Initial Impressions: Demonical: Death Infernal

I saw this CD one day while browsing for something interesting and I almost did not pick it up. The album cover attracted my attention, so I knew that it would be metal. However, the name of the band threw me off. Demonical is kind of a nonsensical word and I had concerns that this would just be a deathcore album. Pretty far from it actually. In actuality, this is pure Swedish death.

Demonical was formed from former members of Centinex, a band I was familiar with, but never really checked out. The band has actually been around for some time, this is their third album, but for some reason I was not aware of them. But I am pretty glad I decided to pick this one up.

As I mentioned, this is pure Swedish death. Think the earliest albums by groups like Entombed, Dismember, and Grave for reference points. Grave in particular, because the vocal style is the same very deep guttural roar that Grave's early work was particularly known for. The band pulls off the buzzsaw guitar riffing style that the scene made popular and all of the songs are fast and furious. There are melodic moments, guitar leads and solos play a major role in a lot of the songs, so this is not pure brutality all the way through.

This is a highly recommended album for those that miss the early Swedish death masterpieces.