Long-running Swedish Death Metal band Darkane has announced their new vocalist Tobiasz Bennedal. The previously announced Lawrence Mackrory had departed the band, after two stints in the group (1998-1999, 2011 to now). Bennedal will make his debut with the band on July 27th 2024 at Tullakroksfestivalen in Ängelholm, Sweden. Read statements below. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Swedish Death Metal
ALBUM REVIEW: Crawl – Altar of Disgust
Sometimes all that’s needed on a rough day is some crusty Death Metal. Luck would have it that Crawl has dropped their sophomore full-length, Altar of Disgust (Transcending Obscurity Records), and it is a journey, to say the least. Ten songs (eleven counting an intro) at just over thirty minutes is the perfect portion size for such an aggressive and abrasive collection of songs. These Swedish death metallers have one goal in mind: to crush you under the weight of their riffs and breakdowns.
ALBUM REVIEW: Fuming Mouth – Last Day of Sun
Nothing makes me feel more proud than when a local band from the Boston scene makes it. I’ve been a big fan of Fuming Mouth over the years of their growth and was pleased to find their sophomore full-length, Last Day of Sun (Nuclear Blast Records), in my bin.
ALBUM REVIEW: Majesties – Vast Reaches Unclaimed
The Swedish death metal scene, especially the Gothenburg-based one with quintessential names like At the Gates, Entombed, and Dark Tranquility surrounding, is indeed all-around influential; many bands heavily inspired by the Gothenburg death metal scene have emerged throughout the past years. The Minneapolis-bound Majesties is one of the said bands. With members originating from the equally groundbreaking extreme metal acts Obsequiae and Inexorum, there was born a convergence, an allied force between those two acts– which is Majesties who recently have just released their first full-length entitled Vast Reaches Unclaimed, through 20 Buck Spin.
ALBUM REVIEW: Aeon – God Ends Here
While it seems strange to refer to a sound that has been around for over two decades as “modern”, it feels completely accurate to describe the sonic barrage of Aeon as Modern Death Metal. Renowned for keeping the intensity levels up – backed by a production to level small towns with its ripped, lean torso – for their fifth release Swedish violence-dealers have shown no relenting despite lockdown, No extra inches have been added to their waist-bands, and no sign of flabbiness added to their carb-free sensory assault.
Soilwork – Verkligheten
Swedish Melodeath purveyors Soilwork are a staple of the scene. Despite never having the commercial success of In Flames nor the critical acclaim that At The Gates garnered, the band is a reliable ever-present, delivering solid albums on a regular basis.
With Verkligheten (Nuclear Blast), the band’s eleventh album, Soilwork deliver another exactly what they’re good at; a mix of shredding riffs, machine gun drumming, and a penchant for bombastic clean vocals.Continue reading
Bloodbath – The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn
Despite being established as Death Metal stalwarts, and already perhaps even close to attaining legendary status, the road for Bloodbath has often been seemingly a little bit bumpy. Admittedly a band that wasn’t always the main priority for its various members, over their time Bloodbath has had to lurk in the shadows waiting for busy schedules of to align. With alumni from the likes of Katatonia and Opeth, and more recently Paradise Lost, it has meant live shows are a rarity and album release schedules somewhat inconsistent. However, with Katatonia now on hiatus, it feels like Bloodbath can become a more prominent concern, which certainly seems evident with the fact that The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn (Peaceville) is quite possibly their most vibrant and strongest effort to date.Continue reading
Lik – Carnage
Take three unashamed Deff Metulz heads from that most renowned city of Stockholm, give them an HM-2 pedal, a huge guitar stack, a heritage that includes Dismember, At The Gates and Entombed and, courtesy of Lawrence Mackrory, a stunning sonic assault that takes all the best aspects of Sunlight Studios merged with today’s production values of volume and clarity, and stand back and wait… for your face to be pinned to the wall behind you as the hurricane of Swedish Death Metallage assaults you with unrestrained glee. Continue reading
Arch Enemy – Will To Power
With former frontwoman Angela Gossow leaving the band in 2014, and uncertainty in the guitarist department since the departure of Christopher Amott, it was almost a foregone conclusion that more changes in the Arch Enemy camp lay ahead. Having already released War Eternal (Century Media) with Gossow’s replacement, former The Agonist singer Alissa White-Gluz, the band’s new album Will To Power (Century Media) marks the full-length début of former Nevermore guitar maestro Jeff Loomis. Although a hugely popular choice among fans, it does seem a little strange that lead guitarist Michael Amott should then come out so publicly, saying on one hand how perfectly Loomis fits in the band, yet on the other stating how their two styles simply don’t mesh.Continue reading
Entrails – World Inferno
I’ve mentioned before (and will again – us writers, like bands, have our favoured phrases we come back to, like the metaphoric pooch returning to its gut-chunks), but predictability is underrated. And a bloody good thing, too, at times, because back for the fifth time of asking, and spilling their fetid guts for the baying hordes in time honoured Sunlight styled fashion, is Sweden’s Entrails with World Inferno (Metal Blade).Continue reading