This Danish band has been around for over 25 years and whilst their release rate isn’t the highest, the band members, both current and ex have been in or are in multiple other metal acts, the quality certainly hasn’t faltered and in more recent years the band has released two albums culminating in the excellent ‘Danmark’ released in 2022. Now the press kit information about this album is interesting because founding member MHA states that this album has appeared because he had a burst of creativity and originally it was going to be called ‘Sverige’ as a follow up to ‘Dannark’ both of which are the country names for Denmark and Sweden but in their own language. However it appears he opted for the album to be called ‘The Bastard’ as he think this is a natural follow up to the debut album ‘Ocean Of Blasphemy’ which I can tell you is a prime slab of gritty old school death metal. Listening to this latest album I can see where he is coming from because primarily the sound has that gritty abrasive thrust but has a modernised approach to make the songs feel old school yet contemporary equally. The result is an album brimming with old school deathly grisliness but manifestly modern too.
MHA has been assisted in the song writing department by one Rogga Johansson which means generally one thing when he has his hands in death metal, and that is one of bruising ingenuity and steadfast authenticity. Assisting also are Jesper Nielsen on bass and Thomas Ohlsson on drums plus there are guitar solo contributions by Thorium members Jens Peter Storm and Jose Cruz and ex member Jonas Lindblood.
I do like albums that crash into you from the moment they start and opener ‘Eclipsed’ does just that with a penetrating abrasive riff and skull crushing rhythm section. It is also extremely catchy with memorable riffing paving the way for the gruesome deathly vocals and skin stripping lead work. ‘Over The Mountains’ has a nice build up blended with solo work as the tune pivots into a slower more purposeful pace alongside the excellent vocal tone. As the song unleashes lashings of riff changes and truly destructive drum work you feel like you’re being bombarded relentlessly.
The opening riff to ‘Nightside Serenade’ is pure Scandinavian death metal to its heart, the melodic riff is catchy as the song diverts the pace into slower realms alongside a harsher vocal insert. The bombarding double bass here is utterly demolishing as the song offers up another screaming lead break and a slightly cleaner vocal tone that reminded me of Travis Ryan (Cattle Decapitation) partially. ‘Pest’ is a monstrous tune, the constant hammering of riffs and drums at the start has vast impact as the song constantly changes the tempos, but is an outright bludgeoning assault.
‘Not Equals’ had me writing down Bolt Thrower, not initially, but as the song cranks out a formidable riff break with accompanying cymbal smashes that makes the song intense yet melodic. There’s a ton of lead work here too, all of which makes the song varied and captivating but it is the riffing that old school death metal fans will adore here, as I do. ‘Underground’ has another equally thunderous start, the songs massively grinding riff is saturated in savaging mayhem. I also like it when the band slows down, and like Bolt Thrower, those phases on the album are some of the heaviest most pulverising sections on the album.
The heaviness of ‘Infamy’ is matched by its overarching musicality that will have those of you into the melodic side of death metal salivating as it is straight from the 90s rule book, and even though the song transitions into a brutal dense style you cannot deny the unmistakable unrelenting power the song has. ‘Legacy Of The Forgotten’ is slightly different on the riff initially before the cavernous drum work is injected and escalates the density. However, the song is definitely different due to its more airy toning to my ears which isn’t to say it is weaker. In fact I’d say the song is rife with creativity as the vocals take on a cleaner tone which I thought might be a guest but I could be wrong.
Closing this monstrous album is ‘Mesmerize’, which is a bonus track, and I can hear why it is down as a bonus number because it has a thrash like riffing style and slightly higher sound than the preceding tunes. Its causticity is underpinned by the guitar sound as the songs scathing thrash like approach is vicious in itself much like this album which is wall to wall sonic annihilation. Added to that you get the very curious art work by Roberto Toderico who has done the band’s previous two album covers and according to MHA is a representation of the map of Sweden. I’ll leave you to figure that out yourself, I think I did but I’m not sure.
(9/10 Martin Harris)
Leave a Reply