Heavydeath : "In Circles We Die"

There is a raw Celtic Frost like vibe to the brand of deathly doom this Swedish band has returned to  grind out. Very rough around the edges, there is still a well balanced sense of atmosphere even when they chug into the more sludge like "Slumbering Monolith" though I prefer what they were doing on the albums opener. The growls are low and gurgling though still deliver the lyrics in a way that can be understood in one listen. Their drummer also now sits behind the kit for Katatonia, and while he gets the job done here, I think his skills are conveyed better on the new Katatonia album. These guys are of course way heavier than Katatonia, though the guitars are not devoid of melody and care about the songs rather than just crushing you.

"Bleak Future" is more straight forward than the first two song and rides a murky line between being doom and death metal. There is almost more of a black metal drone to the title track.It's not until the vocals going into an almost death rock like singing voice that there is a shift in the song's dynamics.The sung vocal are once again delivered in that manner during "The Few Remains". "Rope of Emptiness" starts off having more of a true doom feel and accelerates into death metal.There is a darker tension to the riff that keeps "Into Death's Black Void" creepy. Once again it finds the bands blurring the boundaries, it's has a dark throb like doom, but a sludgey black metal thing going on depending on where you are at in the song. Not that they every kick into blast beats, but the vocals have an evil scowl to them. There is a slower and more melodic pulse of the doomier closer "the Fallen One".

 Overall the production on this album is a notch above their previous full length. They incorporate a wide range of guitar tones and atmospheric sounds making for a more well rounded experience . I'll round this one up to a 9, though the jury is still split as to if I need this in rotation on a daily basis.  The songs are not too sprawling with the "the Fallen One" running just over eleven minutes. But the generally keep it reined in around the eight minute mark. This is being released on November 25th by Iron Bonehead.