MONOLORD – doom metal assault!

Great doom metal from Sweden the old school way,
Traditional stuff without modern influences.
Some riffs almost sound like death doom, which is nice.
Saw them live this week end, it was a very good gig!

 

Unknown, quite old swedish death

Unknown, quite old swedish death

MALICIOUM (Swe) Cursed ground Demo CDr'08.

Fresh and motivated thrash death metal ripping your skull à la MERCILESS ("The awakening") with some technical and not so technical influences of AUDIOPAIN, and maybe a little something of KREATOR's "Terrible certainty". It's packed with a lot of right-hand-suffering riffs that makes them sounding kinda technical, even if it's not really, or not specially the case (Depending on your musical background). The screaming vocals make this band sound even closer to the outfits quoted before. MALICIOUM is definitely not something old school for the retro guys who need something soulful to rest, but there's no post end-90s influences either: It's motivated and fresh sounding, and I guess it would rather please younger enthusiastic bangers or energetic peoples who think it's never fast enough.Now on a critical point of spike, even if the whole sounds fresh and quite entertaining, I regret there's nothing really burning-catchy (You probably know, this kind of riffs many bands would love to write... But it's not only a matter of will...) and maybe some guitars sound a bit too technical/ complicated for a more convenient listening, but this kind of "kick-your head-with-many-notes-riffs" can work quite well in moments of disjoncted compressed brainstorm, and I guess MALICIOUM is too malicious to give a fuck about your tiredness problems héhé... To sum it up, this is a neat thrash demo that doesn't follow too blindly the current retro-trends of the style and could fit the needs of energetic bangers, but this isn't the next jewel of slowly brewed-metal... Check out their page to make your own alcoholic mind: http://www.myspace.com/malicioum666

REPUGNANT (Swe) Epitome Of Darkness CD'06. SOULSELLER Recs.

This album should remain a one-off, since Sweden’s Repugnant decided to call it quits shortly after the release of the disc. Mainly the product of one mastermind’s efforts, singer-guitarist Mary Goore (huhu), the conception of this record seems to have taken a lot of time and sweat. But whatever it took, the end result is worth the dime, it’s a solid piece of thrashing death metal, sweating both DIY, handcraft passion and experience (these guys sure ain’t newbies) by every pore. I for sure am no Swedish DM fan boy. I like very, very little stuff from that scene and even Entombed’s ‘Clandestine’ fails to convince me. Despite its undeniable qualities, Repugnant’s album is unlikely to change my mind, but they do it so good it just can’t be ignored either.These guys shamelessly but successfully try to recapture the feel and sound of their scene’s golden days, not the Sunlight era but actually the garage/demo days of Nihilist, Grotesque, Unleashed etc (hence the Morbid cover at the end of the album). Such a project requires total control over what they’re doing, that’s why they produced it themselves and did all the artwork too, even the photo shoots and members nicknames seem to have been thoroughly chosen. To cut it short, while never betraying their underground ethic, the band’s attitude and work is 100% professional. Nice tour de force! The music’s seemingly been conceived the same way. It’s raw and dirty as shit, but honestly not the scariest or most morbid stuff I’ve heard, despite the album‘s title, lyrics or imagery. This stuff’s been beaten to death for so long…I guess it’s only here to fit the ‘back to the roots’ approach. To me these songs’ appeal is elsewhere. They’re full of thrashing groove and head banging-friendly speed. There’s a certain melodic feel too, otherwise this wouldn’t be an old school Swedish DM album, but the music almost totally focuses on energy. Sound-wise, and this is also a hint about these dudes’ in-depth knowledge and specialist craft in old school DM, the listener will find pretty much everything buried under echo, especially the vocals. Those are totally in the vein of what could be heard in the late 80s on this side of the Atlantic : sharp, harsh, raspy screams with all available echo effects on ten, see Hellhammer, Bathory, early Sodom & Kreator and the likes. Keyword : E-V-I-L hehe.Interesting piece of work overall, only weakened by a somewhat zealous ’tribute’ approach resulting in a lack of personality. But out of the bunch of old school revival acts I know, this has to be the most convincing I’ve heard by now. TG of Death

THOSE WHO BRING TORTURE (Swe) Those who bring torture CD'07. NO COLOURS Records.

Give the dog a bone? Noooo.
Give the bear a beer? And beer à gogo to bear à gogo... To dance with the beers to find yourself dancing with bears! I want a little bear in my beer! I want a little bear in my beer!
No colours keeps on sending me their black metal promos for no reason... But this time there was something sounding like Death in their grimbomb...
This project formed by musicians of RIBSPREADER, KNIFE IN CHRIST and TAEDEAT is only a sub-project. Read the flyer: "After just a week of writing, recording and mixing the debut album was done". That's no very promising, huh?
What you hear is between death and grind, with usual death grind moments (HAEMORRHAGE, HATEPLOW), heaviness à la early MUCUPURULENT or some cool sounding but common old Death metal. The powerful production makes it good sounding, there are cool moments from here and there (I wonder if it's not remains of better ideas from their main projects). But all in all this is just another CD recorded by another project like many... I imagine the guys' rehearsing habits helped to make this album quite easily. There have been worse but also better parallel distractions, it's pro and ok.
http://www.myspace.com/twbtt