Therion: Lepaca Kliffoth (1995)

Don't ask.  I don't know what that title means.

There are a lot of metal bands that have incorporated symphonic elements into their sound.  Whether that be through the actual use of string instruments or synthesizers.  There is also a wide variety as to just how much that influence shows through into the band's sound.  There are few metal bands that have incorporated symphonic influence to the extent that Therion has.

Early on in their career, Therion were a fairly typical death metal band from Sweden.  They had the kind of sound one would expect when listening to a Swedish death metal band.  But it was on this album where the band basically abandoned their death metal roots and went for something completely new and different.  Sure, there is the occasional harsher riff and the much more gruff vocal style at times, but by and large this album went in a completely gothic and symphonic direction. 

The band uses some truly beautiful, melodic passages, such as in the breathtaking "The Beauty in Black".  That song features a male and female operatic singer for much of the verses of the song.  That is in stark contrast to the much heavier "Riders of Theli" that follows immediately afterward.  There is an overriding atmosphere of darkness and mystique, so that even the prettier moments still have a dangerous undercurrent.  It certainly helps that the primary vocal style of the lead singer is a harsh and angry bark.  I still think the band is at its best when it combines the aggressive riffs with the more melodic moments seemlessly than when they favor one over the other.  The best songs are able to incorporate both disparate sounds without sounding forced, for instance the highlight: "Black".

Therion experiments with a lot of Middle Eastern-sounding melodies throughout the album.  This is something that would become quite typical of their later albums.  The lyrical content too deals with Middle Eastern mythology and Jewish mysticism.  Very interesting stuff.

I have been aware of Therion for a long time, but I was somewhat disappointed with the album Gothic Kabbalah.  But recently I remembered checking out some of their earlier material so I decided to look into their history a bit more.  It was a good move because this album is terrific.  It takes some getting used to, but it is worth it.

Edge of Sanity: The Spectral Sorrows (1993)

I do not really know why it is that I have only recently begun looking into Edge of Sanity's prior discography.  I loved Crimson, the one-song, 40-minute epic.  Yet, I never really considered going back, or forward for that matter.  For many years, Crimson was the only thing I really knew existed by Edge of Sanity.  Last year, I finally picked up Unorthodox (a perfect description for the band by the way) and loved it.  And so I have now come to this one.

Edge of Sanity is a typical Swedish death metal band in a lot of ways, but they are also so much more.  There are the chainsaw-sounding riffs and the guttural vocals, the rhythmic stomp and the raw aggression.  But Edge of Sanity has more.  They have a sense of melody and a some delightfully weird moments.  For instance, there is the random keyboard interlude in "Lost" on this release.  They also have more of progressive structure, best exemplified by the aforementioned Crimson which would not work if it was just one long Swedish death metal song.  They are much more dynamic and dramatic than other bands from their country and scene.  They can go from a pure death metal song, to a jazzy acoustic interlude, to a gothic rock song with ease and without it sounding out of place.  And in fact, they do on this album.

Edge of Sanity has always been more of the brainchild of the immensely talented Dan Swanö.  There may have been other members at various points in time in the band, but Swanö has always been the driving force.  His vocals are terrific on this album.  Most often they are delivered in a typical death metal growl, deep and rumbling.  But there are a few occasions in which he sings cleanly, as in the Manowar cover "Blood of My Enemies" and the off-kilter goth rock song "Sacrificed".  His clean vocals are remarkably powerful and makes one wonder why he did not use them more often. 

There is a lot going on in this album.  Edge of Sanity is simply not content to play just one style, even though their foundation is always in death metal.  They experiment and progress seemlessly.  It is a wonder that they never really captured attention the same way that other bands from their country did.  As I listen more and more, they are quickly becoming one of my favorite groups from their scene.  That is really saying something.

Bewitched: Rise of the Antichrist (2002)

Here is the fourth and final post in this brief series looking at the albums of Bewitched.  One of these days I will consider tracking down their last album, Spiritual Warfare, which was released in 2006.  These four albums were all released in the box set.  I am not sure why their last album was not included in the box set, though the fact that their last album was released on a different label might explain it.

Enough of that though.  It is sort of odd that an album titled Rise of the Antichrist would come so late in the band's history.  Seems like a better title for an earlier album.  Oh well.  The band added another guitarist, giving them a two-pronged attack this time around.

After the minor disappointment that was the third album, the band changed some things up a little bit.  Obviously with the addition of a second guitarist the sound was a little more full and the two guitarists played off each other quite well.  The band also stopped trying to be a Venom clone and forged their own sound.  Bewitched sounds more like a thrash metal band with some minor black metal influences on this album.  Think early Sodom or Kreator.  The vocals have also improved significantly, delivered in more of a harsh shriek.

Though some things have changed on this release, Bewitched still maintains their ability to write infectious as hell songs.  This time around, the band has given "Worship the Fire", the title track, and the explosive "Hell's Triumph".  The opening riff to the latter is simply amazing.

This is one of the better albums from the Bewitched box set.  I would probably rank them from best to worst: Pentagram Prayer, Rise of the Antichrist, Diabolical Desecration, At the Gates of Hell.

Bewitched: At the Gates of Hell (1999)

This is the third post in a four-part look at the first four albums released by Swedish black/thrash metal band Bewitched.  This was the band's third album, released in 1999.

Bewitched remained a power trio on this release, but there was a lineup change.  Drummer Reaper was out, replaced by Stormlord.  Meanwhile, Vargher settled in as the primary vocalist/guitarist while Wrathyr continued on bass.  While settling in as a power trio, the band began to truly emulate another such trio: the legendary Venom.

The band stripped down their sound even more on this release, which is sort of impressive given how much extraneous stuff the band eliminated between their first and second albums.  At this point, the band is not at all concerned with creating a dark atmosphere and more interested in simply rocking.  The result is a no-holds-barred assault on the eardrums with traditional metal riffs, catchy choruses and gruff vocals.

Unfortunately, some of the songs sound a little TOO much like Venom.  Songs like the title track and "The Devil's Daughters" sound like outtakes from Welcome to Hell.  That is not necessarily a bad thing, but Bewitched seems to be losing their identity, going too far in this direction.  The cover song of Thor's "Let the Blood Run Red" is also a little out-of-place, especially with the drastic change in vocal style.

This is not the strongest album in this box set, but it is still decent enough.  The songs are a ton of fun, even if Bewitched at this point sounds too much like Venom.

Bewitched: Pentagram Prayer (1997)

This is the second of the four-part series on Bewitched thanks to my purchase of the The Dawn of the Demons box set, which includes the first four Bewitched albums.

Just a year after releasing their debut album, Bewitched released a follow-up.  In that year, Blackheim was out of the band other than some appearances doing vocals on this album.  Bewitched became a power trio here.

Bewitched steers into the skid on this album, fully embracing turbo-charged speed metal with blackened influences.  The black metal is a little more prominent this time around as the band sounds more like a hyper-active Mayhem or Darkthrone.  They are not interested in spending a lot of time establishing a foreboding atmosphere though.  They just want to break necks with their balls-to-the-wall riffing and blasting drums.

The songs are also catchy as Hell, turning dark lyrics into infectious choruses and hooks.  Of particular note are "Hallways to Hell", "Night of the Sinner" and "Satan's Claw".  The songs are generally short, but they are fast-paced and explosive.

Bewitched did not change much of the formula on this release, but they improved on what they were already doing.  This was a great follow-up to an already terrific debut.

Bewitched: Diabolical Desecration (1996)

Not to be confused with the sitcom from the 1960's, Bewitched is a Swedish blackened thrash metal band with a short, but rather impressive career.  I am not really sure why they are so little-known, but flaming out within a decade probably did not help.  I recently picked up a box set of the band's first four albums, so each of the next four days I will look at a Bewitched album.

I guess referring to the band as a blackened thrash metal band is an oversimplification and more of a broad generalization for their entire career.  We will get to that over the course of the next few days.  But this album in particular is more of a speed metal album with some black metal influences.  The riffs on this album would sound in place on an album by Venom or Motörhead.  The only real black metal influences come in the form of the raspy vocals and the fact that a lot of proto-black metal bands tended to sound a little like this.

The songs are insanely catchy and there are some truly great riffs here.  My particular favorites are the main riff to "Born of Flames" and "Holy Whore".  The guitarist (and vocalist) on this release is Blackheim who would go on to be a fairly important man in the Swedish extreme metal scene, spending time with Bloodbath and also creating the Diabolical Masquerade project.  The lyrical content is mostly silly, juvenile attempts at sounding evil ("Burnin' Paradise") or sexual content ("Hard as Steel (Hot as Hell)").  So it is not the most mature-sounding album in the world, but for this type of metal, that is not shocking.

Diabolical Desecration was Bewitched's first album and it was a decent-enough start.  There is nothing mind-blowingly original here, but it is a competent take on a genre that has been around for quite some time.  Bewitched had not really found themselves here, but it is still an enjoyable album.

Mystik: Mystik (2019)

This band could be huge.  Mystik released their debut full-length album this year and they have some things going for them that could definitely attract attention from the metal press.  For one, they fit in quite well with the revival of 1980's-sounding true heavy metal.  They would do quite well on a playlist with groups like Enforcer, Haunt and other groups carrying the torch for true heavy metal.  Two, they are quite good.  This album sounds terrific, just a good old-school metal album.  And then there's that other thing...

Okay, fine.  Here is that other thing:

This is three of the four members of the band.  So now, you see that other thing.

As I say frequently about stuff I review here, this review is solely about the music.  The fact that three (now actually two, as one member has since left the band) of the members are beautiful women is not important to this review.  What is important is that Mystik fucking rocks.  The songs are generally fast-paced with Maiden-esque riffs and Julia von Krusenstjerna's smoky vocals soaring over the riffs.  It helps that the songs are catchy as hell, with sing-along choruses and head-banging riffs.

Mystik's debut is a terrific slab of traditional metal with roots in groups like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and of course Warlock.  The playing is tight and the songs infectious.  It would not be a surprise to see this band become metal press favorites, but hopefully people will realize that this band is so much more than three women playing metal.  They are fantastic musicians first and foremost.

Jordablod: Jordablod (2015)

I was blown away by Jordablod's debut album Upon My Cremation Pyre immediately upon hearing it back in 2017.  It did not make my Top Albums list only because it was so late in the year that I heard it, but subsequent listens have led to it being one of my favorite black metal releases, much less debuts, in the last ten years or so.  It is remarkably creepy and atmospheric and it really does not sound like anything else.  They have yet to release a follow-up, but they did previously release an EP and a demo.  I picked up the demo last year, and this is the EP.

This is the first recording by Jordablod and it is definitely rough around the edges, both in songwriting and in the production values.  None of these three songs appear on the band's debut album or the demo, so it is likely that these songs were written well before anything from the album released a couple years later.  That being said, these three songs are a very good introduction to the band and definitely show what the band was aiming to do later on.  The elements of what made their debut album so intriguing are present from the very beginning.  The band's ability to create a dark and hostile atmosphere through riffs that call to mind the first wave of black metal (Bathory, Master's Hammer, Root for reference points) sounds completely fresh and alien and unique all at once.

I am absolutely looking forward to hearing more from Jordablod.  I now have all of their releases and I enjoy the band more and more every time I hear them.  This is a truly unique black metal band.  More people should be aware of them.

Enforcer: Zenith (2019)

I have been a huge Enforcer fan since hearing Diamonds for the first time in 2010.  It was their blend of NWOBHM style riffs with the pop sensibilities of groups like Def Leppard, particularly on songs like "High Roller" and "Running in Menace".  It was definitely a retro sound, and even a little cheesy at times, but goddamn they were fucking good at it.  The songs were catchy as hell.  And as good as Diamonds was, Enforcer kept getting better on each new release.  Their last album, From Beyond was their best yet.  And so, I was definitely looking forward to a new Enforcer album.

Unfortunately, as good as this album is, it is not as good as any of the three previous releases.  Maybe Diamonds, but not Death by Fire and definitely not From Beyond.  Enforcer is trying to do something different here, perhaps not wanting to get too stale.  Unfortunately, that messed with the formula that had made Enforcer so impressive before.  Now I mentioned before that Enforcer always had pop melodies on occasion.  What changed on this release was that the band became more and more focused on these melodies, to the detriment of the obviously more metal riffing.  This is apparent from the beginning with the gang vocals leading into "Die for the Devil".  The accompanying riffs are just a little too much like the kind of rock and metal that infested the airways in the 1980's.  A lot of the aggression is gone for a much more radio-friendly sound.  The ballads in particular are maybe a step too far away from what this band used to do so well, particularly the piano-driven "Regrets". 

There is still some good stuff on this release and I do not want to give the impression that I truly dislike this album.  Liking and album and being disappointed by it are not mutually exclusive.  "Searching for You" is something of a return to form for the band, capturing the speed metal intensity that marked some of the best moments from their earlier albums.  There are also moments such as "The End of a Universe" and "Forever We Worship the Dark" which come close to the band's prior material. 

This is probably the most varied and dynamic Enforcer album to date.  The band has taken a lot of risks with this release, departing from what made their previous albums so great.  Unfortunately, they have gone a bit too far.  This would be really bad for most bands except for one thing: the songs are still catchy as hell.  So even though I was disappointed by the direction the band took on this release, I still find myself singing a lot of these songs in my head well after I have finished listening to the album.  Enforcer is coming to Nebraska soon in support of Warbringer and I will have to attend.  I have liked this band for a long time, and I still like this album.  Time to see them live.

Crematory: Denial (1992)

This is the second band named "Crematory" in my collection, joining "Sabbat" and "Solstice" as names for which there are multiple groups represented.  But there is a difference.  Whereas with "Sabbat" and "Solstice", picking a favorite band between the two can be a toss-up, I have a very clear favorite band named "Crematory".  It is this one.

The other Crematory is a German gothic metal band, but this one is pure old-school Swedish death metal.  We are talking the Stockholm scene in the early 1990's when bands like Entombed, Dismember and Grave were dominant.  And Crematory's sound fit in quite well with those groups.  Featuring a sound that combines the Swedish scene of the day with groups like Napalm Death and Slayer, this is a lively, energetic release.  The riffs are bound to result in head-banging and the solos absolutely shred.  The vocals are gruff, but not ridiculously so.  This is an almost perfect example of Swedish death. 

The only downside to this release is that it is too damn short.  This is only a four-song EP.  And unfortunately, there is not much else that the band has ever released.  There are a few other demos, but no full-length.  There is a compilation collecting most of the band's material together under the same name and cover as this EP.  And that's it.

Members of Crematory would later emerge in groups like Regurgitate and General Surgery.  Unfortunately neither group had a sound quite like this.  And so, this is the only real great release we have from this Crematory, but it is still better than the German gothic metal band.   

Comecon: Converging Conspiracies (1993)

Comecon was a Swedish death metal band.  Well, sort of.  It was more of a project than a band.  There were only two full-time members, Rasmus Ekman and Pelle Ström, each of whom performed bass, guitars and keyboards.  There was never a human drummer, leaving that task to a drum machine.  And there was never a full-time vocalist.  Instead the band had essentially a guest singer on each release.  They used L-G Petrov (Entombed) most often, and Marc Grewe (Morgoth) appeared on the band's final album.  There is a reason that this is the first album I have checked out by Comecon.  It features Martin Van Drunen (Asphyx, Hail of Bullets, Pestilence, etc.), one of my favorite death metal vocalists.

This is a brutally savage release with biting riffs, aggressive vocals and a whole lot of speed.  Van Drunen delivers his typical rabid bark and sounds as good as anything else he has ever done.  The band obviously takes a lot of influence from other Swedish death metal bands of their time.  The typical buzzsaw guitar tone is present in spades, drawing comparisons to Entombed, Dismember and Grave, and there is plenty of groove to the riffing style.  So, in a lot of ways, this is a typical Swedish death metal band.

Comecon though, stands out a little bit from their Swedeath brethren.  There is the obvious lineup issues detailed in the opening paragraph.  But the band also tends to use some off-kilter riffing and bizarre moments.  For instance, in second track "The Ethno-Surge", there is heavy usage of a juice harp, which is just plain odd.  Then there are some strange breakdown sections that feature call and response between acoustic and electric guitar in "Community" that finds some way to sound perfectly natural next to the more standard riffing.

This is something of an underrated album in the powerful Swedish death metal scene.  I had seen the album cover a number of times, but had not really heard the band before picking this one up.  I came for Martin Van Drunen, I stayed for the terrific take on Swedish death metal.

Marduk: Opus Nocturne (1994)

This is the second in a short series about classic black metal albums I have recently acquired.

Yep, Marduk again.  I just got done yesterday talking about how Marduk is typically a much more aggressive, blast-beat-driven band.  Well, that is not quite the case with this particular album.  This is Marduk's third album and it came out at a time when black metal was really getting noticed.  This was the same year that Mayhem (De Mysteriis Dom Satanas), Darkthrone (Transilvanian Hunger) and Emperor (In the Nightside Eclipse) all released landmark black metal albums.  And it is the year Marduk released one of their best albums as well.

As alluded to, this album is quite a bit different than Panzer Division Marduk.  It is more melodic with some genuine atmospheric parts to it.  That is not always the case however, as songs like "From Subterranean Throne Profound" features blast beats and rampaging riffs galore.  And it is not the only one.  It is just the case that Marduk does occasionally veer away from the intense aggression for short periods of time, giving the album a bit more diversity that yesterday's subject lacked.  This is most evident in the slower-paced "Materialized in Stone", which is one of the best tracks on this album and quite possibly one of the best tracks Marduk has ever recorded.  And then there is the stunningly beautiful title track which features a scintillating guitar lead and clean vocals.  That's right, clean vocals on a Marduk album.  Unfortunately that track is more of an interlude than anything.

If I had one complaint, it would be that the production is very thin and weak.  There is almost no bottom end.  That unfortunately is not unusual for black metal recordings, particularly from this time period so it is tough to hold it against this album here.

This is probably one of the better Marduk albums I have yet heard for the pure reason that there is much more depth and diversity here.  It is more than just another punishing aural assault.  There is some real impressive musicality happening here.  Obviously there are the aggressive moments as well, but this has more of a complete album feel to it.  And the album is all the better for it.

Marduk: Panzer Division Marduk (1999)

Over the next few days I am going to be covering some classic black metal albums that have only recently found their way into my music collection.  This is the first of those posts.

Black metal captured a lot of attention in the early 1990's.  There were two major scenes that produced a large number of the bands that are now considered legendary in the genre.  Norway's black metal bands were primarily interested in showcasing atmosphere.  On the other hand, there are the Swedish black metal bands who were aggressive and intense and more concerned with making as much unholy noise as possible.  There were exceptions on both sides.  Immortal from Norway would have fit in well with the Swedish groups.  From Sweden, Dissection's Storm of the Light's Bane is the best of both worlds and is considered by yours truly to be the greatest black metal album of all time.  Marduk is a Swedish black metal band and is probably the best example of the Swedish take on the genre.

This is Marduk's sixth studio album and it is an uncompromising, full-on assault on Christianity, with collateral damage to any listener's ears.  It is some of the most hateful, extreme and aggressive black metal out there.  There is nothing pretty here, no atmospheric moments, no interludes, no clean singing.  It is 100% intensity.  The songs are all short, none lasting even four and a half minutes, and are just a barrage of riffs and blast-beat-driven drumming. 

There is no subtlety here.  Marduk expresses exactly how they feel and they are extremely pissed off and full of hatred.  The lyrics border on the silly with song titles like "Christraping Black Metal" and "Fistfucking God's Planet".  Of course none of that is a surprise from the band whose first release was called Fuck Me Jesus.  

It likely does not come off as much of a surprise to long-time readers that I like this quite a bit.  Marduk has never been a particular favorite band of mine, though I have always enjoyed their stuff.  I just tend to like the more extreme, blasting black metal.  Sure some atmosphere is nice and this wall of sound definitely does not provide much above all of the blasting.  It takes some time to get into an album like this, at least for new listeners.  It is simply a brutal listening experience.

Unleashed: Across the Open Sea (1993)

As much as I love Swedish death metal, there are very few bands whose entire discography I have explored.  I am not talking about the Gothenburg melodeath scene, but the Stockholm scene.  I love Entombed for instance, but have only heard four or five albums.  I love Dismember probably more than any other group from the scene, but there are three or four albums I have not checked out.  Amon Amarth is really the only exception, though I have yet to hear their newest album. 

That brings me to Unleashed, a group whose recent output I am quite familiar with, but whose early work I am just now exploring.  Last year, I picked up their sophomore release Shadows in the Deep.  Just recently, I picked up this one, their third album.  I still have a long ways to go to look into their other material.

Unleashed is a straightforward Swedish death metal band who sang about vikings before it was cool to sing about vikings.  Yes, they pre-date Amon Amarth yet never seemed to receive the same level of attention.  Perhaps that is because their music is not as accessible.  They are generally much heavier than their countrymen without the same melodic sensibilities. 

I was a little taken aback when I heard this album for the first time.  The riffs are much more simplistic than the band has used in other albums.  In addition the sound is stripped-down with no frills, very few solos and almost never any instruments outside the typical guitar/bass/drums.  The vocals are delivered in a typical dry-throated snarl.  The songs are mid- to faster-paced and driven by the riffs.  They are generally fairly catchy.

The only real down note on this album is the ill-conceived "Breaking the Law" cover.  Judas Priest is an incredibly dynamic band while Unleashed really only knows one speed.  And so for a band to take a classic like "Breaking the Law", they really need to do something impressive with it.  Unleashed vocalist Johnny Hedlund does not have the pipes to sing Halford's part and does not even try.  The intensity level of the song also seems muted somehow, which is odd coming from this band.  And so the cover simply does not work.  Everything else is terrific though.

I do not know yet where this album stands in my ranking of the Unleashed albums I have heard.  I will have to go back and listen to everything to get that figured out.  I like it quite a bit despite the much more basic sound. 

Grotesque: In the Embrace of Evil (1996)

This is the last of the three Swedish death metal hidden gems Darkness Shall Rise Productions unearthed last year.

Grotesque was an early Swedish death metal band that featured Tomas Lindberg (At the Gates), then known as Goatspell, on vocals.  It also featured members of Liers in Wait, neatly tying all three of the bands together, though Grotesque actually is the band from which the other two flowed, pre-dating both and actually being one of the first Swedish death metal bands. 

This is a compilation featuring most of the recorded output by Grotesque from 1988 through 1990.  Unfortunately the band would not stay together long enough to release a full-length album, just like fellow Swedish death pioneers Nihilist (who basically split into Entombed and Unleashed).  This stands as the best way to check out the works of this highly influential band.

The earlier material features a strong Possessed influence, what with the razor-sharp, high-octane riffing style.  Later tracks clearly start to show that they paved the way for the likes of Dismember, with buzzing guitar riffs and harsh, barked vocals.  Occasionally, a slower, more occult-sounding section takes center stage.  It is clear throughout this release that the band was attempting to find itself.  But one thing never changed: each song fucking slays.  This is absolutely one of the greatest Swedish death metal releases of all time, and I say that as a huge fan of the scene. 

It is a damn shame that Grotesque did not stick around to release a full-length.  They were an amazingly talented group with a lot of great ideas that were just starting to take shape.  Of the three releases I have covered recently, this one is by far my favorite.  And that is truly saying something. 

Liers in Wait: Spiritually Uncontrolled Art (1992)

This is the second of three posts dealing with pioneering Swedish melodeath reissues released by Darkness Shall Rise Productions.

I am trying really hard not to give this band crap about the misspelling of their name.  It is possible English is not their first language though, so I will give them a pass.  Liers in Wait formed when Grotesque broke up.  Grotesque will be covered tomorrow.  This is really a hidden gem in the world of Swedish melodeath.  The band released just this one EP, appeared on a Slayer tribute, and then split.  Some members went on to form the gothic/doom metal band Diabolique.  The lead vocals on this release were performed by Christofer Johnsson of Therion.  Guitarist Khristian Wåhlin later went on to fame as an artist, painting album covers for the likes of Dissection (Storm of the Light's Bane).

This though, is mostly similar to the At the Gates demo reviewed yesterday.  It is a death metal release with a lot of melody.  It reminds me of a more melodic version of Morbid Angel's Altars of Madness.  The songs have something of an unrestrained, chaotic quality to them.  They are a whirlwind of riffs and drums with melodies flowing freely through them.  It is an almost ethereal yet nightmarish sound.   

It is a shame that this release is so short, being a five-song EP.  As I mentioned, this is all there is for this band.  There were a lot of interesting elements here and a full-length album would have been worthwhile.  But sometimes, we simply cannot get what we want.  And we will likely never see more output from Liers in Wait.

At the Gates: Gardens of Grief (1991)

Last year, Darkness Shall Rise Productions reissued three seminal works of Swedish death metal.  Each of the next three posts will cover those releases.

Demos are not normally supposed to sound this good.  The whole point of demos is that they are raw with low production.  The bands have not typically refined their sound.  And yet, we have this one, which arrived shortly before At the Gates released their debut album.  Honestly, this may be one of the best works At the Gates have ever done, and yes, I am including their landmark Slaughter of the Soul album.

Gardens is a simple, four-song demo clocking in at under 20 minutes.  But the ideas present paved the way for an entire subgenre of music, the Gothenburg melodeath sound.  Now, this demo bares little resemblance to the sound that the band later popularized.  This release is much more of a death metal sound that happens to have a fair amount of melody.  The band's songwriting ability and the performances of each of the musicians are all plainly evident here.  The lyrics are surprisingly insightful and the band displayed an ability to craft impressively progressive song structures.  The latter is unfortunately mostly characteristic of their earlier releases.  By Slaughter of the Soul they had streamlined everything in order to resonate more with wider audiences.  The result was reasonable commercial viability, but it sacrificed some of the soul of the band.

It is clear throughout this release that there was some room for the band to grow.  The vocals definitely improved over time to what they were on this release.  On the other hand, some things changed for the worse after this demo.  As I said before, this is likely one of the better recordings the band ever released.  I have not had it for a long time, so I am still assessing how I feel about it compared to Slaughter of the Soul, but it may be right up there.

Classic Debuts Pt.1: Dark Tranquillity

SKYDANCER (1993)

This was an album that helped kick off the entire Gothenburg melodeath genre.  Dark Tranquillity came out of nowhere with a release that is still highly regarded and hugely influential to this day.  It is true that the sound was eventually bastardized into hundreds of imitators and eventually led to the maligned metalcore sound that dominated American metal in the early 2000's.  But at the time of its release, there was really not much else like it.

Skydancer sounds like a gothic horror movie put to music.  It has an incredibly dark and creepy atmosphere and the strained, growled vocals and tremolo guitar picking add to that atmosphere.  The vocals here are primarily handled by future In Flames frontman Anders Fridén.  DT main man Michael Stanne is present on this album, playing guitar and handling some of the clean vocals.  In a weird twist, Stanne actually is the primary vocalist on the In Flames debut Lunar Strain.  The vocals, while not technically impressive and nowhere near as good as Fridén later proved to be capable of, still match the music quite well.

It is the tremolo guitar picking and lead guitar lines that really make this album.  The leads are quite high in the mix, so the listener cannot help but hear them as they whirl and circle around the vocal lines and rhythm section.  This is an element often found in black metal during this time period, but DT uses it to great effect throughout this album. 

I have likely discussed this album on this blog a number of times, but it absolutely bears repeating how great this album is.  Unfortunately it really does not bear much resemblance to anything else DT would ever do, with the exception of the follow-up EP Of Chaos and Eternal Night.  The band would eventually smooth out the rough edges of the sound, beef up the bottom end and sound like a completely different band by the time the next full-length The Gallery came out.  But it is those rough edges and rawness that make this album so great.  This is still on the short list of my favorite melodeath albums of all time. 

Entrench: Through the Walls of Flesh (2017)

Even though I am a huge fan of thrash metal, for some reason the Swedish scene has mostly eluded me.  Oh sure, I have checked out The Crown and Carnal Forge, but I still need to hear quite a bit more.  The Swedish thrash scene is not as highly regarded as the German scene or the U.S. scenes, or even the black or death metal scenes from Sweden, but it does still have a following.  And so, I need to check out more Swedish thrash.

That brings us to Entrench, a newer band whose sound is mostly rooted in the German thrash metal scene.  The album cover calls to mind Sodom, and they seem to be the primary influence musically.  The music here is dirty, raw and fast.  It is the sound of warfare, of bullets flying, and bodies piling up.  On occasion, the band comes close to crossing the line between thrash metal and death metal, particularly on the track "Enter the Fray", which sounds like early Death.  The vocalist delivers his lines in a gruff bark, which calls to mind the early works of the German thrash masters Kreator and Sodom.

This is an excellent album that calls to mind early German thrash metal classics.  Yes, it is really nothing new and it is by no means a perfect album, but there is a reason that the early German thrash metal scene was so good and this album captures that.  Entrench has a couple of other albums out there and I will have to check them out.  I do not think the band is terribly representative of the Swedish thrash metal scene due to the heavy German influences, but it is still damn impressive.

Bloodbath: The Arrow of Satan is Drawn (2018)

Here is an excellent album to be playing on Valentine's Day.

There are not too many metal supergroups that have been going as long as Bloodbath.  It is kind of the nature of supergroups to form, release an album, do a tour, and that's it.  But Bloodbath has kept going and going and going.  This is now the band's fifth full-length album among a couple of EPs, a live album, a split, and a couple of singles.  That is quite a lot for a supergroup.

There have been different iterations of the band over the years, though Jonas Renske and Anders Nyström (both from Katatonia) have been with the group from the beginning.  Currently the band is rounded out by Martin Axenrot (Opeth) on drums, Joakim Carlsson (Craft) on guitar and Nick Holmes (Paradise Lost) providing the death growls.  In the past, Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) and Peter Tagtren (Hypocrisy) have been the vocalists.  This is Holmes's second album with the band, but for some reason I completely missed the first one, so I had no idea he had been with the band before.  Holmes is kind of an interesting choice because Paradise Lost has not had any death metal elements since the early 1990's. 

Enough of the background though.  As has been the case since the beginning and was the original purpose of the band, Bloodbath plays old school death metal that is mostly derived from early Swedish bands like Grave and Entombed, with a little bit of Florida death metal thrown in for good measure (the band's name comes from a Cancer song).  It is not surprising then that the music of Bloodbath is generally faster-paced with buzzsaw guitar riffs and deep, roaring vocals.  There is a general dark and nasty tone present throughout that fits in well with the themes of blood, death, gore and warfare.

The most interesting song on the album is "Bloodicide" due to the guest musicians.  Karl Willetts (Bolt Thrower, Memoriam), Jeff Walker (Carcass), and John Walker (Cancer) all contribute vocals.  Although for those not terribly familiar with those singers, it may be somewhat difficult to tell. 

This is yet another impressive release by Bloodbath.  I still prefer Åkerfeldt's vocals over those of Holmes, but I enjoyed the riffs a little more on this one.  There is a bit more of the Dismember-style buzzsaw guitar tone on this release rather than the murkier tones of Grave.  That has always been one of my favorite aspects of the Swedish death metal and Bloodbath uses it to great effect on this release.  I have seen other reviews call this the weakest of Bloodbath's releases and while it is true that some of the songs are not quite as memorable as on albums past, it is still a damn impressive release.