connor 2015). (Repeat consumption refers to buying/consuming the same product again and again, for example, owning the CD version of an album and buying the vinyl version too, and artificial scarcity refers to the practice of any company directed towards protecting its intellectual property by controlling its distribution.) In any case, vinyl records are generally praised and the last few years we see similar discourses produced about cassette tapes. But, although cassette tapes are fraught with problems at the use stage of the product life cycle, I’d say that vinyls are second to none when it comes to manufacturing problems.
1. Wrong labels or labels on wrong sides
The fault of wrong labels being used I came across for the first time ever on the most recent re-issue of Blind Guardian‘s Nightfall in middle earth (1998) released by Nuclear Blast records. It is a double album, the second record has the last few songs of Nightfall on one side and three bonus tracks on side B. Both labels on this second record, however, belong to the re-issue of Imaginations from the other side (see image). The case of labels being placed on wrong sides I’ve come across a few times, and the one I remember is my copy of the original You’ll never see (1992) by Grave, released by Century Media. The label for side A is on side B, and vice versa. Neither of these faults constitute serious problems, as once the listener works out what’s wrong it won’t affect listening again. Another related problem, however, which is not a manufacturing problem but rather a misguided design decision, is when neither of the labels on an album include information about track-listing or which side it is (see Napalm Death‘s first pressing of Order of the leech 2002 by FETO records).
2. Both sides are the same side
This is by far the worst error I have come across. Back in the early 2000s I bought a 7inch by a band called Mastic Scum. The EP was full of cover songs, and one of them, the song “Pink machine gun“, was by a band called Doctor and the Crippens. Sometime in 2008, I came across the album containing this song, titled Fired from the circus (1988), released by Manic Ears records, in a charity shop and got it for £3. Both cover and record are in mint condition and it includes the printed inner lyric-sleeve. When I put side A on, however, I realised it started playing the songs found on side B. Classic case of misplaced labels, I thought to myself, but when I put side B expecting to hear side A, I was horrified to hear the side B songs again. It’s a shame, as it is a pretty cool album of typical for the time humorous violent crossover, judging by the songs on side B… This purchase traumatised me, as since then I always check carefully the song-lengths on the surface of any album I buy in person to make sure the two sides look different.
3. No visible separation between tracks
This is not a common issue in my experience, but I’ve come across it a few times. A classic example is Grave‘s You’ll never see (1992), a death metal masterpiece, and a pretty awkward vinyl record overall. Not only the label for side A is on side B, and vice versa, but there’s no visible separation between tracks (if you look carefully at the photo on the left you can see that it’s like one long track), so it has always been almost impossible to manually choose a song. Never bothered me much though, because when this album is on I always listen to it all the way through. The other record I can think of with the same problem is side B (the live side) of Conflict‘s Increase the pressure (1984) on Mortarhate records.
4. Badly placed labels
I have come across this problem a couple of times only, if I remember correctly. The worst case I can think of is on the album Trypes ston paradeiso (1990) by the Greek Rock band Trypes, released by the Greek subsidiary of Virgin records. I bought this album sometime in the early 2000s from Fokionos Records, a record store in Kypseli, Athens. I don’t remember the price, but I remember buying it quite cheap, probably because of the label problem. The label is not centred properly, and although it doesn’t affect any of the songs it’s a close call. If you look carefully at the photograph on the left you’ll see that the label ends exactly where the engraving of the last song ends. You’ll also notice the place where the hole was supposed to be and where it ended up being. (in Greek “trypes” means “holes”.)
5. Song engraved twice on the record
In my experience, this is not a common problem with vinyl records. Nevertheless, my copy of Bathory‘s Under the sign of the black mark (1987) (aka The most shamelessly imitated album of all time), a 2003 Black Mark re-release of the album, has “Enter the eternal fire” twice. More specifically, side A ends with “Enter the eternal fire” and side B starts with “Enter the eternal fire”. On the picture on the left, the last song close to the centre of the album shouldn’t be there. Funny thing is, I love this error, because this song is one of the best songs ever written, and I don’t mind at all listening to it twice without having to get up and move the stylus.
6. Sound
Finally, the worst problems have to do with sound, and there’s loads of them. The problems range from the presence of a tiny piece of plastic between the grooves, or any surface mark, that will cause a skip, to a vinyl being recorded to sound distorted. To be clear, I am not talking about second hand albums here, but albums I bought new and sealed. In my experience, Century Media back in the mid-late 1990s released some pretty bad sounding records. My copy of Unleashed‘s Victory (1995), the picture disk edition bought from Metal Era in 1996, you can hear a hissing sound during most of the opening track when the needle passes by a specific area of the record’s surface. Another album with a similar problem is my copy of Old Man’s Child‘s Ill-natured spiritual invasion (1998), also released by Century Media, also bought when it came out. Entombed‘s Inferno (2003), released by Threeman Recordings, has by far the worst sound I ever heard on a vinyl record that even put me off that album (I still consider it one of the most mediocre this band ever released). I cannot describe it properly, but it feels like the low frequencies are too loud resulting in a terribly distorted sound. I came across a similar situation but not as bad with Memoriam‘s first album, released by Nuclear Blast. This one is suffering from what is called “inner groove distortion” (read Richard 2022) whereby the closer you get to the end of the side the sound deteriorates. Finally, my copy of Paradise Lost‘s In Requiem (2007), another one released by Century Media, is absolutely terrible, as the sound fluctuates; it has the same effect as when the elastic band of the record player needs replacing. All these problems I have come across throughout the years make me feel less bad for downloading music for free from time to time.
References
Oakley, K. and O’Connor, J., 2015. “The cultural industries: An introduction”, in: K. Oakley and J. O’Connor, (Eds) The Routledge companion to the cultural industries. Routledge: London and New York, pp. 1-32.
Richard, D., 2022. Record player sounds distorted (possible causes and fixes). Top Record Players.
Tsukuda, K. and Goto, M., 2020. Explainable recommendation for repeat consumption, in: Proceedings of the 14th ACM Conference on Recommender Systems, pp. 462-467.
Filed under: death metal, Heavy metal, people, popular music | Tags: Alex Marquez, Anders Schultz, benediction, Brian Harvey, Dark Funeral, Dave Lombardo, Deeds of flesh, Dismember, dying fetus, Ed Warby, Fred Estby, Gorefest, Holy Terror, Janne Saarenpää, Joe Mitchell, Kevin Talley, King Diamond, Lock up, Malevolent creation, Mike Hamilton, Mikkey Dee, Nick Barker, Nils Fjellström, Paul Bostaph, Paul Brookes, Pig destroyer, Slayer, The crown, Unleashed
In my early contact with metal as a teenager drums were of tertiary importance compared to guitar and voice. My first love was Iron Maiden, and although over the years I came to appreciate Clive Burr’s and Nicko McBrain’s skills and contribution to Maiden’s sound, my untrained teenage ear could not appreciate the nuances. My second love was Dio, and just like with Maiden what I fell in love with was the voice and the guitar-playing. I obviously enjoyed listening to Appice’s hard hits, McBrain’s speed on songs like “Deja vu“, I remember falling in love with Ulrich’s fills on “For whom the bell tolls“, or Columbus’s double-bass attack on “Black wind, fire and steel“, but I did not start really noticing the drums until I started listening to thrash, and specifically when I listened to Reign in blood by Slayer. After that, and the more my taste would gravitate towards extreme metal the more attention to the drumming I would pay. Who doesn’t like a great drum break in the middle of a song (*a future post is in order*), or an awesome drum intro?! Through memory work (so, simply by trying to remember) I came up with many awesome drum intros that have stayed with me throughout my life as a metal fan, and after subsequent filtering (as a result of which amazing songs by Hypocrisy, Judas Priest, Death, Xentrix, Ozzy and Kreator, among others, were left out) I present 15 of them here in chronological order.
1. Slayer – Epidemic (1986)
Reign in blood blew my mind and continues to blow my mind no matter how many times I’ve listened to it. It’s funny how, as years go by and new trends in metal emerge, many younger people are no longer impressed by this masterpiece (which is something that I once thought impossible). “When was the last time you truly listened to Reign in blood?”, asks Gavin O’Connor. Seriously, Gavin O’Connor? Still, I would imagine for most people, it is a guilty displeasure not liking this absolute masterpiece and they wouldn’t dare admitting it (as opposed to Gavin who owns his opinion, is proud of it, and so I can make fun of him for being a poser who only listens to “Angel of death” and “Raining blood”). “Epidemic” has always been one of my favourite songs off Reign in blood, as it has a different groove to the dominant skank beat throughout the album. The drum intro has a lot to do with how much I like this song. Whenever I think of a drum intro this is honestly the first song that comes to mind. Nowadays, and after three decades of extreme metal drumming, this intro sounds quite “primitive”, but when I first heard it I would just play it over and over again, for several times before I continue with the rest of the song. Nothing compares to Dave Lombardo‘s intense and quite instinctive old school drumming massacre. The simply devastating drum sound captured on tape by Rick Rubin is not bad either.
2. King Diamond – Welcome home (1988)
Mikkey Dee, now famous for being the drummer for Motörhead for almost 25 years, used to be in King Diamond. With him the King released some of his best albums (and my two personal favourite, namely Fatal portrait and Conspiracy), and I actually remember seeing or reading an interview with King Diamond where he said that Mikkey has been sorely missed (I personally think that Snowy Shaw did an awesome job as well). Indeed, the impressive drum performances in King Diamond’s early albums compared to the almost mechanical drumming in this last few albums is like comparing night and day. “Welcome home” is a masterful track off Them, and the intro is one of the most memorable and classy drum parts I can think of. Overall, this song represents the pinnacle of King Diamond’s progressive dimension. Agressor did an accurate cover of this song on their Medieval rites (1999) album, although the drum intro is neither entirely accurate nor has the feel of the original.
3. Holy Terror – No resurrection (1988)
Holy Terror released two albums in the late 1980s, at a time when thrash was still alive and well but slowly losing ground as the first death metal albums, as well as the more extreme thrash bands of Germany, began to surface. The second album by Holy Terror is a minor thrash masterpiece and this song is a testament to that. Their peculiar style of metal that combined traditional heavy metal melodies and singing, with rougher and at times growling vocals, super fast riffs and drums, deserved more recognition in my opinion. Joe Mitchell‘s expertly executed super fast beats perfectly complement the super-fast vocal delivery. The intro to this song is an all-time favourite, and is the perfectly manic start for a perfectly manic song. I have been listening to it since my teenage years and it still does not fail to excite me. They don’t make them like this anymore.
4. Malevolent Creation – Coronation of our domain (1992)
Alex Marquez gave his best performance on Malevolent Creation’s Retribution. His contribution on this album cannot be overestimated, and never before or after did Malevolent have such a beautiful drum sound and playing, and orchestrations. This drum intro is probably the best out of all the intros in this list. This is the definition of finesse in drumming. I struggled on whether I should include this song here. Malevolent Creation has been the home to some racist scum throughout its history, so they are not welcome in this blog. At the same time, I thought it would be unfair to erase Marquez’s contribution because he happened to be in a band which later on in its career (when Marquez was not part of it anymore) became openly racist.
5. Dismember – Fleshless (1993)
This is an extremely simple fast single stroke drum roll (I think so) spread across two toms, opening one of the best songs in one of the best albums in the history of music (yes, not only death metal). One of the reasons I love it so much is because to me this intro is like saying “get ready for some non-stop relentless beating”, and indeed this is exactly what follows throughout the album. Remember, this is not a playlist with the “best” drum intros, but rather my favourite drum intros, and this is definitely one. I simply adore the drum sound on this album, and Fred Estby‘s playing is really exciting. Indecent and obscene is probably my all-time favourite death metal album, and Fred’s playing is one of the reasons.
6. Gorefest – Peace of paper (1993)
It’s no big surprise that all of the songs on this list come from albums characterised by great drum performances. In both False (1992) and Erase (1993) Ed Warby gives lessons in extreme metal drumming. His sound is clear, he hits hard, and his blastbeats are a force of nature. “Peace of paper” is an astonishing song off an amazing album, and it is also the song where Warby goes crazy with his snare-kick gymnastics. The drum intro is not anything special, but I love it. I think that his performance in these two albums opened up doors for him, as I recall seeing his name in many projects over the years. Gorefest did a very impressive comeback in the mid 2000s and then unfortunately folded again, and in those two comeback albums Warby also did an amazing job.
7. Slayer – Killing fields (1994)
Divine intervention is a galore of outstanding drum work by Paul Bostaph. Quite honestly, when I bought this album I could not believe how someone can play like this, and to this day I consider Divine intervention a masterpiece with state-of-the-art drumming. This album is chock-full of drum highlights, and apart from this song, “Sex, murder, art” and “Serenity in murder” are personal favourites. There is no doubt that Paul knew that filling Lombardo’s shoes would be hard, mostly in terms of acceptance by the hardcore fans rather than actual performance, and did his absolute best to prove himself with this album. In my opinion, the intro of “Killing fields” is one of the heaviest and attention-grabbing moments in metal history.
8. Benediction – The grotesque (1994)
Benediction is not a band known for its virtuoso musicianship. It is known, however, for its absolutely awesome and unique-sounding death metal. “The grotesque” is one of Benediction’s best songs and it comes from the Grotesque/Ashen epitaph EP. This EP marked the departure of Ian Treacy, Benediction’s original drummer, whose improvement from Subconscious terror (1990) to Transcend the Rubicon (1993) was nothing short of stellar, and the short-lived collaboration with Paul Brookes (who has been very ridiculously photoshoped into the photo of the band on this release). I personally prefer Treacy, who has also provided some really cool drum parts, but nevertheless, Brookes offers a very memorable drum intro to this beast of a song.
9. Unleashed – In the name of god (1995)
“In the name of god” starts with a very simple double stroke roll, yet constitutes an extremely effective drum intro which has always stayed with me. The fact that it opens one of the catchiest songs in death metal history, composed by Fredrik, obviously adds to the importance of this drum intro, but there is no doubt that Anders Schultz‘s contribution to Unleashed’s sound is significant (also check out the awesomely placed double bass à la Slayer at the end of the song). Victory is, in my opinion, the last great album by Unleashed, and it is not a coincidence that it is also the last album with Fredrik Lindgren. He is one of the composers that is missed in the death metal genre.
10. Dying Fetus – Justifiable homicide (2000)
1999 was the year my friends and I found out about the then new wave of North American brutal death metal. A fiend of mine got hold of three awesome cassette-tapes; one with Deeds of flesh‘s Trading pieces (1996) and Inbreeding the anthropophagi (1998), one with Nile‘s Among the catacombs… (1998), and one with Dehumanized‘s Prophecies foretold (1998) and Dying Fetus‘s Purification through violence (1996). When Destroy the opposition came out we didn’t listen to anything else for a month. This is probably the least interesting song on the album, but what a great and memorable intro! Kevin Talley is a great drummer hailing from the American brutal death metal underground who has rightfully been recognised as one. His drumming on albums like Killing on adrenaline and Destroy the opposition are unbelievable. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the separation of Jason and Kevin from Gallagher resulted in inferior subsequent output from both Dying Fetus and Misery Index. Anyway, this whole album is a drummer’s pleasure.
11. The Crown – I won’t follow (2000)
The Crown has always been a hit and miss band in my opinion. I never liked any of their albums in their entirety, just individual songs, and if I had to pick a favourite album I would choose Hell is here (1999). This song comes from Deathrace king, an album from which I worship two songs and the rest of them I listen to once every ten years or so. “I won’t follow” is one of the songs I worship, and the other is the inimitable “Back from the grave”. Janne Saarenpää‘s style is very intense and out-of-control and often reminds me of Chris Witchhunter from Sodom (I’m thinking of “Baptism of fire”). This is the definition of in-your-face extreme metal drumming of the type that inspires kids to pick up drumsticks and learn to play.
12. Deeds of Flesh – Master of murder (2001)
Mike Hamilton‘s stint with Deeds of Flesh started with an album (i.e. Mark of the legion) which, for me, marked the creative downfall of the band. However, just like the drummers that preceded him, Hamilton’s drumming is amazing, and this song is a case in point. A beautiful, yet cold and lifeless, phrase composed of super fast double strokes and double bass, introduces an awesome riff. The way Hamilton switches from the hi-hat to the ride cymbal during the blastbeats, and the effect this has on the riff is also great. Later on in their career Deeds of Flesh tried to reinvent themselves and switched to super-technical death metal and, in my opinion, lost their distinctiveness that is still present in this song.
13. Pig Destroyer – Snuff film at eleven (2001)
Just like Dying Fetus’s Destroy the opposition, Pig Destroyer’s Prowler in the yard was a game changer in the world of extreme metal. Brian Harvey provides super fast blastbeats, grooves, and insane drum fills. This song is one of the most death-oriented songs on the album, and has such an awesome drum intro, representative of the musical and lyrical insanity that reigns throughout the album. What contributes to the awesomeness of this intro is that it does not lead to a fast beat but a tensely controlled slow beat. Harvey’s performance on the next album (i.e. Terrifyer) is also stellar. Having a drummer like this at one’s disposal is an amazing privilege, because it gives one absolute freedom to write anything they want, no matter how fast and complex.
14. Lock Up – Feeding on the opiate (2002)
Nick Barker is one of those drummers who make extremely fast drumming seem easy. I fell in love with his drumming when Cradle of Filth‘s Dusk and her embrace came out, and I loved him even more in Lock Up, although his repertoire in the latter is much more limited. His performance with Cradle of Filth rightfully opened doors for him as over the years he has played with many prominent bands. This is actually one of the best album intros ever, and I cannot believe that I forgot to mention it in the respective post I wrote a few years ago. Overall, Hate breeds suffering is my favourite Lock Up album too. Bill Hicks’s inspiring statement, “Play from your fucking hearts!”, sampled at the beginning of the song is also genius.
15. Dark Funeral – The eternal eclipse (2016)
The final entry in this list comes from a recent album, namely Dark Funeral’s very impressive Where shadows forever reign. Dark Funeral has a history of great drummers, including the brilliant Matte Modin (who offered devastating drumming for Defleshed back in the day). In this album the drums are provided by Nils Fjellström, another master of inhuman speed in drumming (check out videos of him performing live with the band on YouTube, you won’t be disappointed). “The eternal eclipse” is my favourite song off this album, and the drum intro is perfect.
Filed under: death metal, Is this where I came from? | Tags: Beggars' night, Fredrik Folkare, Rolf Kasparek, Running wild, Sworn allegiance, Under jolly roger, Unleashed, Winterland
For the 9th installment of the “Is this where I came from?” series of posts I decided to revisit Unleashed, one of my all-time favourite death metal bands. In the first installment of this series of posts I demonstrated how Unleashed were influenced by Black Sabbath to compose one of their absolute masterpieces, namely “Shadows in the deep”. But, lets face it, who hasn’t been influenced by Black Sabbath? In this post I argue that Fredrik Folkare, Unleashed’s main composer since Hell’s unleashed (2002), was influenced by Running Wild, one of the pioneers of German heavy/power metal.
Running Wild – Beggar’s night (1987)
Running Wild is a band I never got into, even though I was exposed to them during my formative heavy metal years – at the same time I fell in love with other power metal bands such as Rage, Helloween, Scanner, and Gamma Ray. My favourite album from them is probably Death or glory (1989), and I never really listen to any of their other albums. However, over the years I have come to appreciate the influence their heavy tremolo-picked riffs and epic attitude might have had on the emerging death metal scene of the late 1980s. “Beggar’s night” is a song off the Under jolly roger album released in 1987. The intro riff is patterned around slow tremolo picking. It starts with open string picking on the high E string. The two other notes that are being repeated throughout the riff-pattern are C and B on the 8th and 7th frets on the same string. Each one of the two sections of the riff has a slightly different ending. After the riff is played once, the power chords come in on top of it, following an E, G, A, G, F#, E progression, giving the song an epic feel.
Unleashed – Winterland (2004)
Unleashed’s Sworn allegiance album starts majestically with this song written by Fredrik Folkare. The opening riff of this song, which re-appears on the chorus, is very impressive, and it is reminiscent of the opening riff of “Beggar’s night”. There are clear differences between the two riffs, but there are also some obvious similarities. Just like in the case of “Beggar’s night”, “Winterland” involves slow tremolo picking on an open string. In this case it starts with open string picking on the G string. The other two main notes in the first section of the riff-pattern are again on the 8th and 7th frets of the same string, in this case E flat and D. The chord progression played on top of this riff is G, A, A#, F#, A, A#, G, in a similar way as in “Beggar’s night”. When the drums come in, however, the same chord progression is played differently as the power chords give way to tremolo-picked individual notes, giving the backing riff a more “death metal feel”.
Filed under: death metal, sweden | Tags: Afflicted, Arch enemy, At the Gates, best of, Carnage, Comecon, Dark tranquility, death breath, Dismember, Edge of Sanity, Entombed, Furbowl, Grave, Hypocrisy, Merciless, swedish death metal, Tiamat, Unanimated, Unleashed
Five and a half years ago I published a post in which I presented my 10 all-time favorite Swedish death metal albums. This post turned out to be the most popular one I have written so far. There have only been a few days since it was published that it did not bring in traffic. About three people read this post on an average day and it has been read 6,005 times in total.
Swedish death metal is gonna get you, no matter how far
However, given that writings are just snapshots in time, many times I feel weird when people read today things that I wrote a long time ago. That is why I decided to revisit this list and see whether I still agree with my choices five and a half years later. I decided that I agree with at least seven of my ten choices. Back in 2008, when the post was published, I had already been listening every single record on that list for more than a decade. This meant that I had a long time to reflect and settle on my tastes. Since 2008, however, several things happened which made me re-evaluate some of my choices. First of all, I discovered some Swedish death metal albums that I did not know back then. Secondly, I simply got over some records that I held in high regard in the past and appreciated more some others. Finally, even the first time around I was faced with several dilemmas regarding which records I should include in the list over others. Of course, I also discovered that certain things don’t change with time.
Seven records from the original list retain their status as all time favorite Swedish death metal albums of all time:
1. Dismember – Indecent and Obscene (1993)
Dismember’s second full length album maintains is position as my all time favorite Swedish death metal album. For almost two decades now I have not changed my mind once about the absolute perfection of this album. There is literally not one single moment in this album that is not brilliant. Every song in this album contains riffs that other bands have not managed to match in their entire careers. As much as it is true that Skogsberg was responsible for homogenising the Swedish death sound, this album sounds different from others. By Skogsberg’s standards Indecent and obscene sounds bad, but this is the beauty of it. The bass-drum on this album is the most satisfying I ever heard in my life. In any case, the band is on fire. This is a time when there was no shortage of ideas. The built-up of songs like “Case#obscene”, “Reborn in blasphemy”, “Dreaming in red” is mind-blowing and the way all of the songs develop is orgasmic. Every time you think that a song cannot get any better something extra-ordinary happens which leaves you speechless, be it a new riff, an amazing tempo change or a vocal pattern. I am so happy this album exists…
2. Entombed – Clandestine (1991)
As with Indecent and obscene, Clandestine never fails to amaze me every time I listen to it, although I know by heart each single moment. The last few years, Entombed themselves seem to have re-evaluated this masterpiece (it has been documented in Ekeroth’s book that neither Nicke nor Uffe particularly liked it back in the day). I personally could not understand how anybody cannot find this album brilliant. I would love to know what was going on in the minds of Nicke and the rest of the band when they were putting these songs together; to be able to experience their unrestrained inspiration running rampant.
3. At The Gates – With fear I kiss the burning darkness (1993)
Their first album is a masterpiece of death metal with which they set the standard for the extreme musical interpretation of painful emotions such as fear of mortality and suffering. And they set the bar really high. Almost everything that happened in extreme metal since then pales in comparison, with the exception of this, their second album. This album is surreal. Each song in this album contains more ideas than entire albums by most bands. At the gates at this point look down upon the popular music canon that wants musicians to compose songs around standardised and easily identifiable structures. Instead, they write melodies which are dynamic and develop and constitute part of a coherent whole (rather than a series of individual melodies glued together). Every musical development cannot be disconnected and understood individually. An album that is one of a kind.
4. Grave – You’ll never see (1992)
You’ll never see is another masterpiece that never gets old. Grave is known for playing pretty stripped down and brutal death metal. Jorgen’s voice is considerably more brutal than those of most of his contemporaries. The sound overall is extremely heavy. Songs stand out due to the catchiness of their lyrical ideas and the vocal patterns. How can anyone forget lyrics like “I wanna die a brutal way, instead of just fade away”, “You make me sick – chosen one”, or “oh my savior set me free, release me from my agony, grant me your eternal reich, take me to where corpses lie”. The groove of the eponymous song is out of this world and the way “Severing flesh” develops is mindbogglingly awesome!
5. Unleashed – Shadows in the deep (1992)
Another album to which I will always be loyal. I love every single second on this album. It’s the epitome of darkness and brutality. It has some of the best compositions by Fredrik. Fredrik was a genius of Swedish death metal, among the very few who have been true geniuses and it’s a shame he never got the recognition that he deserved. I cannot think of any other of their contemporaries for whom it could be argued that every single song they wrote was absolutely perfect. But Fredrik wrote consistently perfect songs, which were at the same time extremely personal and unique (I think he perfected his craft on Victory. It’s a shame he left the band after that album). This album also has some of Johnny’s best moments. The passion with which Johnny utters every single line of “Land of ice” has never been achieved in extreme music again. The massive riff and tempo of “Onward…” is also unparalleled in music history. The slow part on “Final silence” followed by the fast break and Johnny’s scream are one of the moments that define intensity. The eponymous song is the one that could qualify as the best song ever recorded. Simple as that.
6. Edge of Sanity – The spectral sorrows (1993)
This album has always been one of my favorite and at the same time always felt a bit awkward. The reason behind this latter feeling is that this album is one of the first “classic” Swedish death albums that challenged the generic conformity of death metal. The more traditional death songs are some of the best ever recorded, each one could easily be considered the best song if they were in most death albums ever recorded. For example, imagine any album by any band that included a song like “Jesus cries”, “The masque”, “Across the fields…”, “On the other side” or “Lost”. Any one of these songs would instantly stick out from the rest! However, as I said earlier, there are some other songs which are also amazing yet play with other generic rules, such as “Feeding the charlatan”, a hardcore-punk song given a death metal twist and “Sacrificed”, an all-out gothic/new wave song. In any case, this album is God.
7. Comecon – Megatrends in brutality (1992)
My appreciation for this album, and band overall, will never wane. The power of this album is unique, and I still think that they achieved a rare blend of Swedish death and grindcore. Also, having Petrov singing on your album is already a big plus. Having him singing some brilliantly penned lyrics along really inspired vocal patterns can lift an album to outer space. There are some amazing choruses and some amazing riffs, more akin to hardcore than death metal, but the fast slayer beat and grind throughout the album add considerably to its death metal character. Every single death metal mix-tape should include at least one of the following songs: “Wash away the filth”, “Teuton tantrums”, “Slope” and “Conductor of ashes”.
The remaining three albums (Hypocrisy‘s Final chapter, Tiamat‘s clouds and Desultory‘s Bitterness) would not necessarily be in that list. I still consider them monumental albums but not on the same league as the rest. Instead of suggesting three other albums to complete the original list I will instead suggest 10 albums, any of which could take the part of any of the previous three. Again, I will not include on purpose any other album by bands that have already been mentioned in the list. If I did that I have to confess that the list of best death metal albums would be monopolised by bands like Entombed, Dismember, At The Gates and Unleashed. In an effort to be fair to all those bands that have given us awesome music no band can be represented with more than one album in the list. So, here are the next 10 bands that I feel should be represented in a Swedish death metal “best of” list:
1. Furbowl – The autumn years (1994)
I never heard Furbowl when I was young. I discovered them through Daniel Ekeroth’s book Swedish Death Metal. Today it is hard to believe that this band never became popular. With their debut (Those shredded dreams) they paved the way for Entombed to evolve into the brilliant band that created Wolverine blues. (I imagine that when Andersson first heard “Damaged done” at once got goosebumps and cried for not coming up with it first.) On their second album, it was Furbowl’s time to be influenced by Entombed and particular L.G. Petrov’s style of singing. This album pushes the envelope even further than Entombed though, by incorporating in a marvelous way middle-eastern melodies, clean vocals and acoustic guitars in the mix of brilliance. The album kicks off with a pretty straight-forward song (“Bury the hatchet”) that effectively sets the death ‘n’ roll mood of the album. It then moves on to the more up-beat yet with a dose of sadness “Cold world“, from that to the soulful “Dead and gone“, and to the more driven pissed off D-beat of “The needle” (with a mid-section that punches you in the face), to straight on rock ‘n’ roll (“Baby Burn”). How can words describe the desperation on the chorus of “Weakened”? Pure genius! With the acoustic “Road less traveled” the band paves the way for the melancholic ending with a monumental song (“Still breathing“) about the will to resist and the suffering this entails. Liiva’s vocal performance is one of the very best, and not exclusively in the death metal genre.
2. Tiamat – The astral sleep (1991)
Clouds has always been an all time favorite. I know all the lyrics by heart since high-school and every single note and drum-beat on it. However, even the first time around I was torn between Clouds and The Astral sleep. The latter is a more obvious choice for a death metal list, because it is simply more brutal than Clouds. So, today I would go with The astral sleep, because it matches all the atmospheric excellence of Clouds, with songs like “Dead boys choir” and “The southernmost voyage”, but also contains dark claustrophobic hymns of desperation like “The mountain of doom” and “Ancient entity” (fucking masterpiece! That melody in the middle of the song always makes my skin crawl), as well as more up-tempo horror tales such as “I am the king of dreams”, “Sumerian cry (part III)” and “Lady temptress”.
3. Dark Tranquility – The mind’s I (1997)
I bought this album when it first came out and I loved it since the first time I listened to it. I think that it has some of the best songs I have ever heard, some of the most inventive riffs ever, some excellent lyrics and brilliant performances. The drum sound and style (basically a very fast Slayer bass-snare drum beat with minimal use of fills throughout the faster songs) was obviously inspired from At The Gates‘ break-through album that came out a couple of years earlier. This more straight forward and in-your-face approach that Dark Tranquility took on this record appealed to me more than anything else they ever did (I also liked a lot Fiction which also had a very similar approach). The power in the beginning of songs like “Jodijackyl light” and “Scythe, rage and roses” is unparalleled. The amazing textures of songs like “Hedon” and the unique use of arpeggiated chords and harmonised melodies on top of muted, chunky riffs, have been genre-defining. Finally, the way most songs develop – like in the brilliant “Tongues”from Celtic-sounding tunes, slowly building up to a furious Slayer beat, on top of a sequence of awesome trademark triplets-riffs – is jaw-dropping.
4. Unanimated – Ancient god of evil (1995)
This is an album that I came to appreciate the last couple of years. I first listened to it around 1997. That proved to be an unfortunate time to listen to this particular album. By 1997, Swedish death metal had become saturated with countless At The Gates and Dark Tranquility wannabes, which were of far inferior quality (some, like Ablaze my sorrow disappeared, while others, like Soilwork, became quite popular). Anything melodic that I heard at that time was instantly rejected. Ancient god of evil was one of those albums, despite the fact that Rickard Cabeza and Peter Stjarnvind were in the band. Luckily, I recently decided to give it a listen and I was blown away. Now I consider it a masterpiece among classic Swedish albums. The trademark drumming of Peter Stjarnvind and the vocals of Micke Jansson bring into mind the mighty Merciless, while some of the fast tremolo-picking riffs bring into mind Dismember‘s and Desultory‘s more melodic moments. All the songs are built according to very simple structures (verse-chorus-verse-chorus) but are nevertheless very refreshing, owing much to the majestic and dark choruses and the singer’s soulful screams (listen for example, the “Eye of the greyhound“, the brilliant “Ruins” and “Dying emotions domain“). The textures are also quite lean. The rhythm guitar and the bass usually have the leading role, playing the same melody line. Many times rhythm guitar and bass are used to give color to the minimal melodies played by the lead guitar, a technique very common to the Swedish death metal genre. Harmonic progressions that would not be normally “accepted” early on in the genre – such as the “happy” i – VII – V used throughout “Life demise” or the i – VI – VII resolving back on home chord throughout “Oceans of time” – are quite common. Keyboards are also tactfully placed here and there to the effect of atmosphere without ever assuming a leading role. The background percussion bit halfway through “Ruins” sounds like something influenced by Rotting Christ‘s “Non serviam”.
5. Arch Enemy – Black earth (1996)
Arch Enemy’s first album is nothing short of a Swedish death masterpiece. Most death metal fans, myself included, would consider Michael Amott’s career a disgrace after Burning bridges (1999), but I don’t think there are a lot of people who would not acknowledge the brilliance of this first album. The big advantage of this album is Liiva’s powerful and emotional vocals. Liiva gives a truly unique performance. The album kicks off in a massive way with “Bury me an angel“, a song that successfully establishes the mood of the album as at once devastating and melodic. “Dark insanity‘s” furious D-Beat and Slayer-like melody after the chorus are astonishing. “Eureka” is a slow, unusual song built around a super heavy “pull-off” riff and a gratifying chorus. All songs are fucking amazing and I cannot even begin to think about which ones are my favorite. Special reference should be made, though, to the frantic “Transmigration macabre“, which starts with one of the heaviest riffs on earth, the also speedy “Cosmic retribution” which has an amazing clean-guitar passage near the end, and the melancholic and majestic “Fields of desolation” that closes the album, one of the best songs ever written.
6. Afflicted – Prodigal sun (1992)
Afflicted evolved from being a brutal band in the style of early Entombed/Carnage/Grave in their demos/first E.P., to an uncompromising band that pushed the barriers of the genre in this, their first, album. With the exception of songs like “The empty word”, “In years to come” and “Consumed in flames”, where the D-Beat fury, grind and sheer brutality tend to be more prominent, the rest of the songs retain the extremity yet go down more technical/progressive paths previously explored by bands like Atheist, Atrocity (Germany) and Entombed to a new level and play with crazy structures and vocal ideas (the vocals are brilliantly insane), resulting in a thickly textured album with a very chaotic atmosphere. Especially the theatrical and flexible vocal delivery bring into mind Nicke Andersson on Clandestine and Alex Krull on Hallucinations. The beginning of “Spirit spectrum” sounds like something you could find in Atheist’s second album. Despite the inevitable influences, this album has a unique character and such variety that no matter how many years one listens to it there’s always new things to be discovered. The song “Ivory tower” closes the album in an unbelievable way! For those who love this album, make sure you check out Morbus Chron (they’ve got a new album coming up), a young Swedish band that sounds a lot like Afflicted.
7. Carnage – Dark recollections (1990)
The reason I did not include this album in the initial list was that I always considered Carnage the early incarnation of Dismember. That is not entirely inaccurate, however Carnage was primarily Amott’s project (although I think that the band became a force to be reckoned with after Estby joined). In any case, it is such a fantastic album that I cannot just ignore it altogether. Dark recollections is about claustrophobic down-tuned insanity, sickly composed minor melodies, furious beating (that constantly shifts from Slayer-beat, to D-beat, to grind) while Karki vomits his guts screaming about horror and humanity’s demise. The lyric “In a century of darkness, the horror spreads within, when the planet stops to turn, all hope is lost for man”, off “Infestation of evil”, was used by Arch Enemy on their Stigmata album. (on “Infestation of evil” there is also the hilarious misheard lyric “trapped in the place, of no escape, eternally you are lost, you are eating FRIES!”.) The intro riff of “Deranged from blood” is classic Swedish death, as it was and as it was always supposed to be.
8. Death Breath – Stinking up the night (2006)
Andersson’s return to death metal happened in a big way. Enveloped by Robert Pehrsson on guitar and vocals, Magnus Hedquist on bass, Scott Carlson (Repulsion!) on vocals, Jorgen Sandstrom (ex-Grave, ex-Entombed) on vocals and Nicke on drums Death Breath could only be fantastic. Nicke’s genius shines through in compositions of unique inspiration such as the infectious groove of “Chopping spree” and “Christ all fucking mighty”, and the sheer power of “Heading for decapitation” and “Coffins…”. The times when Pehrsson gets the upper hand on composition the results are also excellent, especially in the mind-blowing “Flabby little things…” and “Reduced to ashes”. The Autopsy-inspired “Dragged through the mud” is somewhat less fascinating and “Morbid mind” is cool, but the Birdflesh-sounding chorus feels a bit out-of-place to me. The days when Nicke took death metal too seriously have been long gone. The lyrics on the album are a testament to this. Don’t get me wrong, the lyrics are phenomenal, better than most bands can imagine. However, they are brilliant in a Pungent Stench kind of way, clever but funny. “Christ all fucking mighty” is one of the best songs ever recorded.
9. Merciless – Unbound (1994)
My first contact with Merciless happened through this album. I was hanging out to this friend’s house (who introduced me to some of my all time favorite bands, like Sinister, Altar, Desultory, Vader) and he put on the album. When the acoustic intro part of “Unbound” was over and the manic drumming on top of simple power-chords started, my friend started headbanging like crazy, as if he was about to jump out of his body (typical of him), a spectacle which actually increased the intensity of the music! From that moment on I was hooked on Merciless. I cannot think of many bands that can achieve this degree of intensity. Ridiculously fast riffing, Maidenesque melodies, insane screams and some folk tunes make up an amazing opening song. “The land I used to walk” is one of the most bad-ass songs ever to come out of Sweden; its rhythmic changes and the chorus are just brilliant. “Feebleminded” is an awesome in-your-face song typical of the style of music Merciless became known for. Their fast bass-snare drum beat is faster than most Death metal bands (maybe with the exception of Unleashed); some times it’s actually on the verge of becoming a blastbeat, and reminds a lot of Sadus. Peter Stjarnvind’s super tight drumming has never fitted equally perfectly in any of the other bands he played with. The slower songs on the album are also excellent. “Back to north” and especially “Lost eternally” are two gems of Swedish death.
10. Hypocrisy – The fourth dimension (1994)
Hypocrisy’s Fourth dimension is probably the first album I heard from them, so it has a special place in my heart. It has an amazing atmosphere appropriately represented on the fascinating album cover art. Lyrically, this album moves away from satanic themes towards topics such as alien life, murder, religion and metaphysics. “Apocalypse”, the song with which the album kicks off, is an undisputed Epic, a unique homage to Eloy and Bathory, two diametrically opposite influences that only Tagtgren could combine with such astonishing results! Songs like this one, as well as “Fourth dimension” defined Hypocrisy’s trademark sound. “Reincarnation” is another brilliant, melancholic song that established Hypocrisy as the pioneers of atmospheric death metal. The awesomeness of some of the lyrics should also be pointed out: “Silence, the only sound is the knife through the air – Hell, is where I’ll be when I’m through with you”. The more up-tempo songs like “Mind corruption” (this song has an awesome tempo, riffs and vocal patters, I love it!), “Orgy in Blood” and “Reborn” showcase Hypocrisy’s thrash influences, especially in the case of intro-riffs. Each single song (maybe with the exception of “Slaughtered) is a masterpiece.
On the original post I once received a comment from a guy who decided that my choices were irrelevant and that I was not a “true old-school death metaler”. Back then, I explained that I did not pretend to be an old-school death metaler, whatever that means. I started listening to death metal in the mid-90s and my tastes were to a large extent shaped by the first death metal albums I heard (The dreams you dread by Benediction, Slaughter of the soul by At the gates, Victory by Unleashed, Massive killing by Dismember, Spiritual healing by Death) by the tastes of friends (Sarcofago, Dismember, Massacra, Carcass) and the suggestions of the Greek magazine Metal Hammer (Morbid Angel, Pestilence, Asphyx, Bolt Thrower, Massacre, Napalm Death, Entombed). That is why I always loved both the early brutal phase of Swedish death metal along with the later more melodic and experimental phase. I once again run the risk of being accused of being a wimp by including Dark Tranquility, Unanimated, Arch Enemy and Furbowl (four quite melodic bands), but that’s fine. If I had to make another list of Swedish death masterpieces I would include even more melodic albums, such as Massive killing capacity (Dismember), but also some brutal masterpieces, such as Therion‘s second album and Carbonized‘s For the security. Finally, from both lists I created, a specific type of Swedish death is missing, the more “Americanised” brutal Swedish death. Some of the best ambassadors of this style are the awesome Deranged, Seance and Vomitory. Although I have loved these bands since the late nineties, I always thought that they cannot compete with the traditional Swedish death sound.
Filed under: death metal, Is this where I came from?, metal | Tags: Black Sabbath, Children of the grave, Fredrik Lindgren, shadows in the deep, swedish death metal, Tonny Iommi, Unleashed
As I have discussed in an earlier post, it is naive to think that creativity in music takes place within a vacuum. Our favorite musicians have embodied years of musical history in order to be able to create our favorite songs. In some cases, their embodied musical histories, their influences, are more obvious than in others. In this post, which will be one in a series of many, I argue that Black Sabbath‘s “Children of the grave” inspired one of swedish death metal’s finest songs, namely “Shadows in the deep” by Unleashed.
Black Sabbath – Children of the grave (1971)
Black Sabbath was loved by many people who went on to contribute to the shaping of the genre we know today as Metal. Black Sabbath’s guitarist, Tony Iommi, singlehandedly provided the ground-work for the emergent genre. It would not be a hyperbole to argue that many heavy metal bands in the wake of Black Sabbath singled out and accentuated Iommi’s riffing, without ever managing to fully grasp its logic. Still to this day the logic that hides behind Iommi’s riffing eludes me. Every time I listen to a simple riff such as the one in “Symptom of the universe” I am totally astounded. The same goes for the epic riff on “Children of the grave” whose heaviness is just ridiculous. The impact of this riff on the death metal genre is huge and Unleashed’s “Shadows in the deep” is a prime example of this influence.
Unleashed – Shadows in the deep (1992)
While most heavy metal bands have copied the main riff off Black Sabbath’s eponymous song, Unleashed in their second album offered the world this brilliant song (composed by Fredrik), clearly influenced by Children of the grave. The whole song is full of Black Sabbath references. It starts with a slow brooding riff in the style of Electric funeral. It then moves on to a faster crawling riff before it goes into the main riff, which is the one reminiscent of Children of the grave. It moves on to several variations of this theme and a tremendous break in the middle of the song. An absolute masterpiece.
p.s. The title of this post is a line taken off “Translucent patterns of delirium”, one of Suffocation’s best songs, off their self-titled album.
Filed under: brutal memoirs, death metal | Tags: At the Gates, Comecon, Desultory, Dismember, Edge of Sanity, Entombed, Grave, Hypocrisy, swedish death metal, Tiamat, Unleashed
One of the reasons I started this blog was to substitute for the discussions I would have with my friends on music. One of the most enjoyable types of discussion was “what are your 10 best death metal albums of all time”. I must have made the same discussion for at least 100 times yet it never got boring! Of course the fun part was not only coming up with the albums, which was practically impossible, but the argumentation process. Here I will propose the “10 best swedish death metal albums”. The only rule is, only one album per band. With no further ado, here’s my list with some justifications:
1. Dismember -Indecent and Obscene (1993)
First of all, it is the definition of swedish death metal. It has “that” sound, “that” production with the best possible BEAT ever, these vocals that make sweden so distinct! Furthermore, from the first second till the last everything is perfect. It starts perfectly and ends perfectly. The band plays with great zest and there is not one boring moment. It has perfect balance between slow and fast parts. The lyrics are hard to understand and definitely not so accessible (and probably good) as in massive killing capacity, but sound really good and are impressive. Highlights lyric-wise are Skinfather, Sorrowfilled, case # obscene, dreaming in red. It has one of the best choruses ever (Skinfather), one of the best and most original riffs ever (case # obscene when the singing starts), the perfect orchestration of reborn in blasphemy and dreaming in red, and so on. I could talk forever…
2. Entombed -Clandestine (1991)
In reality there is no winner between the first two. The only reason this comes second is the song Stranger Aeons, whose main riff reminds me of one riff from ‘symphonies of sickness’ (ruptured in purulence). Clandestine is the album I love equally to indecent… and I think constitutes the cornerstone of death metal. It has the best drumming I have ever heard in a death metal album. It is technical but chaotic as well and that makes it unique. It is overflowing with feelings, which is what demarcates swedish from other kinds of death metal. Lyrics around religion in songs like living dead and Blessed be are the best ever written. Kenny Hakansons’ lyrics are impressive and sounding so good, even though they deal with mysticistic themes about which I know little. The samples that accompany the songs could not be more perfect, especially the wicked laugh in ‘sinners bleed’. Highlights of the album, if possible, are the main riff from ‘sinners bleed’, ‘Blessed be’ as a whole (is it possible for music to be more intense and angry than that?!), ‘Crawl’, Chaos Breed, the chorus of ‘Living Dead’ and the way he says “…the symbol of spiritual lobotomy…” and last but not least the VOCALS!
3. At The Gates- With Fear I kiss the Burning Darkness (1993)
The first album that made me think about how rich music death metal is. I remember being really young and trying to listen to both guitars while they were cooperating in way that I have not experienced again since. I really doubt that the band itself has realised what a masterpiece it has released upon human kind. The interchange of melodies and the game the guitarists are playing are definitely the highlights of the record. One of the best things about that record is that ever time I listen to it I imagine the strangest things. The music, lyrics and the singing are extremely expressive and I can actually see and feel the things being sang. “…watch the sun setting at the horizon..” in the “break of autumn”, primal breath, “stardrowned”, the finishing touch in “blood of sunsets”! An album that set the creative standards of death metal so high that will never be surpassed. Plus, Karki is performing on “ever opening flower” and I am pretty sure he does on the discharge cover at the end.
4. Unleashed-Shadows in the Deep (1992)
An extremely raw, straight forward, inspired record of unique grandeur from a band that is very underrated. SITD sounds like it has been recorded in an icy cave and I always thought the CD had a better sound than the LP, but after all I think that the swampy sound of the vinyl is more honest to the content of the songs. For me it is an extremely atmospheric and one of the most emotionless records ever. Even though songs like ‘shadows in the deep’ and ‘land of ice’ bring out a certain melancholy, grief and pride they still sound like they are performed by emotionless living-dead beings. ‘Shadows in the deep‘ is the song I think everyone should have listened to, before they die. And if you are a religious person, it might tell you a lot about life and the afterlife…
5. Edge of Sanity- The Spectral Sorrows (1993)
Dan Swano is undoubtedly one of the swedish scene’s masterminds. Axelsson I think is a genius as well and I think that the album they released after Swano’s departure (Cryptic) is brilliant. However, Spectral Sorrows has everything one can ask for. Extremely brutal and fast songs, more melodic ones, punk-influenced songs, rock-influenced and gothic-influenced songs! “The Masque” might easily have the most clever and innovative/imaginative riff ever. “Feeding the charlatan” is one of the most pissed of songs ever, “lost” and “across the fields…” have a unique atmosphere, “Jesus Cries” is an obvious hit meant to become classic! Variety in extreme music.
6. Comecon- Megatrends in Brutallity (1992)
The most sophisticated death metal band ever. While others wrote about killings, the religion, death, suffering and pain, they were expressing their discontent with the delusions of prosperity that the world leaders and international organisations like the European Union (European Community at that time) were promising the world. Highly critical towards free market promises, Comecon had a punk attitude inside the death metal context. I am not sure if I like their second album even more. I will stick to this one because it is the first one I bought from them and it destroyed me. Megatrends is Punk and Grindcore inspired death metal, with classic swedish death orchestrations. LG Petrov offers great performances and the lyrics are of the kind you need to learn by heart. Some melodies remind of morbid angel (Ulcer) other of terrorizer (Slope). Best chorus ever, is on “Conductor of Ashes”. Other highlights are “Wash away the filth“, “future belongs to us”, “Slope”, …all.
7. Tiamat- Clouds (1992)
Tiamat’s third album is one of the few albums ever that when I first bought (actually Nikos bought it first on cassette from rock city), I listened to 5 times a day for a month. In contrast to the other bands, Tiamat are slow, have keyboards and are mainly atmospheric and satanic. Each song is better than the other, the vocals are unique and bond perfectly with the music, the lyrics are perfect and bond perfectly with the music as well. Gothic and rock influences are ubiquitous. The melody in the chorus of “the scapegoat” reminds me a lot of the melody from New Model Army’s “Vagabonds”. Songs everyone should have listened to are “A Caress of Stars”, “the scapegoat”, “Undressed“, “The sleeping Beauty”. Pure inspiration.
8. Grave- You ‘ll Never See… (1992)
One of the most brutal most massive albums ever. Classic swedish sound but more raw and primitive than the other big bands of their time. “You’ll never see“, “Grief” and “christi(ns)anity” have always been my favorites. An emotionless record as well, dealing with brutal death, religious deceit and hopelessness. Also the album ends drifting away in a way that has been proven famous to swedish bands, like it will go on forever (I really like it when they do that, see Dismember- indecent and obscene, Dismember- dismember, dismember- massive killing capacity, Dismember -death metal, Grave- back from the grave, …). There is really nothing specific about this record that I love. It just uses a recipe that is known to most swedish death metalers, elements put together in a simple way but with a lot of inspiration.
9. Desultory- Bitterness (1994)
The title says it all. The singer sounds like the most jaded person ever. Melancholic death metal about death and loneliness. A highly accessible album that focuses on and emphasises the few elements that make swedish death metal special. It has the buzzsaw guitar sound, the “screaming with desperation” vocals, the “minimal recurring melodies beneath the brutal rhythm guitar” sound and the doleful solos. Every song is a gem with personal favorites: “A closing eye“, “Life shatters”, “left behind”, “winter”.
10. Hypocrisy- The Final Chapter (1997)
I remember myself listening to the promo CD of the final chapter with the owner of a record store (Metal Era) in Athens back in ’97 . The first thing that came in mind was that it was probably the best hypocrisy album ever! After many years of hypocrisy listening I think that it might not be Hypocrisy’s best album, but it is one of the best in the swedish death metal scene. Fourth dimension is magnificent, but on the second side there are a couple of boring songs. The same goes for Abducted. The first two albums are perfect, but far from the typical swedish sound. Especially the second one is like American death metal. The final chapter, is one of those albums which has everything! The slow songs of the album are the best and impossible for any other band to copy. “A coming race” is monumental and “the shamateur” is crawling with sadness (my personal favorite). The faster songs like “through the window of time” and “adjusting the sun”, and the thrashy “last vanguard” are also perfect and contribute to an outstanding album in a period when swedish death metal was going through serious changes and few decent albums were coming out.
overground scene 