Facebreaker - Bloodred Hell
Rage Of Achilles - iliad047 - 2004
By Philip Whitehouse
Out of the many, many bands that have flooded from the fair land of Sweden over the years, perhaps those most fondly received by this reviewer have been their most prevalent export - the Swedish death metal bands. Facebreaker's latest album goes to show that the Swedes still haven't lost their touch when it comes to deliver some severely flesh-stripping slabs of sonic violence, and in the 36 minutes that Bloodred Hell lasts, a gauntlet is thrown down to the likes of God Dethroned, Entombed and Carnage while a simultaneous tip of the hat is sent towards the thrash and hardcore scenes.
Buzzsaw riffage, tempo shifts designed to alternately bludgeon the senses then pin the listener to the wall with rapid-fire beats, the insanely guttural roars of ex-Edge Of Sanity vocalist Robert Karlsson, all combine to devastating effect - true, generally speaking it's as unoriginal as the reams of power metal bands I've been bemoaning recently, but there's just enough of a spin on the tracks within this album to justify it's existence. The production manages to balance instrumental clarity with sheer wall-of-sound intensity, much to the album's benefit, and when the pace slows to allow a solo or quasi-Machine Head riff like the outro to 'Human Spoil' take precedence, the effect is palpable.
Bloodred Hell doesn't do anything particularly new, but what it does it take the regular Swedish death metal formula and tweak it to increase it's bludgeoning effect. I can think of no greater compliment for this album than to say that my mom has just this second walked in the room, screwed up her face upon hearing 'Command Of The Dark', and said "What's this noise?" It's death metal, mom - if you don't get it now, you probably never will.
8.5/10
Facebreaker Official Website
Rage Of Achilles Website
Rage Of Achilles - iliad047 - 2004
By Philip Whitehouse
Out of the many, many bands that have flooded from the fair land of Sweden over the years, perhaps those most fondly received by this reviewer have been their most prevalent export - the Swedish death metal bands. Facebreaker's latest album goes to show that the Swedes still haven't lost their touch when it comes to deliver some severely flesh-stripping slabs of sonic violence, and in the 36 minutes that Bloodred Hell lasts, a gauntlet is thrown down to the likes of God Dethroned, Entombed and Carnage while a simultaneous tip of the hat is sent towards the thrash and hardcore scenes.
Buzzsaw riffage, tempo shifts designed to alternately bludgeon the senses then pin the listener to the wall with rapid-fire beats, the insanely guttural roars of ex-Edge Of Sanity vocalist Robert Karlsson, all combine to devastating effect - true, generally speaking it's as unoriginal as the reams of power metal bands I've been bemoaning recently, but there's just enough of a spin on the tracks within this album to justify it's existence. The production manages to balance instrumental clarity with sheer wall-of-sound intensity, much to the album's benefit, and when the pace slows to allow a solo or quasi-Machine Head riff like the outro to 'Human Spoil' take precedence, the effect is palpable.
Bloodred Hell doesn't do anything particularly new, but what it does it take the regular Swedish death metal formula and tweak it to increase it's bludgeoning effect. I can think of no greater compliment for this album than to say that my mom has just this second walked in the room, screwed up her face upon hearing 'Command Of The Dark', and said "What's this noise?" It's death metal, mom - if you don't get it now, you probably never will.
8.5/10
Facebreaker Official Website
Rage Of Achilles Website
