#entombed — Public Fediverse posts

Mercredi, jour des enfants sous terre. Entombed / Wolverine Blues. #entombed #wolverineblues #transatrecordshop #confortmoderne #poitiers

Mercredi, jour des enfants sous terre. Entombed / Wolverine Blues. #entombed #wolverineblues #transatrecordshop #confortmoderne #poitiers

Mercredi, jour des enfants sous terre. Entombed / Wolverine Blues. #entombed #wolverineblues #transatrecordshop #confortmoderne #poitiers

I always thought Monolord could level up by favoring hooky bangers. So too did Roquentin, who, in evaluating Vænir back in 2015, saw in these long-form Sabbathians the potential for memorable songs. In picking up Monolord reviewing duties, Huck N Roll began charting a consistently Good stoner/doom career that flirted with evolution but consistently maintained a tried-and-true formula. I would have added the adjectival modifier to Your Time to Shine (2021)—its five distinctive tracks strike a Very Good balance of droniness and catchiness across a sensible 39 minutes.1 My revisionism notwithstanding, Monolord has come to embody the AMG Good, with four branches now on the beloved 3.0tree. As the third Monolord reviewer, the odds suggest I will slap another 3.0 on Neverending and call it a day, especially if album six continues to innovate only around the edges.

Fortunately, Monolord agrees that hooky bangers would reinvigorate Monolord. To help sculpt what they describe as ‘more succinct and immediate songs’ and a ‘sharper album,’ the band enlisted the legendary Sylvia Massy to record, produce, and mix Neverending.2 Monolord credit Massy for significantly influencing their editing, but this isn’t to say she radically altered the band’s stoner/doom sound. Sonically, Massy beefs up the already thick n’ fuzzy tones of this Swedish power trio. Indeed, the guitar of Thomas Jäger and bass of Mika Häkki continue to combine for some of the fattest, tastiest riffage in the game, with a signature chromaticism hard to achieve in the genre.3 As on prior records, Jäger’s vocals sit back in the mix, making his mid-to-upper range croon ethereally prominent. The metronomic drums of Esben Willems also sit back, making every crash, fill, and cowbell monumental. Like previous outings, Neverending sounds invitingly warm, with some welcome heft this time around.

Under Massy’s guidance, Neverending shakes up the Monolord formula for the first time. Whereas previous records are 5–6 tracks with an average song-length of 8 minutes, 5 of 8 tracks here sit between 3–5 minutes. Exemplifying this new approach is the opening one-two punch of “Iodine,”—which feels like a miniature YOB meets the noise-groove of Killdozer—and “You Bastard,”—the album’s strongest Minilord song. The latter propels an infectious verse-chorus cycle, supplemented by shimmying shakers, with a Riff o’ the Year candidate. Later, “The Masque” and “Invisible” hit the spot; the former has a fun blues stomp and delightfully dark verses, but the song would’ve benefitted from three iterations of its (terrific) chorus. Minilord falters, however, on “Crystal Bridge,” which actually feels too short. Excellent CoC-style sludgery gives way to Jäger alone, laying plaintive vocals atop clean chords. It seems to set up something expansive, but once the sludge riffing returns as a capper, “Crystal Bridge” ends up sounding like a song without a chorus.

Despite their emphasis on succinctness, Monolord lace ‘classic’ longer jams throughout Neverending. ”Oozing Wound” is the darling in this regard, typifying the winning chemistry Jäger, Häkki, and Willems possess when they lock in on a simple riff and give it enough space, turns, and melodic character to make it interesting yet still hypnotic. On “It’s Neverending,” Jäger vocally collaborates with Jörgen Sandström, the former bassist of Entombed, which gives Monolord its first flavoring of death-doom via Sandström’s growls. Though I’m less enthusiastic about the Sandström-led portions, the song’s gentle, melancholic dénouement makes it an exceptional eponymous closer. Speaking of closers, “Inside a Collider” weirdly feels like one at track three. It drones on a hooky riff/vocal combo for a while, but it also contains a killer doom descent I wish happened more than once.

After careful analysis, I have arrived at the same score Monolord has been achieving at AMG for over a decade. In 2019, Huck described No Comfort as the band’s transition album, which was true at the time. But as it currently stands, Neverending is Monolord’s transition album, and it’s a transition not without its growing pains. Though the songwriting falters more than it should on a ‘sharp’ album, holistically, Neverending is an enjoyable 43 minutes, making it a more-than-worthy branch on the 3.0tree.4 In the promo materials, Häkki shares that the collaboration with Massy ‘makes [him] curious about what the next chapter will be’ for Monolord. I count myself among the curious—Neverending isn’t the fully-realized version of Minilord I was hoping for, but it plants the seed.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stream
Label: Relapse Records
Websites: Official | Instagram | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: May 29th, 2026

I always thought Monolord could level up by favoring hooky bangers. So too did Roquentin, who, in evaluating Vænir back in 2015, saw in these long-form Sabbathians the potential for memorable songs. In picking up Monolord reviewing duties, Huck N Roll began charting a consistently Good stoner/doom career that flirted with evolution but consistently maintained a tried-and-true formula. I would have added the adjectival modifier to Your Time to Shine (2021)—its five distinctive tracks strike a Very Good balance of droniness and catchiness across a sensible 39 minutes.1 My revisionism notwithstanding, Monolord has come to embody the AMG Good, with four branches now on the beloved 3.0tree. As the third Monolord reviewer, the odds suggest I will slap another 3.0 on Neverending and call it a day, especially if album six continues to innovate only around the edges.

Fortunately, Monolord agrees that hooky bangers would reinvigorate Monolord. To help sculpt what they describe as ‘more succinct and immediate songs’ and a ‘sharper album,’ the band enlisted the legendary Sylvia Massy to record, produce, and mix Neverending.2 Monolord credit Massy for significantly influencing their editing, but this isn’t to say she radically altered the band’s stoner/doom sound. Sonically, Massy beefs up the already thick n’ fuzzy tones of this Swedish power trio. Indeed, the guitar of Thomas Jäger and bass of Mika Häkki continue to combine for some of the fattest, tastiest riffage in the game, with a signature chromaticism hard to achieve in the genre.3 As on prior records, Jäger’s vocals sit back in the mix, making his mid-to-upper range croon ethereally prominent. The metronomic drums of Esben Willems also sit back, making every crash, fill, and cowbell monumental. Like previous outings, Neverending sounds invitingly warm, with some welcome heft this time around.

Under Massy’s guidance, Neverending shakes up the Monolord formula for the first time. Whereas previous records are 5–6 tracks with an average song-length of 8 minutes, 5 of 8 tracks here sit between 3–5 minutes. Exemplifying this new approach is the opening one-two punch of “Iodine,”—which feels like a miniature YOB meets the noise-groove of Killdozer—and “You Bastard,”—the album’s strongest Minilord song. The latter propels an infectious verse-chorus cycle, supplemented by shimmying shakers, with a Riff o’ the Year candidate. Later, “The Masque” and “Invisible” hit the spot; the former has a fun blues stomp and delightfully dark verses, but the song would’ve benefitted from three iterations of its (terrific) chorus. Minilord falters, however, on “Crystal Bridge,” which actually feels too short. Excellent CoC-style sludgery gives way to Jäger alone, laying plaintive vocals atop clean chords. It seems to set up something expansive, but once the sludge riffing returns as a capper, “Crystal Bridge” ends up sounding like a song without a chorus.

Despite their emphasis on succinctness, Monolord lace ‘classic’ longer jams throughout Neverending. ”Oozing Wound” is the darling in this regard, typifying the winning chemistry Jäger, Häkki, and Willems possess when they lock in on a simple riff and give it enough space, turns, and melodic character to make it interesting yet still hypnotic. On “It’s Neverending,” Jäger vocally collaborates with Jörgen Sandström, the former bassist of Entombed, which gives Monolord its first flavoring of death-doom via Sandström’s growls. Though I’m less enthusiastic about the Sandström-led portions, the song’s gentle, melancholic dénouement makes it an exceptional eponymous closer. Speaking of closers, “Inside a Collider” weirdly feels like one at track three. It drones on a hooky riff/vocal combo for a while, but it also contains a killer doom descent I wish happened more than once.

After careful analysis, I have arrived at the same score Monolord has been achieving at AMG for over a decade. In 2019, Huck described No Comfort as the band’s transition album, which was true at the time. But as it currently stands, Neverending is Monolord’s transition album, and it’s a transition not without its growing pains. Though the songwriting falters more than it should on a ‘sharp’ album, holistically, Neverending is an enjoyable 43 minutes, making it a more-than-worthy branch on the 3.0tree.4 In the promo materials, Häkki shares that the collaboration with Massy ‘makes [him] curious about what the next chapter will be’ for Monolord. I count myself among the curious—Neverending isn’t the fully-realized version of Minilord I was hoping for, but it plants the seed.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stream
Label: Relapse Records
Websites: Official | Instagram | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: May 29th, 2026

I always thought Monolord could level up by favoring hooky bangers. So too did Roquentin, who, in evaluating Vænir back in 2015, saw in these long-form Sabbathians the potential for memorable songs. In picking up Monolord reviewing duties, Huck N Roll began charting a consistently Good stoner/doom career that flirted with evolution but consistently maintained a tried-and-true formula. I would have added the adjectival modifier to Your Time to Shine (2021)—its five distinctive tracks strike a Very Good balance of droniness and catchiness across a sensible 39 minutes.1 My revisionism notwithstanding, Monolord has come to embody the AMG Good, with four branches now on the beloved 3.0tree. As the third Monolord reviewer, the odds suggest I will slap another 3.0 on Neverending and call it a day, especially if album six continues to innovate only around the edges.

Fortunately, Monolord agrees that hooky bangers would reinvigorate Monolord. To help sculpt what they describe as ‘more succinct and immediate songs’ and a ‘sharper album,’ the band enlisted the legendary Sylvia Massy to record, produce, and mix Neverending.2 Monolord credit Massy for significantly influencing their editing, but this isn’t to say she radically altered the band’s stoner/doom sound. Sonically, Massy beefs up the already thick n’ fuzzy tones of this Swedish power trio. Indeed, the guitar of Thomas Jäger and bass of Mika Häkki continue to combine for some of the fattest, tastiest riffage in the game, with a signature chromaticism hard to achieve in the genre.3 As on prior records, Jäger’s vocals sit back in the mix, making his mid-to-upper range croon ethereally prominent. The metronomic drums of Esben Willems also sit back, making every crash, fill, and cowbell monumental. Like previous outings, Neverending sounds invitingly warm, with some welcome heft this time around.

Under Massy’s guidance, Neverending shakes up the Monolord formula for the first time. Whereas previous records are 5–6 tracks with an average song-length of 8 minutes, 5 of 8 tracks here sit between 3–5 minutes. Exemplifying this new approach is the opening one-two punch of “Iodine,”—which feels like a miniature YOB meets the noise-groove of Killdozer—and “You Bastard,”—the album’s strongest Minilord song. The latter propels an infectious verse-chorus cycle, supplemented by shimmying shakers, with a Riff o’ the Year candidate. Later, “The Masque” and “Invisible” hit the spot; the former has a fun blues stomp and delightfully dark verses, but the song would’ve benefitted from three iterations of its (terrific) chorus. Minilord falters, however, on “Crystal Bridge,” which actually feels too short. Excellent CoC-style sludgery gives way to Jäger alone, laying plaintive vocals atop clean chords. It seems to set up something expansive, but once the sludge riffing returns as a capper, “Crystal Bridge” ends up sounding like a song without a chorus.

Despite their emphasis on succinctness, Monolord lace ‘classic’ longer jams throughout Neverending. ”Oozing Wound” is the darling in this regard, typifying the winning chemistry Jäger, Häkki, and Willems possess when they lock in on a simple riff and give it enough space, turns, and melodic character to make it interesting yet still hypnotic. On “It’s Neverending,” Jäger vocally collaborates with Jörgen Sandström, the former bassist of Entombed, which gives Monolord its first flavoring of death-doom via Sandström’s growls. Though I’m less enthusiastic about the Sandström-led portions, the song’s gentle, melancholic dénouement makes it an exceptional eponymous closer. Speaking of closers, “Inside a Collider” weirdly feels like one at track three. It drones on a hooky riff/vocal combo for a while, but it also contains a killer doom descent I wish happened more than once.

After careful analysis, I have arrived at the same score Monolord has been achieving at AMG for over a decade. In 2019, Huck described No Comfort as the band’s transition album, which was true at the time. But as it currently stands, Neverending is Monolord’s transition album, and it’s a transition not without its growing pains. Though the songwriting falters more than it should on a ‘sharp’ album, holistically, Neverending is an enjoyable 43 minutes, making it a more-than-worthy branch on the 3.0tree.4 In the promo materials, Häkki shares that the collaboration with Massy ‘makes [him] curious about what the next chapter will be’ for Monolord. I count myself among the curious—Neverending isn’t the fully-realized version of Minilord I was hoping for, but it plants the seed.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stream
Label: Relapse Records
Websites: Official | Instagram | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: May 29th, 2026

I always thought Monolord could level up by favoring hooky bangers. So too did Roquentin, who, in evaluating Vænir back in 2015, saw in these long-form Sabbathians the potential for memorable songs. In picking up Monolord reviewing duties, Huck N Roll began charting a consistently Good stoner/doom career that flirted with evolution but consistently maintained a tried-and-true formula. I would have added the adjectival modifier to Your Time to Shine (2021)—its five distinctive tracks strike a Very Good balance of droniness and catchiness across a sensible 39 minutes.1 My revisionism notwithstanding, Monolord has come to embody the AMG Good, with four branches now on the beloved 3.0tree. As the third Monolord reviewer, the odds suggest I will slap another 3.0 on Neverending and call it a day, especially if album six continues to innovate only around the edges.

Fortunately, Monolord agrees that hooky bangers would reinvigorate Monolord. To help sculpt what they describe as ‘more succinct and immediate songs’ and a ‘sharper album,’ the band enlisted the legendary Sylvia Massy to record, produce, and mix Neverending.2 Monolord credit Massy for significantly influencing their editing, but this isn’t to say she radically altered the band’s stoner/doom sound. Sonically, Massy beefs up the already thick n’ fuzzy tones of this Swedish power trio. Indeed, the guitar of Thomas Jäger and bass of Mika Häkki continue to combine for some of the fattest, tastiest riffage in the game, with a signature chromaticism hard to achieve in the genre.3 As on prior records, Jäger’s vocals sit back in the mix, making his mid-to-upper range croon ethereally prominent. The metronomic drums of Esben Willems also sit back, making every crash, fill, and cowbell monumental. Like previous outings, Neverending sounds invitingly warm, with some welcome heft this time around.

Under Massy’s guidance, Neverending shakes up the Monolord formula for the first time. Whereas previous records are 5–6 tracks with an average song-length of 8 minutes, 5 of 8 tracks here sit between 3–5 minutes. Exemplifying this new approach is the opening one-two punch of “Iodine,”—which feels like a miniature YOB meets the noise-groove of Killdozer—and “You Bastard,”—the album’s strongest Minilord song. The latter propels an infectious verse-chorus cycle, supplemented by shimmying shakers, with a Riff o’ the Year candidate. Later, “The Masque” and “Invisible” hit the spot; the former has a fun blues stomp and delightfully dark verses, but the song would’ve benefitted from three iterations of its (terrific) chorus. Minilord falters, however, on “Crystal Bridge,” which actually feels too short. Excellent CoC-style sludgery gives way to Jäger alone, laying plaintive vocals atop clean chords. It seems to set up something expansive, but once the sludge riffing returns as a capper, “Crystal Bridge” ends up sounding like a song without a chorus.

Despite their emphasis on succinctness, Monolord lace ‘classic’ longer jams throughout Neverending. ”Oozing Wound” is the darling in this regard, typifying the winning chemistry Jäger, Häkki, and Willems possess when they lock in on a simple riff and give it enough space, turns, and melodic character to make it interesting yet still hypnotic. On “It’s Neverending,” Jäger vocally collaborates with Jörgen Sandström, the former bassist of Entombed, which gives Monolord its first flavoring of death-doom via Sandström’s growls. Though I’m less enthusiastic about the Sandström-led portions, the song’s gentle, melancholic dénouement makes it an exceptional eponymous closer. Speaking of closers, “Inside a Collider” weirdly feels like one at track three. It drones on a hooky riff/vocal combo for a while, but it also contains a killer doom descent I wish happened more than once.

After careful analysis, I have arrived at the same score Monolord has been achieving at AMG for over a decade. In 2019, Huck described No Comfort as the band’s transition album, which was true at the time. But as it currently stands, Neverending is Monolord’s transition album, and it’s a transition not without its growing pains. Though the songwriting falters more than it should on a ‘sharp’ album, holistically, Neverending is an enjoyable 43 minutes, making it a more-than-worthy branch on the 3.0tree.4 In the promo materials, Häkki shares that the collaboration with Massy ‘makes [him] curious about what the next chapter will be’ for Monolord. I count myself among the curious—Neverending isn’t the fully-realized version of Minilord I was hoping for, but it plants the seed.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stream
Label: Relapse Records
Websites: Official | Instagram | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: May 29th, 2026

I always thought Monolord could level up by favoring hooky bangers. So too did Roquentin, who, in evaluating Vænir back in 2015, saw in these long-form Sabbathians the potential for memorable songs. In picking up Monolord reviewing duties, Huck N Roll began charting a consistently Good stoner/doom career that flirted with evolution but consistently maintained a tried-and-true formula. I would have added the adjectival modifier to Your Time to Shine (2021)—its five distinctive tracks strike a Very Good balance of droniness and catchiness across a sensible 39 minutes.1 My revisionism notwithstanding, Monolord has come to embody the AMG Good, with four branches now on the beloved 3.0tree. As the third Monolord reviewer, the odds suggest I will slap another 3.0 on Neverending and call it a day, especially if album six continues to innovate only around the edges.

Fortunately, Monolord agrees that hooky bangers would reinvigorate Monolord. To help sculpt what they describe as ‘more succinct and immediate songs’ and a ‘sharper album,’ the band enlisted the legendary Sylvia Massy to record, produce, and mix Neverending.2 Monolord credit Massy for significantly influencing their editing, but this isn’t to say she radically altered the band’s stoner/doom sound. Sonically, Massy beefs up the already thick n’ fuzzy tones of this Swedish power trio. Indeed, the guitar of Thomas Jäger and bass of Mika Häkki continue to combine for some of the fattest, tastiest riffage in the game, with a signature chromaticism hard to achieve in the genre.3 As on prior records, Jäger’s vocals sit back in the mix, making his mid-to-upper range croon ethereally prominent. The metronomic drums of Esben Willems also sit back, making every crash, fill, and cowbell monumental. Like previous outings, Neverending sounds invitingly warm, with some welcome heft this time around.

Under Massy’s guidance, Neverending shakes up the Monolord formula for the first time. Whereas previous records are 5–6 tracks with an average song-length of 8 minutes, 5 of 8 tracks here sit between 3–5 minutes. Exemplifying this new approach is the opening one-two punch of “Iodine,”—which feels like a miniature YOB meets the noise-groove of Killdozer—and “You Bastard,”—the album’s strongest Minilord song. The latter propels an infectious verse-chorus cycle, supplemented by shimmying shakers, with a Riff o’ the Year candidate. Later, “The Masque” and “Invisible” hit the spot; the former has a fun blues stomp and delightfully dark verses, but the song would’ve benefitted from three iterations of its (terrific) chorus. Minilord falters, however, on “Crystal Bridge,” which actually feels too short. Excellent CoC-style sludgery gives way to Jäger alone, laying plaintive vocals atop clean chords. It seems to set up something expansive, but once the sludge riffing returns as a capper, “Crystal Bridge” ends up sounding like a song without a chorus.

Despite their emphasis on succinctness, Monolord lace ‘classic’ longer jams throughout Neverending. ”Oozing Wound” is the darling in this regard, typifying the winning chemistry Jäger, Häkki, and Willems possess when they lock in on a simple riff and give it enough space, turns, and melodic character to make it interesting yet still hypnotic. On “It’s Neverending,” Jäger vocally collaborates with Jörgen Sandström, the former bassist of Entombed, which gives Monolord its first flavoring of death-doom via Sandström’s growls. Though I’m less enthusiastic about the Sandström-led portions, the song’s gentle, melancholic dénouement makes it an exceptional eponymous closer. Speaking of closers, “Inside a Collider” weirdly feels like one at track three. It drones on a hooky riff/vocal combo for a while, but it also contains a killer doom descent I wish happened more than once.

After careful analysis, I have arrived at the same score Monolord has been achieving at AMG for over a decade. In 2019, Huck described No Comfort as the band’s transition album, which was true at the time. But as it currently stands, Neverending is Monolord’s transition album, and it’s a transition not without its growing pains. Though the songwriting falters more than it should on a ‘sharp’ album, holistically, Neverending is an enjoyable 43 minutes, making it a more-than-worthy branch on the 3.0tree.4 In the promo materials, Häkki shares that the collaboration with Massy ‘makes [him] curious about what the next chapter will be’ for Monolord. I count myself among the curious—Neverending isn’t the fully-realized version of Minilord I was hoping for, but it plants the seed.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stream
Label: Relapse Records
Websites: Official | Instagram | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: May 29th, 2026

A misshapen, gangly, but dangerous creature once roamed the alleys and backways of Chicago, hunting for prey. Lair of the Minotaur was that altered beast, and it trafficked in a skin-melting brand of sludge-crust-thrash that was raw for the sake of rawness and heavy enough to crush a bus full of anvils. Featuring members of Serpent Crown, Nachtmystium, and Vanishment, Minotaur was loaded with seasoned, angry fiends, and on albums like The Ultimate Destroyer and Evil Power, they set out to pulverize the populace with a savage, nasty sound and an attitude that screamed: “Taste the floor, poser!” Since 2010s Evil Power, it’s been pretty quiet at Camp Bullhead, but 2026 sees them roaring back to seize the means of noise production from the soft pretenders who call themselves metal heads these days. On I Hail I, they unearth their loud, caustic, abrasive-as-fook sound and inject it with MOAR juice for 30 minutes of sonic abuse and humiliation. Is this a good thing?

It doesn’t take long to figure out the answer. Opener “Emperor of Dis” is 2 minutes of rough, filthy sludge-crust that sounds like Entombed had a gigantic baby with Black Royal and then let Biohazard raise it in the mean streets. The riffs are massively heavy, and the chugs are utterly brainless but so fucking awesome. I wish the song were 3 minutes longer, and when do I say shit like that? The title track unveils a ridiculously raw guitar tone that sounds like a busted bandsaw, and then grinds your privates with it for 2-plus minutes. It’s beautiful misery and borders on industrial noise. “Fucked Inside Out” is a weirdly accurate descriptor for how this track sounds, taking Entombed’s Wolverine Blues blueprint and upping the ante considerably for a rowdy, uncouth piece of absolute sewage. It’s the roughest 1:39 you’ll spend this year unless you fall into an industrial meatgrinder, and even then it’ll be close.

When “Saturnus Reign” comes around, you know these goons are deadly serious about this comeback. This is straight-up obscenely heavy death-doom with one boot on your throat and the other up your ass. That repeating, oppressive riff that kicks off at 0:48 is a fucking world eater that Bolt Thrower should have come up with in the 90s, and it’s going to destroy your fat face. When it drags to a halt only to jump back to life when Steve Rathbone roars, “Seventh Gate!”, it’s a special moment. 7-plus minute closer, “Tartarus Apocalypse” is another massive piece of old school death-doom with monolithic riffs that reek of Triptykon, and they’ll crush you into ass pulp in short order. With so much winning, what could possibly go wrong? Well, the cover of Southern Gothic vocalist Ethel Cain’s “Family Tree” refashioned as a scalding, Darkthrone-esque black metal piece is inspired but doesn’t really fit with the rest of the album. Follow-up cut “Vulture Worship” is a weird semi-techno, electronica-meets-synth-death experiment that doesn’t really work either. “Deepest Hell” is plenty heavy but doesn’t have the same visceral impact as its better album-mates. With 3 misses on a 30-minute album, that leaves a significant bruise. Still, the good is really fooking good and most of I Hail I will wax your ass with lava!

Steve Rathbone’s guitar tone and collection of bullying, harassing riffs sell this shit like wagyu beef smoothies at a honey badger convention. I’ve been getting oppressed by them for a week, and I keep coming back for more because MOAR. This is just ludicrously heavy, unpolished metal played at volumes unsafe even for dead things. Add to the fracas Rathbone’s hoarse roaring and guttural croaking, and things start to sound like a lunatic asylum in Hell. The dude can howl and bellow with enough conviction to get him a 72-hour psych hold, and that might actually do him some good. Sanford Parker (ex-Nachtmystium) assists Rathbone with the flesh tenderizing with his fat, thrumming low-end bass work that fills every gap with rancid sludge as Kristopher Wozniak pounds away on his kit like a meth-fueled baboon (pronounced bab-BOOM). It’s a huge, loud, chaotic dump of an album,1 but Sanford Parker did his magic as a producer and made it all palatable to the senses somehow. The guitar tone he captured here alone should earn him a Producer o’ the Year nomination.

I Hail I is a wild, weird ride through burning garbage and melting excrement. It wanders places it shouldn’t, but when it arrives at its proper destination, it will fucking kill you. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the same guys who wrote, “Let’s Kill These Motherfuckers” can still bring the hammer down forcibly. Lair of the Minotaur have returned, and the impact crater they left behind is prodigious. Listen with caution while this thing tries to gut you like a slimy fish. Hail yourself.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: The Grind-House
Websites: lairoftheminotaur.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: May 1st, 2026

A misshapen, gangly, but dangerous creature once roamed the alleys and backways of Chicago, hunting for prey. Lair of the Minotaur was that altered beast, and it trafficked in a skin-melting brand of sludge-crust-thrash that was raw for the sake of rawness and heavy enough to crush a bus full of anvils. Featuring members of Serpent Crown, Nachtmystium, and Vanishment, Minotaur was loaded with seasoned, angry fiends, and on albums like The Ultimate Destroyer and Evil Power, they set out to pulverize the populace with a savage, nasty sound and an attitude that screamed: “Taste the floor, poser!” Since 2010s Evil Power, it’s been pretty quiet at Camp Bullhead, but 2026 sees them roaring back to seize the means of noise production from the soft pretenders who call themselves metal heads these days. On I Hail I, they unearth their loud, caustic, abrasive-as-fook sound and inject it with MOAR juice for 30 minutes of sonic abuse and humiliation. Is this a good thing?

It doesn’t take long to figure out the answer. Opener “Emperor of Dis” is 2 minutes of rough, filthy sludge-crust that sounds like Entombed had a gigantic baby with Black Royal and then let Biohazard raise it in the mean streets. The riffs are massively heavy, and the chugs are utterly brainless but so fucking awesome. I wish the song were 3 minutes longer, and when do I say shit like that? The title track unveils a ridiculously raw guitar tone that sounds like a busted bandsaw, and then grinds your privates with it for 2-plus minutes. It’s beautiful misery and borders on industrial noise. “Fucked Inside Out” is a weirdly accurate descriptor for how this track sounds, taking Entombed’s Wolverine Blues blueprint and upping the ante considerably for a rowdy, uncouth piece of absolute sewage. It’s the roughest 1:39 you’ll spend this year unless you fall into an industrial meatgrinder, and even then it’ll be close.

When “Saturnus Reign” comes around, you know these goons are deadly serious about this comeback. This is straight-up obscenely heavy death-doom with one boot on your throat and the other up your ass. That repeating, oppressive riff that kicks off at 0:48 is a fucking world eater that Bolt Thrower should have come up with in the 90s, and it’s going to destroy your fat face. When it drags to a halt only to jump back to life when Steve Rathbone roars, “Seventh Gate!”, it’s a special moment. 7-plus minute closer, “Tartarus Apocalypse” is another massive piece of old school death-doom with monolithic riffs that reek of Triptykon, and they’ll crush you into ass pulp in short order. With so much winning, what could possibly go wrong? Well, the cover of Southern Gothic vocalist Ethel Cain’s “Family Tree” refashioned as a scalding, Darkthrone-esque black metal piece is inspired but doesn’t really fit with the rest of the album. Follow-up cut “Vulture Worship” is a weird semi-techno, electronica-meets-synth-death experiment that doesn’t really work either. “Deepest Hell” is plenty heavy but doesn’t have the same visceral impact as its better album-mates. With 3 misses on a 30-minute album, that leaves a significant bruise. Still, the good is really fooking good and most of I Hail I will wax your ass with lava!

Steve Rathbone’s guitar tone and collection of bullying, harassing riffs sell this shit like wagyu beef smoothies at a honey badger convention. I’ve been getting oppressed by them for a week, and I keep coming back for more because MOAR. This is just ludicrously heavy, unpolished metal played at volumes unsafe even for dead things. Add to the fracas Rathbone’s hoarse roaring and guttural croaking, and things start to sound like a lunatic asylum in Hell. The dude can howl and bellow with enough conviction to get him a 72-hour psych hold, and that might actually do him some good. Sanford Parker (ex-Nachtmystium) assists Rathbone with the flesh tenderizing with his fat, thrumming low-end bass work that fills every gap with rancid sludge as Kristopher Wozniak pounds away on his kit like a meth-fueled baboon (pronounced bab-BOOM). It’s a huge, loud, chaotic dump of an album,1 but Sanford Parker did his magic as a producer and made it all palatable to the senses somehow. The guitar tone he captured here alone should earn him a Producer o’ the Year nomination.

I Hail I is a wild, weird ride through burning garbage and melting excrement. It wanders places it shouldn’t, but when it arrives at its proper destination, it will fucking kill you. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the same guys who wrote, “Let’s Kill These Motherfuckers” can still bring the hammer down forcibly. Lair of the Minotaur have returned, and the impact crater they left behind is prodigious. Listen with caution while this thing tries to gut you like a slimy fish. Hail yourself.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: The Grind-House
Websites: lairoftheminotaur.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: May 1st, 2026

A misshapen, gangly, but dangerous creature once roamed the alleys and backways of Chicago, hunting for prey. Lair of the Minotaur was that altered beast, and it trafficked in a skin-melting brand of sludge-crust-thrash that was raw for the sake of rawness and heavy enough to crush a bus full of anvils. Featuring members of Serpent Crown, Nachtmystium, and Vanishment, Minotaur was loaded with seasoned, angry fiends, and on albums like The Ultimate Destroyer and Evil Power, they set out to pulverize the populace with a savage, nasty sound and an attitude that screamed: “Taste the floor, poser!” Since 2010s Evil Power, it’s been pretty quiet at Camp Bullhead, but 2026 sees them roaring back to seize the means of noise production from the soft pretenders who call themselves metal heads these days. On I Hail I, they unearth their loud, caustic, abrasive-as-fook sound and inject it with MOAR juice for 30 minutes of sonic abuse and humiliation. Is this a good thing?

It doesn’t take long to figure out the answer. Opener “Emperor of Dis” is 2 minutes of rough, filthy sludge-crust that sounds like Entombed had a gigantic baby with Black Royal and then let Biohazard raise it in the mean streets. The riffs are massively heavy, and the chugs are utterly brainless but so fucking awesome. I wish the song were 3 minutes longer, and when do I say shit like that? The title track unveils a ridiculously raw guitar tone that sounds like a busted bandsaw, and then grinds your privates with it for 2-plus minutes. It’s beautiful misery and borders on industrial noise. “Fucked Inside Out” is a weirdly accurate descriptor for how this track sounds, taking Entombed’s Wolverine Blues blueprint and upping the ante considerably for a rowdy, uncouth piece of absolute sewage. It’s the roughest 1:39 you’ll spend this year unless you fall into an industrial meatgrinder, and even then it’ll be close.

When “Saturnus Reign” comes around, you know these goons are deadly serious about this comeback. This is straight-up obscenely heavy death-doom with one boot on your throat and the other up your ass. That repeating, oppressive riff that kicks off at 0:48 is a fucking world eater that Bolt Thrower should have come up with in the 90s, and it’s going to destroy your fat face. When it drags to a halt only to jump back to life when Steve Rathbone roars, “Seventh Gate!”, it’s a special moment. 7-plus minute closer, “Tartarus Apocalypse” is another massive piece of old school death-doom with monolithic riffs that reek of Triptykon, and they’ll crush you into ass pulp in short order. With so much winning, what could possibly go wrong? Well, the cover of Southern Gothic vocalist Ethel Cain’s “Family Tree” refashioned as a scalding, Darkthrone-esque black metal piece is inspired but doesn’t really fit with the rest of the album. Follow-up cut “Vulture Worship” is a weird semi-techno, electronica-meets-synth-death experiment that doesn’t really work either. “Deepest Hell” is plenty heavy but doesn’t have the same visceral impact as its better album-mates. With 3 misses on a 30-minute album, that leaves a significant bruise. Still, the good is really fooking good and most of I Hail I will wax your ass with lava!

Steve Rathbone’s guitar tone and collection of bullying, harassing riffs sell this shit like wagyu beef smoothies at a honey badger convention. I’ve been getting oppressed by them for a week, and I keep coming back for more because MOAR. This is just ludicrously heavy, unpolished metal played at volumes unsafe even for dead things. Add to the fracas Rathbone’s hoarse roaring and guttural croaking, and things start to sound like a lunatic asylum in Hell. The dude can howl and bellow with enough conviction to get him a 72-hour psych hold, and that might actually do him some good. Sanford Parker (ex-Nachtmystium) assists Rathbone with the flesh tenderizing with his fat, thrumming low-end bass work that fills every gap with rancid sludge as Kristopher Wozniak pounds away on his kit like a meth-fueled baboon (pronounced bab-BOOM). It’s a huge, loud, chaotic dump of an album,1 but Sanford Parker did his magic as a producer and made it all palatable to the senses somehow. The guitar tone he captured here alone should earn him a Producer o’ the Year nomination.

I Hail I is a wild, weird ride through burning garbage and melting excrement. It wanders places it shouldn’t, but when it arrives at its proper destination, it will fucking kill you. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the same guys who wrote, “Let’s Kill These Motherfuckers” can still bring the hammer down forcibly. Lair of the Minotaur have returned, and the impact crater they left behind is prodigious. Listen with caution while this thing tries to gut you like a slimy fish. Hail yourself.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: The Grind-House
Websites: lairoftheminotaur.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: May 1st, 2026

A misshapen, gangly, but dangerous creature once roamed the alleys and backways of Chicago, hunting for prey. Lair of the Minotaur was that altered beast, and it trafficked in a skin-melting brand of sludge-crust-thrash that was raw for the sake of rawness and heavy enough to crush a bus full of anvils. Featuring members of Serpent Crown, Nachtmystium, and Vanishment, Minotaur was loaded with seasoned, angry fiends, and on albums like The Ultimate Destroyer and Evil Power, they set out to pulverize the populace with a savage, nasty sound and an attitude that screamed: “Taste the floor, poser!” Since 2010s Evil Power, it’s been pretty quiet at Camp Bullhead, but 2026 sees them roaring back to seize the means of noise production from the soft pretenders who call themselves metal heads these days. On I Hail I, they unearth their loud, caustic, abrasive-as-fook sound and inject it with MOAR juice for 30 minutes of sonic abuse and humiliation. Is this a good thing?

It doesn’t take long to figure out the answer. Opener “Emperor of Dis” is 2 minutes of rough, filthy sludge-crust that sounds like Entombed had a gigantic baby with Black Royal and then let Biohazard raise it in the mean streets. The riffs are massively heavy, and the chugs are utterly brainless but so fucking awesome. I wish the song were 3 minutes longer, and when do I say shit like that? The title track unveils a ridiculously raw guitar tone that sounds like a busted bandsaw, and then grinds your privates with it for 2-plus minutes. It’s beautiful misery and borders on industrial noise. “Fucked Inside Out” is a weirdly accurate descriptor for how this track sounds, taking Entombed’s Wolverine Blues blueprint and upping the ante considerably for a rowdy, uncouth piece of absolute sewage. It’s the roughest 1:39 you’ll spend this year unless you fall into an industrial meatgrinder, and even then it’ll be close.

When “Saturnus Reign” comes around, you know these goons are deadly serious about this comeback. This is straight-up obscenely heavy death-doom with one boot on your throat and the other up your ass. That repeating, oppressive riff that kicks off at 0:48 is a fucking world eater that Bolt Thrower should have come up with in the 90s, and it’s going to destroy your fat face. When it drags to a halt only to jump back to life when Steve Rathbone roars, “Seventh Gate!”, it’s a special moment. 7-plus minute closer, “Tartarus Apocalypse” is another massive piece of old school death-doom with monolithic riffs that reek of Triptykon, and they’ll crush you into ass pulp in short order. With so much winning, what could possibly go wrong? Well, the cover of Southern Gothic vocalist Ethel Cain’s “Family Tree” refashioned as a scalding, Darkthrone-esque black metal piece is inspired but doesn’t really fit with the rest of the album. Follow-up cut “Vulture Worship” is a weird semi-techno, electronica-meets-synth-death experiment that doesn’t really work either. “Deepest Hell” is plenty heavy but doesn’t have the same visceral impact as its better album-mates. With 3 misses on a 30-minute album, that leaves a significant bruise. Still, the good is really fooking good and most of I Hail I will wax your ass with lava!

Steve Rathbone’s guitar tone and collection of bullying, harassing riffs sell this shit like wagyu beef smoothies at a honey badger convention. I’ve been getting oppressed by them for a week, and I keep coming back for more because MOAR. This is just ludicrously heavy, unpolished metal played at volumes unsafe even for dead things. Add to the fracas Rathbone’s hoarse roaring and guttural croaking, and things start to sound like a lunatic asylum in Hell. The dude can howl and bellow with enough conviction to get him a 72-hour psych hold, and that might actually do him some good. Sanford Parker (ex-Nachtmystium) assists Rathbone with the flesh tenderizing with his fat, thrumming low-end bass work that fills every gap with rancid sludge as Kristopher Wozniak pounds away on his kit like a meth-fueled baboon (pronounced bab-BOOM). It’s a huge, loud, chaotic dump of an album,1 but Sanford Parker did his magic as a producer and made it all palatable to the senses somehow. The guitar tone he captured here alone should earn him a Producer o’ the Year nomination.

I Hail I is a wild, weird ride through burning garbage and melting excrement. It wanders places it shouldn’t, but when it arrives at its proper destination, it will fucking kill you. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the same guys who wrote, “Let’s Kill These Motherfuckers” can still bring the hammer down forcibly. Lair of the Minotaur have returned, and the impact crater they left behind is prodigious. Listen with caution while this thing tries to gut you like a slimy fish. Hail yourself.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: The Grind-House
Websites: lairoftheminotaur.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: May 1st, 2026

A misshapen, gangly, but dangerous creature once roamed the alleys and backways of Chicago, hunting for prey. Lair of the Minotaur was that altered beast, and it trafficked in a skin-melting brand of sludge-crust-thrash that was raw for the sake of rawness and heavy enough to crush a bus full of anvils. Featuring members of Serpent Crown, Nachtmystium, and Vanishment, Minotaur was loaded with seasoned, angry fiends, and on albums like The Ultimate Destroyer and Evil Power, they set out to pulverize the populace with a savage, nasty sound and an attitude that screamed: “Taste the floor, poser!” Since 2010s Evil Power, it’s been pretty quiet at Camp Bullhead, but 2026 sees them roaring back to seize the means of noise production from the soft pretenders who call themselves metal heads these days. On I Hail I, they unearth their loud, caustic, abrasive-as-fook sound and inject it with MOAR juice for 30 minutes of sonic abuse and humiliation. Is this a good thing?

It doesn’t take long to figure out the answer. Opener “Emperor of Dis” is 2 minutes of rough, filthy sludge-crust that sounds like Entombed had a gigantic baby with Black Royal and then let Biohazard raise it in the mean streets. The riffs are massively heavy, and the chugs are utterly brainless but so fucking awesome. I wish the song were 3 minutes longer, and when do I say shit like that? The title track unveils a ridiculously raw guitar tone that sounds like a busted bandsaw, and then grinds your privates with it for 2-plus minutes. It’s beautiful misery and borders on industrial noise. “Fucked Inside Out” is a weirdly accurate descriptor for how this track sounds, taking Entombed’s Wolverine Blues blueprint and upping the ante considerably for a rowdy, uncouth piece of absolute sewage. It’s the roughest 1:39 you’ll spend this year unless you fall into an industrial meatgrinder, and even then it’ll be close.

When “Saturnus Reign” comes around, you know these goons are deadly serious about this comeback. This is straight-up obscenely heavy death-doom with one boot on your throat and the other up your ass. That repeating, oppressive riff that kicks off at 0:48 is a fucking world eater that Bolt Thrower should have come up with in the 90s, and it’s going to destroy your fat face. When it drags to a halt only to jump back to life when Steve Rathbone roars, “Seventh Gate!”, it’s a special moment. 7-plus minute closer, “Tartarus Apocalypse” is another massive piece of old school death-doom with monolithic riffs that reek of Triptykon, and they’ll crush you into ass pulp in short order. With so much winning, what could possibly go wrong? Well, the cover of Southern Gothic vocalist Ethel Cain’s “Family Tree” refashioned as a scalding, Darkthrone-esque black metal piece is inspired but doesn’t really fit with the rest of the album. Follow-up cut “Vulture Worship” is a weird semi-techno, electronica-meets-synth-death experiment that doesn’t really work either. “Deepest Hell” is plenty heavy but doesn’t have the same visceral impact as its better album-mates. With 3 misses on a 30-minute album, that leaves a significant bruise. Still, the good is really fooking good and most of I Hail I will wax your ass with lava!

Steve Rathbone’s guitar tone and collection of bullying, harassing riffs sell this shit like wagyu beef smoothies at a honey badger convention. I’ve been getting oppressed by them for a week, and I keep coming back for more because MOAR. This is just ludicrously heavy, unpolished metal played at volumes unsafe even for dead things. Add to the fracas Rathbone’s hoarse roaring and guttural croaking, and things start to sound like a lunatic asylum in Hell. The dude can howl and bellow with enough conviction to get him a 72-hour psych hold, and that might actually do him some good. Sanford Parker (ex-Nachtmystium) assists Rathbone with the flesh tenderizing with his fat, thrumming low-end bass work that fills every gap with rancid sludge as Kristopher Wozniak pounds away on his kit like a meth-fueled baboon (pronounced bab-BOOM). It’s a huge, loud, chaotic dump of an album,1 but Sanford Parker did his magic as a producer and made it all palatable to the senses somehow. The guitar tone he captured here alone should earn him a Producer o’ the Year nomination.

I Hail I is a wild, weird ride through burning garbage and melting excrement. It wanders places it shouldn’t, but when it arrives at its proper destination, it will fucking kill you. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the same guys who wrote, “Let’s Kill These Motherfuckers” can still bring the hammer down forcibly. Lair of the Minotaur have returned, and the impact crater they left behind is prodigious. Listen with caution while this thing tries to gut you like a slimy fish. Hail yourself.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: The Grind-House
Websites: lairoftheminotaur.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: May 1st, 2026

I totally missed it; yesterday it's been five years since the almighty LG Petrov left us.

I met him when we organized a gig for Entombed AD in Sarajevo; one of my favorite nights ever, and a person I got to meet through the amazing work we did as booking agents.

#entombed #sweden #sarajevo #lgpetrov

I totally missed it; yesterday it's been five years since the almighty LG Petrov left us.

I met him when we organized a gig for Entombed AD in Sarajevo; one of my favorite nights ever, and a person I got to meet through the amazing work we did as booking agents.

#entombed #sweden #sarajevo #lgpetrov

I totally missed it; yesterday it's been five years since the almighty LG Petrov left us.

I met him when we organized a gig for Entombed AD in Sarajevo; one of my favorite nights ever, and a person I got to meet through the amazing work we did as booking agents.

#entombed #sweden #sarajevo #lgpetrov

I totally missed it; yesterday it's been five years since the almighty LG Petrov left us.

I met him when we organized a gig for Entombed AD in Sarajevo; one of my favorite nights ever, and a person I got to meet through the amazing work we did as booking agents.

#entombed #sweden #sarajevo #lgpetrov

I totally missed it; yesterday it's been five years since the almighty LG Petrov left us.

I met him when we organized a gig for Entombed AD in Sarajevo; one of my favorite nights ever, and a person I got to meet through the amazing work we did as booking agents.

#entombed #sweden #sarajevo #lgpetrov

Harrowed – The Eternal Hunger Review

I’ve kicked off this year with a good old-fashioned death binge. My putrid immersion has taken me around…
#NewsBeep #News #Music #2026 #3.5 #Autopsy #Death #DeathMetal #DyingVictimsProductions #Entertainment #Entombed #Feb26 #Harrowed #MorbusChron #review #Reviews #slayer #SwedishMetal #TheEternalHunger #UK #UnitedKingdom #VAK
https://www.newsbeep.com/uk/450445/

I’ve kicked off this year with a good old-fashioned death binge. My putrid immersion has taken me around the world so far: first to Chile, then across the Pacific to Australia, and now back across continents to Sweden. Next up is Stockholm-based duo Harrowed. Consisting of dual-threat drummer and vocalist Adam Lindmark (ex-Morbus Chron) and guitarist/bassist Tobias Alpadie (VAK and former live guitarist for Tribulation), the pair linked up through a past project to pay homage to the SweDeath sounds of olde. With only a demo and a split to their name, their debut album, The Eternal Hunger, unleashes Harrowed’s fetid disposition upon the world with a fresh edge, proving these Swedes are more than just HM-2 clones.

But rest easy—no HM-2 pedals were harmed in the making of The Eternal Hunger. Instead, Harrowed delivers enough primitive-drenched filth to satisfy any SweDeath devotee craving the crunch. Alpadie’s serrated tremolos and lacerating riffs cut like rotary blades, while Lindmark’s feverish blasts and tribal tom rolls drench highlights like “Blood Covenant” and “The Cold of A Thousand Snows” in a heavy layer of cavernous abrasion, tearing through the speakers with surgical precision. The Stockholm sound’s hardcore punk DNA is also front and center, as the duo rips through tracks like “Ultra Terrene Phantasmagoria,” “Bayonet,” and “The Reins” with high-octane skank beats and wailing dirges. Lindmark’s vocals are a caustic mix of barbaric regurgitations, adding formaldehyde-infused dressing on Harrowed’s cadaver sandwich. Tied together by a punchy production that preserves the weight of the muddy sound of yore while also maintaining a modern, nimble edge, every disgusting note on The Eternal Hunger lands with maximum impact.

The Eternal Hunger by Harrowed

The Eternal Hunger channels the spirit of ’90s-era Entombed, yet Harrowed also weaponizes influences from far beyond Swedish borders. The duo frequently abandons standard old-school formulas to explore a diverse palette of unbridled savagery. On “Blood Covenant,” Lindmark’s stampeding, guttural-punctuated rhythms and turbulent transitions coalesce with Alpadie’s blazing fretwork, leaning closer to classic thrash than typical SweDeath. Pivoting from there, “Ultra Terrene Phantasmagoria” and “The Cold of A Thousand Snows” embrace a blackened speed identity where icy tremolos, demented double-bass attacks, and progressive ride patterns imbue a sinister edge outside typical HM-2 purism. Harrowed also pulls from the American scene. “The Eternal Hunger” mirrors the swampy, gore-soaked roots of early Autopsy and Death, while the haunting, clean arpeggios driving the title track and “The Haunter” resurrect Slayer’s “Seasons in the Abyss.” Strategic moments of suspense, where the duo strips away the distorted crust in favor of suspenseful intros and bridges, only make the final blows feel more devastating as hammering half-time grooves (“Blood Covenant”) and esoteric patterns (“Formaldehyde Dreaming,” “The Reins”) work well to keep the listener off-balance.

While Harrowed’s varied songwriting is largely airtight, certain songs reveal minor cracks. “The Reins” suffers from a disjointed bridge that briefly stalls the track’s momentum, though Lindmark’s technical drumming and visceral vocal attack do well to anchor the chaos. There are also occasional moments when tracks feel like retreads, suggesting Harrowed may have hit the bottom of their bag of tricks. “Formaldehyde Dreaming,” for instance, relies on a riff set strikingly similar to those found in “Bayonet” and “The Cold of A Thousand Snows,” while the clean intro of “The Eternal Hunger” echoes “The Haunter.” Furthermore, the title track’s brooding build-up fails to deliver a proportional payoff, indicating the track would have benefited from more editing. Despite these slip-ups, however, The Eternal Hunger remains 36 minutes of grime-soaked efficiency that favors memorable songwriting over high-concept filler.

Harrowed successfully pays homage to the Swedish spirit without merely exhuming its grave. By channeling a wide-reaching spectrum of influences and pushing them through a modern SweDeath filter, they’ve created a record that is easy to like and refuses to grow stale. Much of The Eternal Hunger’s success stems from Harrowed’s balanced and varied songwriting, with Lindmark and Alpadie both pulling their weight equally to flex their creative muscle and produce material that sounds both familiar and surprisingly fresh. A debut with this much power is impressive, especially coming from only two people. If this is what the new wave of SweDeath sounds like, I’m on board—and you should be too.

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Dying Victims Productions
Websites: dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/the-eternal-hunger | facebook.com/harroweddeathmetal
Releases Worldwide: February 27th, 2026

I’ve kicked off this year with a good old-fashioned death binge. My putrid immersion has taken me around the world so far: first to Chile, then across the Pacific to Australia, and now back across continents to Sweden. Next up is Stockholm-based duo Harrowed. Consisting of dual-threat drummer and vocalist Adam Lindmark (ex-Morbus Chron) and guitarist/bassist Tobias Alpadie (VAK and former live guitarist for Tribulation), the pair linked up through a past project to pay homage to the SweDeath sounds of olde. With only a demo and a split to their name, their debut album, The Eternal Hunger, unleashes Harrowed’s fetid disposition upon the world with a fresh edge, proving these Swedes are more than just HM-2 clones.

But rest easy—no HM-2 pedals were harmed in the making of The Eternal Hunger. Instead, Harrowed delivers enough primitive-drenched filth to satisfy any SweDeath devotee craving the crunch. Alpadie’s serrated tremolos and lacerating riffs cut like rotary blades, while Lindmark’s feverish blasts and tribal tom rolls drench highlights like “Blood Covenant” and “The Cold of A Thousand Snows” in a heavy layer of cavernous abrasion, tearing through the speakers with surgical precision. The Stockholm sound’s hardcore punk DNA is also front and center, as the duo rips through tracks like “Ultra Terrene Phantasmagoria,” “Bayonet,” and “The Reins” with high-octane skank beats and wailing dirges. Lindmark’s vocals are a caustic mix of barbaric regurgitations, adding formaldehyde-infused dressing on Harrowed’s cadaver sandwich. Tied together by a punchy production that preserves the weight of the muddy sound of yore while also maintaining a modern, nimble edge, every disgusting note on The Eternal Hunger lands with maximum impact.

The Eternal Hunger by Harrowed

The Eternal Hunger channels the spirit of ’90s-era Entombed, yet Harrowed also weaponizes influences from far beyond Swedish borders. The duo frequently abandons standard old-school formulas to explore a diverse palette of unbridled savagery. On “Blood Covenant,” Lindmark’s stampeding, guttural-punctuated rhythms and turbulent transitions coalesce with Alpadie’s blazing fretwork, leaning closer to classic thrash than typical SweDeath. Pivoting from there, “Ultra Terrene Phantasmagoria” and “The Cold of A Thousand Snows” embrace a blackened speed identity where icy tremolos, demented double-bass attacks, and progressive ride patterns imbue a sinister edge outside typical HM-2 purism. Harrowed also pulls from the American scene. “The Eternal Hunger” mirrors the swampy, gore-soaked roots of early Autopsy and Death, while the haunting, clean arpeggios driving the title track and “The Haunter” resurrect Slayer’s “Seasons in the Abyss.” Strategic moments of suspense, where the duo strips away the distorted crust in favor of suspenseful intros and bridges, only make the final blows feel more devastating as hammering half-time grooves (“Blood Covenant”) and esoteric patterns (“Formaldehyde Dreaming,” “The Reins”) work well to keep the listener off-balance.

While Harrowed’s varied songwriting is largely airtight, certain songs reveal minor cracks. “The Reins” suffers from a disjointed bridge that briefly stalls the track’s momentum, though Lindmark’s technical drumming and visceral vocal attack do well to anchor the chaos. There are also occasional moments when tracks feel like retreads, suggesting Harrowed may have hit the bottom of their bag of tricks. “Formaldehyde Dreaming,” for instance, relies on a riff set strikingly similar to those found in “Bayonet” and “The Cold of A Thousand Snows,” while the clean intro of “The Eternal Hunger” echoes “The Haunter.” Furthermore, the title track’s brooding build-up fails to deliver a proportional payoff, indicating the track would have benefited from more editing. Despite these slip-ups, however, The Eternal Hunger remains 36 minutes of grime-soaked efficiency that favors memorable songwriting over high-concept filler.

Harrowed successfully pays homage to the Swedish spirit without merely exhuming its grave. By channeling a wide-reaching spectrum of influences and pushing them through a modern SweDeath filter, they’ve created a record that is easy to like and refuses to grow stale. Much of The Eternal Hunger’s success stems from Harrowed’s balanced and varied songwriting, with Lindmark and Alpadie both pulling their weight equally to flex their creative muscle and produce material that sounds both familiar and surprisingly fresh. A debut with this much power is impressive, especially coming from only two people. If this is what the new wave of SweDeath sounds like, I’m on board—and you should be too.

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Dying Victims Productions
Websites: dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/the-eternal-hunger | facebook.com/harroweddeathmetal
Releases Worldwide: February 27th, 2026

I’ve kicked off this year with a good old-fashioned death binge. My putrid immersion has taken me around the world so far: first to Chile, then across the Pacific to Australia, and now back across continents to Sweden. Next up is Stockholm-based duo Harrowed. Consisting of dual-threat drummer and vocalist Adam Lindmark (ex-Morbus Chron) and guitarist/bassist Tobias Alpadie (VAK and former live guitarist for Tribulation), the pair linked up through a past project to pay homage to the SweDeath sounds of olde. With only a demo and a split to their name, their debut album, The Eternal Hunger, unleashes Harrowed’s fetid disposition upon the world with a fresh edge, proving these Swedes are more than just HM-2 clones.

But rest easy—no HM-2 pedals were harmed in the making of The Eternal Hunger. Instead, Harrowed delivers enough primitive-drenched filth to satisfy any SweDeath devotee craving the crunch. Alpadie’s serrated tremolos and lacerating riffs cut like rotary blades, while Lindmark’s feverish blasts and tribal tom rolls drench highlights like “Blood Covenant” and “The Cold of A Thousand Snows” in a heavy layer of cavernous abrasion, tearing through the speakers with surgical precision. The Stockholm sound’s hardcore punk DNA is also front and center, as the duo rips through tracks like “Ultra Terrene Phantasmagoria,” “Bayonet,” and “The Reins” with high-octane skank beats and wailing dirges. Lindmark’s vocals are a caustic mix of barbaric regurgitations, adding formaldehyde-infused dressing on Harrowed’s cadaver sandwich. Tied together by a punchy production that preserves the weight of the muddy sound of yore while also maintaining a modern, nimble edge, every disgusting note on The Eternal Hunger lands with maximum impact.

The Eternal Hunger by Harrowed

The Eternal Hunger channels the spirit of ’90s-era Entombed, yet Harrowed also weaponizes influences from far beyond Swedish borders. The duo frequently abandons standard old-school formulas to explore a diverse palette of unbridled savagery. On “Blood Covenant,” Lindmark’s stampeding, guttural-punctuated rhythms and turbulent transitions coalesce with Alpadie’s blazing fretwork, leaning closer to classic thrash than typical SweDeath. Pivoting from there, “Ultra Terrene Phantasmagoria” and “The Cold of A Thousand Snows” embrace a blackened speed identity where icy tremolos, demented double-bass attacks, and progressive ride patterns imbue a sinister edge outside typical HM-2 purism. Harrowed also pulls from the American scene. “The Eternal Hunger” mirrors the swampy, gore-soaked roots of early Autopsy and Death, while the haunting, clean arpeggios driving the title track and “The Haunter” resurrect Slayer’s “Seasons in the Abyss.” Strategic moments of suspense, where the duo strips away the distorted crust in favor of suspenseful intros and bridges, only make the final blows feel more devastating as hammering half-time grooves (“Blood Covenant”) and esoteric patterns (“Formaldehyde Dreaming,” “The Reins”) work well to keep the listener off-balance.

While Harrowed’s varied songwriting is largely airtight, certain songs reveal minor cracks. “The Reins” suffers from a disjointed bridge that briefly stalls the track’s momentum, though Lindmark’s technical drumming and visceral vocal attack do well to anchor the chaos. There are also occasional moments when tracks feel like retreads, suggesting Harrowed may have hit the bottom of their bag of tricks. “Formaldehyde Dreaming,” for instance, relies on a riff set strikingly similar to those found in “Bayonet” and “The Cold of A Thousand Snows,” while the clean intro of “The Eternal Hunger” echoes “The Haunter.” Furthermore, the title track’s brooding build-up fails to deliver a proportional payoff, indicating the track would have benefited from more editing. Despite these slip-ups, however, The Eternal Hunger remains 36 minutes of grime-soaked efficiency that favors memorable songwriting over high-concept filler.

Harrowed successfully pays homage to the Swedish spirit without merely exhuming its grave. By channeling a wide-reaching spectrum of influences and pushing them through a modern SweDeath filter, they’ve created a record that is easy to like and refuses to grow stale. Much of The Eternal Hunger’s success stems from Harrowed’s balanced and varied songwriting, with Lindmark and Alpadie both pulling their weight equally to flex their creative muscle and produce material that sounds both familiar and surprisingly fresh. A debut with this much power is impressive, especially coming from only two people. If this is what the new wave of SweDeath sounds like, I’m on board—and you should be too.

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Dying Victims Productions
Websites: dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/the-eternal-hunger | facebook.com/harroweddeathmetal
Releases Worldwide: February 27th, 2026

I’ve kicked off this year with a good old-fashioned death binge. My putrid immersion has taken me around the world so far: first to Chile, then across the Pacific to Australia, and now back across continents to Sweden. Next up is Stockholm-based duo Harrowed. Consisting of dual-threat drummer and vocalist Adam Lindmark (ex-Morbus Chron) and guitarist/bassist Tobias Alpadie (VAK and former live guitarist for Tribulation), the pair linked up through a past project to pay homage to the SweDeath sounds of olde. With only a demo and a split to their name, their debut album, The Eternal Hunger, unleashes Harrowed’s fetid disposition upon the world with a fresh edge, proving these Swedes are more than just HM-2 clones.

But rest easy—no HM-2 pedals were harmed in the making of The Eternal Hunger. Instead, Harrowed delivers enough primitive-drenched filth to satisfy any SweDeath devotee craving the crunch. Alpadie’s serrated tremolos and lacerating riffs cut like rotary blades, while Lindmark’s feverish blasts and tribal tom rolls drench highlights like “Blood Covenant” and “The Cold of A Thousand Snows” in a heavy layer of cavernous abrasion, tearing through the speakers with surgical precision. The Stockholm sound’s hardcore punk DNA is also front and center, as the duo rips through tracks like “Ultra Terrene Phantasmagoria,” “Bayonet,” and “The Reins” with high-octane skank beats and wailing dirges. Lindmark’s vocals are a caustic mix of barbaric regurgitations, adding formaldehyde-infused dressing on Harrowed’s cadaver sandwich. Tied together by a punchy production that preserves the weight of the muddy sound of yore while also maintaining a modern, nimble edge, every disgusting note on The Eternal Hunger lands with maximum impact.

The Eternal Hunger by Harrowed

The Eternal Hunger channels the spirit of ’90s-era Entombed, yet Harrowed also weaponizes influences from far beyond Swedish borders. The duo frequently abandons standard old-school formulas to explore a diverse palette of unbridled savagery. On “Blood Covenant,” Lindmark’s stampeding, guttural-punctuated rhythms and turbulent transitions coalesce with Alpadie’s blazing fretwork, leaning closer to classic thrash than typical SweDeath. Pivoting from there, “Ultra Terrene Phantasmagoria” and “The Cold of A Thousand Snows” embrace a blackened speed identity where icy tremolos, demented double-bass attacks, and progressive ride patterns imbue a sinister edge outside typical HM-2 purism. Harrowed also pulls from the American scene. “The Eternal Hunger” mirrors the swampy, gore-soaked roots of early Autopsy and Death, while the haunting, clean arpeggios driving the title track and “The Haunter” resurrect Slayer’s “Seasons in the Abyss.” Strategic moments of suspense, where the duo strips away the distorted crust in favor of suspenseful intros and bridges, only make the final blows feel more devastating as hammering half-time grooves (“Blood Covenant”) and esoteric patterns (“Formaldehyde Dreaming,” “The Reins”) work well to keep the listener off-balance.

While Harrowed’s varied songwriting is largely airtight, certain songs reveal minor cracks. “The Reins” suffers from a disjointed bridge that briefly stalls the track’s momentum, though Lindmark’s technical drumming and visceral vocal attack do well to anchor the chaos. There are also occasional moments when tracks feel like retreads, suggesting Harrowed may have hit the bottom of their bag of tricks. “Formaldehyde Dreaming,” for instance, relies on a riff set strikingly similar to those found in “Bayonet” and “The Cold of A Thousand Snows,” while the clean intro of “The Eternal Hunger” echoes “The Haunter.” Furthermore, the title track’s brooding build-up fails to deliver a proportional payoff, indicating the track would have benefited from more editing. Despite these slip-ups, however, The Eternal Hunger remains 36 minutes of grime-soaked efficiency that favors memorable songwriting over high-concept filler.

Harrowed successfully pays homage to the Swedish spirit without merely exhuming its grave. By channeling a wide-reaching spectrum of influences and pushing them through a modern SweDeath filter, they’ve created a record that is easy to like and refuses to grow stale. Much of The Eternal Hunger’s success stems from Harrowed’s balanced and varied songwriting, with Lindmark and Alpadie both pulling their weight equally to flex their creative muscle and produce material that sounds both familiar and surprisingly fresh. A debut with this much power is impressive, especially coming from only two people. If this is what the new wave of SweDeath sounds like, I’m on board—and you should be too.

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Dying Victims Productions
Websites: dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/the-eternal-hunger | facebook.com/harroweddeathmetal
Releases Worldwide: February 27th, 2026

I’ve kicked off this year with a good old-fashioned death binge. My putrid immersion has taken me around the world so far: first to Chile, then across the Pacific to Australia, and now back across continents to Sweden. Next up is Stockholm-based duo Harrowed. Consisting of dual-threat drummer and vocalist Adam Lindmark (ex-Morbus Chron) and guitarist/bassist Tobias Alpadie (VAK and former live guitarist for Tribulation), the pair linked up through a past project to pay homage to the SweDeath sounds of olde. With only a demo and a split to their name, their debut album, The Eternal Hunger, unleashes Harrowed’s fetid disposition upon the world with a fresh edge, proving these Swedes are more than just HM-2 clones.

But rest easy—no HM-2 pedals were harmed in the making of The Eternal Hunger. Instead, Harrowed delivers enough primitive-drenched filth to satisfy any SweDeath devotee craving the crunch. Alpadie’s serrated tremolos and lacerating riffs cut like rotary blades, while Lindmark’s feverish blasts and tribal tom rolls drench highlights like “Blood Covenant” and “The Cold of A Thousand Snows” in a heavy layer of cavernous abrasion, tearing through the speakers with surgical precision. The Stockholm sound’s hardcore punk DNA is also front and center, as the duo rips through tracks like “Ultra Terrene Phantasmagoria,” “Bayonet,” and “The Reins” with high-octane skank beats and wailing dirges. Lindmark’s vocals are a caustic mix of barbaric regurgitations, adding formaldehyde-infused dressing on Harrowed’s cadaver sandwich. Tied together by a punchy production that preserves the weight of the muddy sound of yore while also maintaining a modern, nimble edge, every disgusting note on The Eternal Hunger lands with maximum impact.

The Eternal Hunger by Harrowed

The Eternal Hunger channels the spirit of ’90s-era Entombed, yet Harrowed also weaponizes influences from far beyond Swedish borders. The duo frequently abandons standard old-school formulas to explore a diverse palette of unbridled savagery. On “Blood Covenant,” Lindmark’s stampeding, guttural-punctuated rhythms and turbulent transitions coalesce with Alpadie’s blazing fretwork, leaning closer to classic thrash than typical SweDeath. Pivoting from there, “Ultra Terrene Phantasmagoria” and “The Cold of A Thousand Snows” embrace a blackened speed identity where icy tremolos, demented double-bass attacks, and progressive ride patterns imbue a sinister edge outside typical HM-2 purism. Harrowed also pulls from the American scene. “The Eternal Hunger” mirrors the swampy, gore-soaked roots of early Autopsy and Death, while the haunting, clean arpeggios driving the title track and “The Haunter” resurrect Slayer’s “Seasons in the Abyss.” Strategic moments of suspense, where the duo strips away the distorted crust in favor of suspenseful intros and bridges, only make the final blows feel more devastating as hammering half-time grooves (“Blood Covenant”) and esoteric patterns (“Formaldehyde Dreaming,” “The Reins”) work well to keep the listener off-balance.

While Harrowed’s varied songwriting is largely airtight, certain songs reveal minor cracks. “The Reins” suffers from a disjointed bridge that briefly stalls the track’s momentum, though Lindmark’s technical drumming and visceral vocal attack do well to anchor the chaos. There are also occasional moments when tracks feel like retreads, suggesting Harrowed may have hit the bottom of their bag of tricks. “Formaldehyde Dreaming,” for instance, relies on a riff set strikingly similar to those found in “Bayonet” and “The Cold of A Thousand Snows,” while the clean intro of “The Eternal Hunger” echoes “The Haunter.” Furthermore, the title track’s brooding build-up fails to deliver a proportional payoff, indicating the track would have benefited from more editing. Despite these slip-ups, however, The Eternal Hunger remains 36 minutes of grime-soaked efficiency that favors memorable songwriting over high-concept filler.

Harrowed successfully pays homage to the Swedish spirit without merely exhuming its grave. By channeling a wide-reaching spectrum of influences and pushing them through a modern SweDeath filter, they’ve created a record that is easy to like and refuses to grow stale. Much of The Eternal Hunger’s success stems from Harrowed’s balanced and varied songwriting, with Lindmark and Alpadie both pulling their weight equally to flex their creative muscle and produce material that sounds both familiar and surprisingly fresh. A debut with this much power is impressive, especially coming from only two people. If this is what the new wave of SweDeath sounds like, I’m on board—and you should be too.

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Dying Victims Productions
Websites: dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/the-eternal-hunger | facebook.com/harroweddeathmetal
Releases Worldwide: February 27th, 2026

It's monday. Time to blast some Entombed 🤘

#Entombed #nowplaying

It's monday. Time to blast some Entombed 🤘

#Entombed #nowplaying

It's monday. Time to blast some Entombed 🤘

#Entombed #nowplaying

It's monday. Time to blast some Entombed 🤘

#Entombed #nowplaying

It's monday. Time to blast some Entombed 🤘

#Entombed #nowplaying

Da höre ich mir doch lieber das an. Sinnloses Geböller da draußen kann mich mal. Können nicht mal mehr die Uhr lesen.
#nowplaying #vinyl #vinylrecords #Entombed #Rock #Metal #DeathMetal #Earache

Da höre ich mir doch lieber das an. Sinnloses Geböller da draußen kann mich mal. Können nicht mal mehr die Uhr lesen.
#nowplaying #vinyl #vinylrecords #Entombed #Rock #Metal #DeathMetal #Earache

Da höre ich mir doch lieber das an. Sinnloses Geböller da draußen kann mich mal. Können nicht mal mehr die Uhr lesen.
#nowplaying #vinyl #vinylrecords #Entombed #Rock #Metal #DeathMetal #Earache

Tuesday evening, and my thoughts revolve around #Entombed and To Ride, Shoot Straight And Speak The Truth. What does this say about me? #Music #Metal #DeathMetal #DeathNRoll m.youtube.com/watch?v=LVNt...

To Ride, Shoot Straight And Sp...

Tuesday evening, and my thoughts revolve around #Entombed and To Ride, Shoot Straight And Speak The Truth. What does this say about me? #Music #Metal #DeathMetal #DeathNRoll m.youtube.com/watch?v=LVNt...

To Ride, Shoot Straight And Sp...

Tuesday evening, and my thoughts revolve around #Entombed and To Ride, Shoot Straight And Speak The Truth. What does this say about me? #Music #Metal #DeathMetal #DeathNRoll m.youtube.com/watch?v=LVNt...

To Ride, Shoot Straight And Sp...

Cemetery Skyline and Tribulation: Joint Finland tour announced for May 2026 https://www.byteseu.com/1601318/ #Amorphis #CemeterySkyline #DarkTranquillity #DimmuBorgir #Entombed #Finland #GrandCadaver #Hammerfall #IAmTheNightHorde #InFlames #Insomnium #OmniumGatherum #Satyricon #Sentenced #TheAbbey #TheHaloEffect #TheManEatingTree #Tribulation #witchery

Sepulchral – Beneath the Shroud Review

By Steel Druhm

I’m not at all well-versed on the Spanish death metal scene, but the descriptions for Sepulchral’s sophomore opus Beneath the Shroud intrigued me sufficiently to take a cautious flyer on them for a December review. End-of-year promo offerings are always a mötley stew of rejects, wannabes, never-weres, tricksy re-releases, and lo-fi basement black metal albums set to release on Christmas day, so I didn’t expect much. What I got was something interesting indeed. Sepulchral rock a very old school death metal approach with a prominent blackened streak that sometimes takes center stage. There are nods to early Entombed and the punkier Autopsy releases, and more than a little similarity to proto-black metal bands like Bathory and early Sodom. The resulting racket is brutish, slack-jawed, entertaining, and certainly nostalgia-inducing for olde heads like Yours Steely. This is pure throwback glory, and it isn’t going to move any needles forward, but it sure tries to bend them backward.

After a refined and tasteful instrumental intro, Sepulchral come out with a greasy, filthy bang on the title track, which splits the baby between d-beat-heavy Swedeath and Bathory’s immortal second album, The Return. It’s retro-as-fook, but endearing as all get out. Vocals are like early days Quothorn mixed with Autopsy’s Chris Reifert, and the frantic, bouncy riffs will remind the aged metalhead of any number of 80s proto-death and proto-metal acts. At its core, it’s just a fun, over-the-top dose of thrashy, punky death with swagger and charm. “Abandoned Feretrum” is a macap, thrashing, tantrum of a tune with awkward, stuttering riffs that bulldoze everything and everyone into a muddy mass grave as crazed vocals babble, croak, and vomit forth nonsense. I loved this one immediately and I just keep playing it. Those simple caveman power chugs that pop up are pure gainz fuel for gym time. With the basic template thus set, Sepulchral proceed to blast, hammer, smoosh, and squish you with slight variations of it over the next 35 minutes.

This very singular approach works great on “Conflagration of Sacred Bones” and the remorseless wargrinder that is “Cloaked Spectres,” which feels unstoppable due to its penchant for big, dumb, power chugs. Slower selections like “From the Crypt, the Putrid Mist” remind of long-buried 80s proto-black metallers N.M.E., due to that clonky bass sound.1 “Gravestone Covenant” is a rumbling, brain-crushing Panzer of a song that annihilates everything in its path, and “Poison Wind” is an unabated beat down, brainless and bloodthirsty. As fun as the core Sepulchral sound is, they can run into issues when they stretch songs out and try for different moods. “Torchless Crossroads” is good, but it attempts to mellow things out too much on the back-end, creating a dull, dead space that doesn’t add any real atmosphere. “Gravestone Covenant” opts for a doomy wind-out but pulls it off better, though it would be better if it were left off entirely. Another issue is the tendency for the songs to all bleed together into an agitated, writhing mush. It’s a fun one to be sure, but it does feel like a lot of the same hash and beans by the time the album wraps.

Guitarist “Gorka” digs deep into the 80s for inspiration, offering a rabid, rotten collection of riffs that sound like they were culled from the first few Bathory albums and then dumped into an Entombed-ifier filter, only to be abandoned in a public toilet with Autopsy’s Shitfun. It’s moldy, and the stench is formidable, but 90% of the fun here is generated by the frantic, unceasing riffage and chuggery. And boy, those power chugs drain IQ points at a startling rate, but I can’t get enough of them. “Gaueko” provides gruesome vocals that sit exactly between death and black metal and are often no more than a raw bark or croak. His penchant for adding frequent vomit and spewing noises as accents is a plus, and he’s a reliable narrator for the horrors Sepulchral describes. His thumping, thudding bass-work is a boon as well, bubbling away in the background and foreground as needed.

Venturing Beneath the Shroud reveals something nasty, profane, and grotesque that cannot be unheard. It’s more fun than expected, though there are noticeable warts, boils, and blemishes along the way. Sepulchral may never end up a household name outside of their area of influence, but they have something cool going on with this mega-retro sound. If you appreciate the early days of extreme metal, take a whiff of this piece of offal.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Soulseller Records
Websites: sepulchraldeathmetal.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/sepulchraldeathmetal | instagram.com/sepulchral.osdm
Releases Worldwide: December 5th, 2025

#2025 #30 #autopsy #bathory #beneathTheShroud #deathMetal #dec25 #entombed #nME #review #reviews #sepulchral #sodom #soulsellerRecords #spanishMetal

Sepulchral – Beneath the Shroud Review

By Steel Druhm

I’m not at all well-versed on the Spanish death metal scene, but the descriptions for Sepulchral’s sophomore opus Beneath the Shroud intrigued me sufficiently to take a cautious flyer on them for a December review. End-of-year promo offerings are always a mötley stew of rejects, wannabes, never-weres, tricksy re-releases, and lo-fi basement black metal albums set to release on Christmas day, so I didn’t expect much. What I got was something interesting indeed. Sepulchral rock a very old school death metal approach with a prominent blackened streak that sometimes takes center stage. There are nods to early Entombed and the punkier Autopsy releases, and more than a little similarity to proto-black metal bands like Bathory and early Sodom. The resulting racket is brutish, slack-jawed, entertaining, and certainly nostalgia-inducing for olde heads like Yours Steely. This is pure throwback glory, and it isn’t going to move any needles forward, but it sure tries to bend them backward.

After a refined and tasteful instrumental intro, Sepulchral come out with a greasy, filthy bang on the title track, which splits the baby between d-beat-heavy Swedeath and Bathory’s immortal second album, The Return. It’s retro-as-fook, but endearing as all get out. Vocals are like early days Quothorn mixed with Autopsy’s Chris Reifert, and the frantic, bouncy riffs will remind the aged metalhead of any number of 80s proto-death and proto-metal acts. At its core, it’s just a fun, over-the-top dose of thrashy, punky death with swagger and charm. “Abandoned Feretrum” is a macap, thrashing, tantrum of a tune with awkward, stuttering riffs that bulldoze everything and everyone into a muddy mass grave as crazed vocals babble, croak, and vomit forth nonsense. I loved this one immediately and I just keep playing it. Those simple caveman power chugs that pop up are pure gainz fuel for gym time. With the basic template thus set, Sepulchral proceed to blast, hammer, smoosh, and squish you with slight variations of it over the next 35 minutes.

This very singular approach works great on “Conflagration of Sacred Bones” and the remorseless wargrinder that is “Cloaked Spectres,” which feels unstoppable due to its penchant for big, dumb, power chugs. Slower selections like “From the Crypt, the Putrid Mist” remind of long-buried 80s proto-black metallers N.M.E., due to that clonky bass sound.1 “Gravestone Covenant” is a rumbling, brain-crushing Panzer of a song that annihilates everything in its path, and “Poison Wind” is an unabated beat down, brainless and bloodthirsty. As fun as the core Sepulchral sound is, they can run into issues when they stretch songs out and try for different moods. “Torchless Crossroads” is good, but it attempts to mellow things out too much on the back-end, creating a dull, dead space that doesn’t add any real atmosphere. “Gravestone Covenant” opts for a doomy wind-out but pulls it off better, though it would be better if it were left off entirely. Another issue is the tendency for the songs to all bleed together into an agitated, writhing mush. It’s a fun one to be sure, but it does feel like a lot of the same hash and beans by the time the album wraps.

Guitarist “Gorka” digs deep into the 80s for inspiration, offering a rabid, rotten collection of riffs that sound like they were culled from the first few Bathory albums and then dumped into an Entombed-ifier filter, only to be abandoned in a public toilet with Autopsy’s Shitfun. It’s moldy, and the stench is formidable, but 90% of the fun here is generated by the frantic, unceasing riffage and chuggery. And boy, those power chugs drain IQ points at a startling rate, but I can’t get enough of them. “Gaueko” provides gruesome vocals that sit exactly between death and black metal and are often no more than a raw bark or croak. His penchant for adding frequent vomit and spewing noises as accents is a plus, and he’s a reliable narrator for the horrors Sepulchral describes. His thumping, thudding bass-work is a boon as well, bubbling away in the background and foreground as needed.

Venturing Beneath the Shroud reveals something nasty, profane, and grotesque that cannot be unheard. It’s more fun than expected, though there are noticeable warts, boils, and blemishes along the way. Sepulchral may never end up a household name outside of their area of influence, but they have something cool going on with this mega-retro sound. If you appreciate the early days of extreme metal, take a whiff of this piece of offal.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Soulseller Records
Websites: sepulchraldeathmetal.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/sepulchraldeathmetal | instagram.com/sepulchral.osdm
Releases Worldwide: December 5th, 2025

#2025 #30 #autopsy #bathory #beneathTheShroud #deathMetal #dec25 #entombed #nME #review #reviews #sepulchral #sodom #soulsellerRecords #spanishMetal

Sepulchral – Beneath the Shroud Review

By Steel Druhm

I’m not at all well-versed on the Spanish death metal scene, but the descriptions for Sepulchral’s sophomore opus Beneath the Shroud intrigued me sufficiently to take a cautious flyer on them for a December review. End-of-year promo offerings are always a mötley stew of rejects, wannabes, never-weres, tricksy re-releases, and lo-fi basement black metal albums set to release on Christmas day, so I didn’t expect much. What I got was something interesting indeed. Sepulchral rock a very old school death metal approach with a prominent blackened streak that sometimes takes center stage. There are nods to early Entombed and the punkier Autopsy releases, and more than a little similarity to proto-black metal bands like Bathory and early Sodom. The resulting racket is brutish, slack-jawed, entertaining, and certainly nostalgia-inducing for olde heads like Yours Steely. This is pure throwback glory, and it isn’t going to move any needles forward, but it sure tries to bend them backward.

After a refined and tasteful instrumental intro, Sepulchral come out with a greasy, filthy bang on the title track, which splits the baby between d-beat-heavy Swedeath and Bathory’s immortal second album, The Return. It’s retro-as-fook, but endearing as all get out. Vocals are like early days Quothorn mixed with Autopsy’s Chris Reifert, and the frantic, bouncy riffs will remind the aged metalhead of any number of 80s proto-death and proto-metal acts. At its core, it’s just a fun, over-the-top dose of thrashy, punky death with swagger and charm. “Abandoned Feretrum” is a macap, thrashing, tantrum of a tune with awkward, stuttering riffs that bulldoze everything and everyone into a muddy mass grave as crazed vocals babble, croak, and vomit forth nonsense. I loved this one immediately and I just keep playing it. Those simple caveman power chugs that pop up are pure gainz fuel for gym time. With the basic template thus set, Sepulchral proceed to blast, hammer, smoosh, and squish you with slight variations of it over the next 35 minutes.

This very singular approach works great on “Conflagration of Sacred Bones” and the remorseless wargrinder that is “Cloaked Spectres,” which feels unstoppable due to its penchant for big, dumb, power chugs. Slower selections like “From the Crypt, the Putrid Mist” remind of long-buried 80s proto-black metallers N.M.E., due to that clonky bass sound.1 “Gravestone Covenant” is a rumbling, brain-crushing Panzer of a song that annihilates everything in its path, and “Poison Wind” is an unabated beat down, brainless and bloodthirsty. As fun as the core Sepulchral sound is, they can run into issues when they stretch songs out and try for different moods. “Torchless Crossroads” is good, but it attempts to mellow things out too much on the back-end, creating a dull, dead space that doesn’t add any real atmosphere. “Gravestone Covenant” opts for a doomy wind-out but pulls it off better, though it would be better if it were left off entirely. Another issue is the tendency for the songs to all bleed together into an agitated, writhing mush. It’s a fun one to be sure, but it does feel like a lot of the same hash and beans by the time the album wraps.

Guitarist “Gorka” digs deep into the 80s for inspiration, offering a rabid, rotten collection of riffs that sound like they were culled from the first few Bathory albums and then dumped into an Entombed-ifier filter, only to be abandoned in a public toilet with Autopsy’s Shitfun. It’s moldy, and the stench is formidable, but 90% of the fun here is generated by the frantic, unceasing riffage and chuggery. And boy, those power chugs drain IQ points at a startling rate, but I can’t get enough of them. “Gaueko” provides gruesome vocals that sit exactly between death and black metal and are often no more than a raw bark or croak. His penchant for adding frequent vomit and spewing noises as accents is a plus, and he’s a reliable narrator for the horrors Sepulchral describes. His thumping, thudding bass-work is a boon as well, bubbling away in the background and foreground as needed.

Venturing Beneath the Shroud reveals something nasty, profane, and grotesque that cannot be unheard. It’s more fun than expected, though there are noticeable warts, boils, and blemishes along the way. Sepulchral may never end up a household name outside of their area of influence, but they have something cool going on with this mega-retro sound. If you appreciate the early days of extreme metal, take a whiff of this piece of offal.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Soulseller Records
Websites: sepulchraldeathmetal.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/sepulchraldeathmetal | instagram.com/sepulchral.osdm
Releases Worldwide: December 5th, 2025

#2025 #30 #autopsy #bathory #beneathTheShroud #deathMetal #dec25 #entombed #nME #review #reviews #sepulchral #sodom #soulsellerRecords #spanishMetal

Sepulchral – Beneath the Shroud Review

By Steel Druhm

I’m not at all well-versed on the Spanish death metal scene, but the descriptions for Sepulchral’s sophomore opus Beneath the Shroud intrigued me sufficiently to take a cautious flyer on them for a December review. End-of-year promo offerings are always a mötley stew of rejects, wannabes, never-weres, tricksy re-releases, and lo-fi basement black metal albums set to release on Christmas day, so I didn’t expect much. What I got was something interesting indeed. Sepulchral rock a very old school death metal approach with a prominent blackened streak that sometimes takes center stage. There are nods to early Entombed and the punkier Autopsy releases, and more than a little similarity to proto-black metal bands like Bathory and early Sodom. The resulting racket is brutish, slack-jawed, entertaining, and certainly nostalgia-inducing for olde heads like Yours Steely. This is pure throwback glory, and it isn’t going to move any needles forward, but it sure tries to bend them backward.

After a refined and tasteful instrumental intro, Sepulchral come out with a greasy, filthy bang on the title track, which splits the baby between d-beat-heavy Swedeath and Bathory’s immortal second album, The Return. It’s retro-as-fook, but endearing as all get out. Vocals are like early days Quothorn mixed with Autopsy’s Chris Reifert, and the frantic, bouncy riffs will remind the aged metalhead of any number of 80s proto-death and proto-metal acts. At its core, it’s just a fun, over-the-top dose of thrashy, punky death with swagger and charm. “Abandoned Feretrum” is a macap, thrashing, tantrum of a tune with awkward, stuttering riffs that bulldoze everything and everyone into a muddy mass grave as crazed vocals babble, croak, and vomit forth nonsense. I loved this one immediately and I just keep playing it. Those simple caveman power chugs that pop up are pure gainz fuel for gym time. With the basic template thus set, Sepulchral proceed to blast, hammer, smoosh, and squish you with slight variations of it over the next 35 minutes.

This very singular approach works great on “Conflagration of Sacred Bones” and the remorseless wargrinder that is “Cloaked Spectres,” which feels unstoppable due to its penchant for big, dumb, power chugs. Slower selections like “From the Crypt, the Putrid Mist” remind of long-buried 80s proto-black metallers N.M.E., due to that clonky bass sound.1 “Gravestone Covenant” is a rumbling, brain-crushing Panzer of a song that annihilates everything in its path, and “Poison Wind” is an unabated beat down, brainless and bloodthirsty. As fun as the core Sepulchral sound is, they can run into issues when they stretch songs out and try for different moods. “Torchless Crossroads” is good, but it attempts to mellow things out too much on the back-end, creating a dull, dead space that doesn’t add any real atmosphere. “Gravestone Covenant” opts for a doomy wind-out but pulls it off better, though it would be better if it were left off entirely. Another issue is the tendency for the songs to all bleed together into an agitated, writhing mush. It’s a fun one to be sure, but it does feel like a lot of the same hash and beans by the time the album wraps.

Guitarist “Gorka” digs deep into the 80s for inspiration, offering a rabid, rotten collection of riffs that sound like they were culled from the first few Bathory albums and then dumped into an Entombed-ifier filter, only to be abandoned in a public toilet with Autopsy’s Shitfun. It’s moldy, and the stench is formidable, but 90% of the fun here is generated by the frantic, unceasing riffage and chuggery. And boy, those power chugs drain IQ points at a startling rate, but I can’t get enough of them. “Gaueko” provides gruesome vocals that sit exactly between death and black metal and are often no more than a raw bark or croak. His penchant for adding frequent vomit and spewing noises as accents is a plus, and he’s a reliable narrator for the horrors Sepulchral describes. His thumping, thudding bass-work is a boon as well, bubbling away in the background and foreground as needed.

Venturing Beneath the Shroud reveals something nasty, profane, and grotesque that cannot be unheard. It’s more fun than expected, though there are noticeable warts, boils, and blemishes along the way. Sepulchral may never end up a household name outside of their area of influence, but they have something cool going on with this mega-retro sound. If you appreciate the early days of extreme metal, take a whiff of this piece of offal.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Soulseller Records
Websites: sepulchraldeathmetal.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/sepulchraldeathmetal | instagram.com/sepulchral.osdm
Releases Worldwide: December 5th, 2025

#2025 #30 #autopsy #bathory #beneathTheShroud #deathMetal #dec25 #entombed #nME #review #reviews #sepulchral #sodom #soulsellerRecords #spanishMetal

Sepulchral – Beneath the Shroud Review

By Steel Druhm

I’m not at all well-versed on the Spanish death metal scene, but the descriptions for Sepulchral’s sophomore opus Beneath the Shroud intrigued me sufficiently to take a cautious flyer on them for a December review. End-of-year promo offerings are always a mötley stew of rejects, wannabes, never-weres, tricksy re-releases, and lo-fi basement black metal albums set to release on Christmas day, so I didn’t expect much. What I got was something interesting indeed. Sepulchral rock a very old school death metal approach with a prominent blackened streak that sometimes takes center stage. There are nods to early Entombed and the punkier Autopsy releases, and more than a little similarity to proto-black metal bands like Bathory and early Sodom. The resulting racket is brutish, slack-jawed, entertaining, and certainly nostalgia-inducing for olde heads like Yours Steely. This is pure throwback glory, and it isn’t going to move any needles forward, but it sure tries to bend them backward.

After a refined and tasteful instrumental intro, Sepulchral come out with a greasy, filthy bang on the title track, which splits the baby between d-beat-heavy Swedeath and Bathory’s immortal second album, The Return. It’s retro-as-fook, but endearing as all get out. Vocals are like early days Quothorn mixed with Autopsy’s Chris Reifert, and the frantic, bouncy riffs will remind the aged metalhead of any number of 80s proto-death and proto-metal acts. At its core, it’s just a fun, over-the-top dose of thrashy, punky death with swagger and charm. “Abandoned Feretrum” is a macap, thrashing, tantrum of a tune with awkward, stuttering riffs that bulldoze everything and everyone into a muddy mass grave as crazed vocals babble, croak, and vomit forth nonsense. I loved this one immediately and I just keep playing it. Those simple caveman power chugs that pop up are pure gainz fuel for gym time. With the basic template thus set, Sepulchral proceed to blast, hammer, smoosh, and squish you with slight variations of it over the next 35 minutes.

This very singular approach works great on “Conflagration of Sacred Bones” and the remorseless wargrinder that is “Cloaked Spectres,” which feels unstoppable due to its penchant for big, dumb, power chugs. Slower selections like “From the Crypt, the Putrid Mist” remind of long-buried 80s proto-black metallers N.M.E., due to that clonky bass sound.1 “Gravestone Covenant” is a rumbling, brain-crushing Panzer of a song that annihilates everything in its path, and “Poison Wind” is an unabated beat down, brainless and bloodthirsty. As fun as the core Sepulchral sound is, they can run into issues when they stretch songs out and try for different moods. “Torchless Crossroads” is good, but it attempts to mellow things out too much on the back-end, creating a dull, dead space that doesn’t add any real atmosphere. “Gravestone Covenant” opts for a doomy wind-out but pulls it off better, though it would be better if it were left off entirely. Another issue is the tendency for the songs to all bleed together into an agitated, writhing mush. It’s a fun one to be sure, but it does feel like a lot of the same hash and beans by the time the album wraps.

Guitarist “Gorka” digs deep into the 80s for inspiration, offering a rabid, rotten collection of riffs that sound like they were culled from the first few Bathory albums and then dumped into an Entombed-ifier filter, only to be abandoned in a public toilet with Autopsy’s Shitfun. It’s moldy, and the stench is formidable, but 90% of the fun here is generated by the frantic, unceasing riffage and chuggery. And boy, those power chugs drain IQ points at a startling rate, but I can’t get enough of them. “Gaueko” provides gruesome vocals that sit exactly between death and black metal and are often no more than a raw bark or croak. His penchant for adding frequent vomit and spewing noises as accents is a plus, and he’s a reliable narrator for the horrors Sepulchral describes. His thumping, thudding bass-work is a boon as well, bubbling away in the background and foreground as needed.

Venturing Beneath the Shroud reveals something nasty, profane, and grotesque that cannot be unheard. It’s more fun than expected, though there are noticeable warts, boils, and blemishes along the way. Sepulchral may never end up a household name outside of their area of influence, but they have something cool going on with this mega-retro sound. If you appreciate the early days of extreme metal, take a whiff of this piece of offal.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Soulseller Records
Websites: sepulchraldeathmetal.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/sepulchraldeathmetal | instagram.com/sepulchral.osdm
Releases Worldwide: December 5th, 2025

#2025 #30 #autopsy #bathory #beneathTheShroud #deathMetal #dec25 #entombed #nME #review #reviews #sepulchral #sodom #soulsellerRecords #spanishMetal

https://www.europesays.com/ie/205877/ Carnal Savagery – Crypt of Decay Review #2.5 #2025 #CarnalSavagery #CryptOfDecay #DeathMetal #Dismember #Éire #Entertainment #Entombed #GravewormsCadaversCoffinsAndBones #IE #Ireland #MoribundRecords #Music #Nov28 #Review #Reviews #SlaughterOfTheSoul #SwedishMetal

Carnal Savagery – Crypt of Decay Review

By Steel Druhm

Advanced scientific studies indicate that the style of metal known as “Swedeath” will not die and may, in fact, be incapable of being killed. The foundation created by Entombed and Dismember in the early 90s cemented the “Stockholm Sound” so deeply in musical bedrock that forecasters predict it could function like an everflowing stream for untold aeons. Enter Sweden’s Carnal Savagery. This gruesome duo have gone in big on the Swedeath formula, releasing 6 albums of it since 2020, all of which pay loving homage to the genre’s forefathers. Crypt of Decay is their 7th album in 5 years, so clearly, they just can’t stop spewing this fetid gunk into the world at a reckless pace. What does the new material sound like? Well, DisEntombed, of course. It’s got exactly zero new ideas, even less innovation, and you’ll be subjected to endlessly recycled ideas all powered by the force of the HM-2 pedal. Guitars will buzz, vocals will wretch, and you’ll ingest mass quantities d-beated death. Sound good?

As with many Carnal Savagery releases, they come out strong with a ripping, tearing monstrosity on “Entangled in Barbed Wire.” Rather than the usual thievery from the first few Dismember records, this sounds a whole lot like something off Slaughter of the Soul due to the riff patterns and the hyperkinetic energy (maybe even too much like something off Slaughter of the Soul). Flagrant influence humping aside, it’s a rousing blast of death metal with teeth and badass energy, so it works. As “Amputation” rolls in, it’s back to the Stockholm salt mines for the expected poaching off albums like Indecent and Obscene and Massive Killing Capacity. What sells it for me besides the furious energy is how it sounds like the vocalist keeps bellowing “GRAMPUTATION!,” leaving me to wonder why he hates old dudes so much. “Torn from the Grave” is another burner with vicious, blasting fury, and it’s interesting enough to get by despite some oh so familiar riffs.

From here, however, the ground becomes more unsteady. Some tracks just kinda lie there and refuse to play ball. “Scalped and Flayed” goes too far down a death-doom rat hole and feels lifeless and dull, while “Gruesome Death” feels generic and stock standard. At times, there’s an injection of the classic Wolverine Blues swagger and rock-based swing as on “Curse of the Catacomb” and the title track, but it doesn’t completely work. Overall, you get roughly half an album’s worth of C+ and B-level Swedeath with some clunkers and also-rans popping up to drag the momentum downward. Unfortunately, this is an issue Carnal Savagery struggles with regularly. They write some bangers to hook you in, then the wheels come off the War Wagon before they reach the finish line. Thankfully, most of the songs run only 2-3 minutes, so nothing gums up the works too severely (except “Gruesome Death”), and the 34-plus-minute runtime is short enough to stave off most variants of Swedeath fatigue.

Swedeath needs riotous, raucous and deadly riffs to fully capture the brainpan, and Mikael Lindgren can and does deliver some of these, usually with a strong Dismember flavor. But he also lapses into less stellar leads and ideas a bit too often, causing some cuts to feel generic and half-baked. His flowery solo style is a nice relief from the neanderthal buzz and brutality, showing another side of the duo’s identity, and that should be explored a bit more often to keep things interesting. Mattias Lilja’s death vocals are solid and full of greasy charm, sitting somewhere between the late, great L.G. Petrov and Dismember’s Matti Kärki. He doesn’t offer much in the way of versatility, but you don’t come here for that anyway. As per usual, it’s the songwriting that lets them down, with some tracks being killer and others ending up closer to filler.

Carnal Savagery usually serve up 3-4 songs that put a meat fork in your adrenal gland and activate your altered beat. The rest range from okay and underwhelming. Crypt of Decay is right in that modality. The good is fun, the rest is tolerable but non-essential. That sounds like a playlist poacher to me! Desecrate the Crypt and take what you like and leave the rest to rot in peace.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Moribund Records
Websites: facebook.com/carnalsavagery | instagram.com/carnalsavagery
Releases Worldwide: November 28th, 2025

#25 #2025 #carnalSavagery #cryptOfDecay #deathMetal #dismember #entombed #gravewormsCadaversCoffinsAndBones #moribundRecords #nov28 #review #reviews #slaughterOfTheSoul #swedishMetal

Carnal Savagery – Crypt of Decay Review

By Steel Druhm

Advanced scientific studies indicate that the style of metal known as “Swedeath” will not die and may, in fact, be incapable of being killed. The foundation created by Entombed and Dismember in the early 90s cemented the “Stockholm Sound” so deeply in musical bedrock that forecasters predict it could function like an everflowing stream for untold aeons. Enter Sweden’s Carnal Savagery. This gruesome duo have gone in big on the Swedeath formula, releasing 6 albums of it since 2020, all of which pay loving homage to the genre’s forefathers. Crypt of Decay is their 7th album in 5 years, so clearly, they just can’t stop spewing this fetid gunk into the world at a reckless pace. What does the new material sound like? Well, DisEntombed, of course. It’s got exactly zero new ideas, even less innovation, and you’ll be subjected to endlessly recycled ideas all powered by the force of the HM-2 pedal. Guitars will buzz, vocals will wretch, and you’ll ingest mass quantities d-beated death. Sound good?

As with many Carnal Savagery releases, they come out strong with a ripping, tearing monstrosity on “Entangled in Barbed Wire.” Rather than the usual thievery from the first few Dismember records, this sounds a whole lot like something off Slaughter of the Soul due to the riff patterns and the hyperkinetic energy (maybe even too much like something off Slaughter of the Soul). Flagrant influence humping aside, it’s a rousing blast of death metal with teeth and badass energy, so it works. As “Amputation” rolls in, it’s back to the Stockholm salt mines for the expected poaching off albums like Indecent and Obscene and Massive Killing Capacity. What sells it for me besides the furious energy is how it sounds like the vocalist keeps bellowing “GRAMPUTATION!,” leaving me to wonder why he hates old dudes so much. “Torn from the Grave” is another burner with vicious, blasting fury, and it’s interesting enough to get by despite some oh so familiar riffs.

From here, however, the ground becomes more unsteady. Some tracks just kinda lie there and refuse to play ball. “Scalped and Flayed” goes too far down a death-doom rat hole and feels lifeless and dull, while “Gruesome Death” feels generic and stock standard. At times, there’s an injection of the classic Wolverine Blues swagger and rock-based swing as on “Curse of the Catacomb” and the title track, but it doesn’t completely work. Overall, you get roughly half an album’s worth of C+ and B-level Swedeath with some clunkers and also-rans popping up to drag the momentum downward. Unfortunately, this is an issue Carnal Savagery struggles with regularly. They write some bangers to hook you in, then the wheels come off the War Wagon before they reach the finish line. Thankfully, most of the songs run only 2-3 minutes, so nothing gums up the works too severely (except “Gruesome Death”), and the 34-plus-minute runtime is short enough to stave off most variants of Swedeath fatigue.

Swedeath needs riotous, raucous and deadly riffs to fully capture the brainpan, and Mikael Lindgren can and does deliver some of these, usually with a strong Dismember flavor. But he also lapses into less stellar leads and ideas a bit too often, causing some cuts to feel generic and half-baked. His flowery solo style is a nice relief from the neanderthal buzz and brutality, showing another side of the duo’s identity, and that should be explored a bit more often to keep things interesting. Mattias Lilja’s death vocals are solid and full of greasy charm, sitting somewhere between the late, great L.G. Petrov and Dismember’s Matti Kärki. He doesn’t offer much in the way of versatility, but you don’t come here for that anyway. As per usual, it’s the songwriting that lets them down, with some tracks being killer and others ending up closer to filler.

Carnal Savagery usually serve up 3-4 songs that put a meat fork in your adrenal gland and activate your altered beat. The rest range from okay and underwhelming. Crypt of Decay is right in that modality. The good is fun, the rest is tolerable but non-essential. That sounds like a playlist poacher to me! Desecrate the Crypt and take what you like and leave the rest to rot in peace.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Moribund Records
Websites: facebook.com/carnalsavagery | instagram.com/carnalsavagery
Releases Worldwide: November 28th, 2025

#25 #2025 #carnalSavagery #cryptOfDecay #deathMetal #dismember #entombed #gravewormsCadaversCoffinsAndBones #moribundRecords #nov28 #review #reviews #slaughterOfTheSoul #swedishMetal

Carnal Savagery – Crypt of Decay Review

By Steel Druhm

Advanced scientific studies indicate that the style of metal known as “Swedeath” will not die and may, in fact, be incapable of being killed. The foundation created by Entombed and Dismember in the early 90s cemented the “Stockholm Sound” so deeply in musical bedrock that forecasters predict it could function like an everflowing stream for untold aeons. Enter Sweden’s Carnal Savagery. This gruesome duo have gone in big on the Swedeath formula, releasing 6 albums of it since 2020, all of which pay loving homage to the genre’s forefathers. Crypt of Decay is their 7th album in 5 years, so clearly, they just can’t stop spewing this fetid gunk into the world at a reckless pace. What does the new material sound like? Well, DisEntombed, of course. It’s got exactly zero new ideas, even less innovation, and you’ll be subjected to endlessly recycled ideas all powered by the force of the HM-2 pedal. Guitars will buzz, vocals will wretch, and you’ll ingest mass quantities d-beated death. Sound good?

As with many Carnal Savagery releases, they come out strong with a ripping, tearing monstrosity on “Entangled in Barbed Wire.” Rather than the usual thievery from the first few Dismember records, this sounds a whole lot like something off Slaughter of the Soul due to the riff patterns and the hyperkinetic energy (maybe even too much like something off Slaughter of the Soul). Flagrant influence humping aside, it’s a rousing blast of death metal with teeth and badass energy, so it works. As “Amputation” rolls in, it’s back to the Stockholm salt mines for the expected poaching off albums like Indecent and Obscene and Massive Killing Capacity. What sells it for me besides the furious energy is how it sounds like the vocalist keeps bellowing “GRAMPUTATION!,” leaving me to wonder why he hates old dudes so much. “Torn from the Grave” is another burner with vicious, blasting fury, and it’s interesting enough to get by despite some oh so familiar riffs.

From here, however, the ground becomes more unsteady. Some tracks just kinda lie there and refuse to play ball. “Scalped and Flayed” goes too far down a death-doom rat hole and feels lifeless and dull, while “Gruesome Death” feels generic and stock standard. At times, there’s an injection of the classic Wolverine Blues swagger and rock-based swing as on “Curse of the Catacomb” and the title track, but it doesn’t completely work. Overall, you get roughly half an album’s worth of C+ and B-level Swedeath with some clunkers and also-rans popping up to drag the momentum downward. Unfortunately, this is an issue Carnal Savagery struggles with regularly. They write some bangers to hook you in, then the wheels come off the War Wagon before they reach the finish line. Thankfully, most of the songs run only 2-3 minutes, so nothing gums up the works too severely (except “Gruesome Death”), and the 34-plus-minute runtime is short enough to stave off most variants of Swedeath fatigue.

Swedeath needs riotous, raucous and deadly riffs to fully capture the brainpan, and Mikael Lindgren can and does deliver some of these, usually with a strong Dismember flavor. But he also lapses into less stellar leads and ideas a bit too often, causing some cuts to feel generic and half-baked. His flowery solo style is a nice relief from the neanderthal buzz and brutality, showing another side of the duo’s identity, and that should be explored a bit more often to keep things interesting. Mattias Lilja’s death vocals are solid and full of greasy charm, sitting somewhere between the late, great L.G. Petrov and Dismember’s Matti Kärki. He doesn’t offer much in the way of versatility, but you don’t come here for that anyway. As per usual, it’s the songwriting that lets them down, with some tracks being killer and others ending up closer to filler.

Carnal Savagery usually serve up 3-4 songs that put a meat fork in your adrenal gland and activate your altered beat. The rest range from okay and underwhelming. Crypt of Decay is right in that modality. The good is fun, the rest is tolerable but non-essential. That sounds like a playlist poacher to me! Desecrate the Crypt and take what you like and leave the rest to rot in peace.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Moribund Records
Websites: facebook.com/carnalsavagery | instagram.com/carnalsavagery
Releases Worldwide: November 28th, 2025

#25 #2025 #carnalSavagery #cryptOfDecay #deathMetal #dismember #entombed #gravewormsCadaversCoffinsAndBones #moribundRecords #nov28 #review #reviews #slaughterOfTheSoul #swedishMetal

Carnal Savagery – Crypt of Decay Review

By Steel Druhm

Advanced scientific studies indicate that the style of metal known as “Swedeath” will not die and may, in fact, be incapable of being killed. The foundation created by Entombed and Dismember in the early 90s cemented the “Stockholm Sound” so deeply in musical bedrock that forecasters predict it could function like an everflowing stream for untold aeons. Enter Sweden’s Carnal Savagery. This gruesome duo have gone in big on the Swedeath formula, releasing 6 albums of it since 2020, all of which pay loving homage to the genre’s forefathers. Crypt of Decay is their 7th album in 5 years, so clearly, they just can’t stop spewing this fetid gunk into the world at a reckless pace. What does the new material sound like? Well, DisEntombed, of course. It’s got exactly zero new ideas, even less innovation, and you’ll be subjected to endlessly recycled ideas all powered by the force of the HM-2 pedal. Guitars will buzz, vocals will wretch, and you’ll ingest mass quantities d-beated death. Sound good?

As with many Carnal Savagery releases, they come out strong with a ripping, tearing monstrosity on “Entangled in Barbed Wire.” Rather than the usual thievery from the first few Dismember records, this sounds a whole lot like something off Slaughter of the Soul due to the riff patterns and the hyperkinetic energy (maybe even too much like something off Slaughter of the Soul). Flagrant influence humping aside, it’s a rousing blast of death metal with teeth and badass energy, so it works. As “Amputation” rolls in, it’s back to the Stockholm salt mines for the expected poaching off albums like Indecent and Obscene and Massive Killing Capacity. What sells it for me besides the furious energy is how it sounds like the vocalist keeps bellowing “GRAMPUTATION!,” leaving me to wonder why he hates old dudes so much. “Torn from the Grave” is another burner with vicious, blasting fury, and it’s interesting enough to get by despite some oh so familiar riffs.

From here, however, the ground becomes more unsteady. Some tracks just kinda lie there and refuse to play ball. “Scalped and Flayed” goes too far down a death-doom rat hole and feels lifeless and dull, while “Gruesome Death” feels generic and stock standard. At times, there’s an injection of the classic Wolverine Blues swagger and rock-based swing as on “Curse of the Catacomb” and the title track, but it doesn’t completely work. Overall, you get roughly half an album’s worth of C+ and B-level Swedeath with some clunkers and also-rans popping up to drag the momentum downward. Unfortunately, this is an issue Carnal Savagery struggles with regularly. They write some bangers to hook you in, then the wheels come off the War Wagon before they reach the finish line. Thankfully, most of the songs run only 2-3 minutes, so nothing gums up the works too severely (except “Gruesome Death”), and the 34-plus-minute runtime is short enough to stave off most variants of Swedeath fatigue.

Swedeath needs riotous, raucous and deadly riffs to fully capture the brainpan, and Mikael Lindgren can and does deliver some of these, usually with a strong Dismember flavor. But he also lapses into less stellar leads and ideas a bit too often, causing some cuts to feel generic and half-baked. His flowery solo style is a nice relief from the neanderthal buzz and brutality, showing another side of the duo’s identity, and that should be explored a bit more often to keep things interesting. Mattias Lilja’s death vocals are solid and full of greasy charm, sitting somewhere between the late, great L.G. Petrov and Dismember’s Matti Kärki. He doesn’t offer much in the way of versatility, but you don’t come here for that anyway. As per usual, it’s the songwriting that lets them down, with some tracks being killer and others ending up closer to filler.

Carnal Savagery usually serve up 3-4 songs that put a meat fork in your adrenal gland and activate your altered beat. The rest range from okay and underwhelming. Crypt of Decay is right in that modality. The good is fun, the rest is tolerable but non-essential. That sounds like a playlist poacher to me! Desecrate the Crypt and take what you like and leave the rest to rot in peace.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Moribund Records
Websites: facebook.com/carnalsavagery | instagram.com/carnalsavagery
Releases Worldwide: November 28th, 2025

#25 #2025 #carnalSavagery #cryptOfDecay #deathMetal #dismember #entombed #gravewormsCadaversCoffinsAndBones #moribundRecords #nov28 #review #reviews #slaughterOfTheSoul #swedishMetal

Carnal Savagery – Crypt of Decay Review

By Steel Druhm

Advanced scientific studies indicate that the style of metal known as “Swedeath” will not die and may, in fact, be incapable of being killed. The foundation created by Entombed and Dismember in the early 90s cemented the “Stockholm Sound” so deeply in musical bedrock that forecasters predict it could function like an everflowing stream for untold aeons. Enter Sweden’s Carnal Savagery. This gruesome duo have gone in big on the Swedeath formula, releasing 6 albums of it since 2020, all of which pay loving homage to the genre’s forefathers. Crypt of Decay is their 7th album in 5 years, so clearly, they just can’t stop spewing this fetid gunk into the world at a reckless pace. What does the new material sound like? Well, DisEntombed, of course. It’s got exactly zero new ideas, even less innovation, and you’ll be subjected to endlessly recycled ideas all powered by the force of the HM-2 pedal. Guitars will buzz, vocals will wretch, and you’ll ingest mass quantities d-beated death. Sound good?

As with many Carnal Savagery releases, they come out strong with a ripping, tearing monstrosity on “Entangled in Barbed Wire.” Rather than the usual thievery from the first few Dismember records, this sounds a whole lot like something off Slaughter of the Soul due to the riff patterns and the hyperkinetic energy (maybe even too much like something off Slaughter of the Soul). Flagrant influence humping aside, it’s a rousing blast of death metal with teeth and badass energy, so it works. As “Amputation” rolls in, it’s back to the Stockholm salt mines for the expected poaching off albums like Indecent and Obscene and Massive Killing Capacity. What sells it for me besides the furious energy is how it sounds like the vocalist keeps bellowing “GRAMPUTATION!,” leaving me to wonder why he hates old dudes so much. “Torn from the Grave” is another burner with vicious, blasting fury, and it’s interesting enough to get by despite some oh so familiar riffs.

From here, however, the ground becomes more unsteady. Some tracks just kinda lie there and refuse to play ball. “Scalped and Flayed” goes too far down a death-doom rat hole and feels lifeless and dull, while “Gruesome Death” feels generic and stock standard. At times, there’s an injection of the classic Wolverine Blues swagger and rock-based swing as on “Curse of the Catacomb” and the title track, but it doesn’t completely work. Overall, you get roughly half an album’s worth of C+ and B-level Swedeath with some clunkers and also-rans popping up to drag the momentum downward. Unfortunately, this is an issue Carnal Savagery struggles with regularly. They write some bangers to hook you in, then the wheels come off the War Wagon before they reach the finish line. Thankfully, most of the songs run only 2-3 minutes, so nothing gums up the works too severely (except “Gruesome Death”), and the 34-plus-minute runtime is short enough to stave off most variants of Swedeath fatigue.

Swedeath needs riotous, raucous and deadly riffs to fully capture the brainpan, and Mikael Lindgren can and does deliver some of these, usually with a strong Dismember flavor. But he also lapses into less stellar leads and ideas a bit too often, causing some cuts to feel generic and half-baked. His flowery solo style is a nice relief from the neanderthal buzz and brutality, showing another side of the duo’s identity, and that should be explored a bit more often to keep things interesting. Mattias Lilja’s death vocals are solid and full of greasy charm, sitting somewhere between the late, great L.G. Petrov and Dismember’s Matti Kärki. He doesn’t offer much in the way of versatility, but you don’t come here for that anyway. As per usual, it’s the songwriting that lets them down, with some tracks being killer and others ending up closer to filler.

Carnal Savagery usually serve up 3-4 songs that put a meat fork in your adrenal gland and activate your altered beat. The rest range from okay and underwhelming. Crypt of Decay is right in that modality. The good is fun, the rest is tolerable but non-essential. That sounds like a playlist poacher to me! Desecrate the Crypt and take what you like and leave the rest to rot in peace.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Moribund Records
Websites: facebook.com/carnalsavagery | instagram.com/carnalsavagery
Releases Worldwide: November 28th, 2025

#25 #2025 #carnalSavagery #cryptOfDecay #deathMetal #dismember #entombed #gravewormsCadaversCoffinsAndBones #moribundRecords #nov28 #review #reviews #slaughterOfTheSoul #swedishMetal

Just came across this Soulfly song, which Max has dedicated to LG (Petrov, Entombed) which was nice I think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JifscuVj8-U

#Metal #NewReleases #Soulfly #Entombed

Just came across this Soulfly song, which Max has dedicated to LG (Petrov, Entombed) which was nice I think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JifscuVj8-U

#Metal #NewReleases #Soulfly #Entombed

Just came across this Soulfly song, which Max has dedicated to LG (Petrov, Entombed) which was nice I think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JifscuVj8-U

#Metal #NewReleases #Soulfly #Entombed