Ok here is some death metal from Sweden. It might have an overdriven guitar sound that is pretty dense, but I am hearing no other indications that these guys are into Entombed. The yare not fucking around and hit you full force from the beginning. This works for the first song, but it is not going to work if that is all they do for the rest of the album, so I guess we are going to take a listen and hear what happens. Three songs in an the straight forward go for the throat style of song writing , begins to find all their songs starting to sound the same., The growls are phrased identically and the chaos around the guitar solos seems to be the lone place for experimentation and melody in the songs.
Sure their drummer has skills, but that should go without saying in a death metal band. The more deliberate moments that open up "Cry From Beyond" make it more interesting than the technical chaos it devolves into. The use of the brief glimpse of atmosphere is also an improvement. "Umbilical Suffocation" is another more straight forward death metal rager, that is a little more nuanced on the second listen, but not a hug shift in dynamics. The drummers relentless need for speed playing against them. It is not until half way into the song that the arrangement shifts into something different with the syncopated riff.
"Harlots For Suffering' finds them bashing out the same brand of crusty chugs. "Upon the Weak" works better as the mood is a little darker thanks to the melody line of the guitars. "Morbid Testament' settles for just being hyper aggressive with little of the mood set in the previous song. The last song finds them trying harder in the song writing department and not just sufficing with pummeling you with heavy, though they do that as well. Overall this is well done, and sounds good, so time was invested in the production, so despite this being more sonically monochrome than I prefer my death metal , these guys did make the album they set out to make, so I will give it an 8.
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