the days when death metal used to be about death, torture and violence? Luckily there are some bands who have been here from the beginning to remind us of how in-your-face and brutal death metal can be. We all know the Swedish sound, but for those not old enough to embrace the first wave of death metal, Wombbath were there at the peak of the death metal explosion. Unfortunately as with a number of death metal bands after a few years, they began to change their style when death metal wasn’t the flavour of the month anymore, which inevitably led to their demise in 1995.
Original guitarist Hakan Stuvemark couldn’t let this rotting corpse lie and decided to rise from the dead in 2014. Since their rebirth, Wombbath have now recorded their third album, the beautifully titled Choirs of the Fallen. The seasoned professionals enlisted, who all know each other through this way of life, should be proud of what they have achieved here as Choirs of the Fallen is a stunning release and should please old and new fans of the death metal genre.
I have been listening to a lot of death/doom metal recently, namely Mortiferum, so this album came onto my lap at just the right time. The sound of this record is that of the music I have loved for thirty years and being old school, can you guess where the sound was mixed at and by whom? If you had said Tomas Skogsberg at Sunlight Studios, you would be right and this should give you a clear indication as to where this record sits in your album collection. Choirs of the Fallen has everything in it, with deep growls from Jonny Pettersson – a multi-talented individual who any band would like to have in their own. Clocking in at over fifty minutes, his throat must have killed him after such a recording. The riffs from Hakan, who again is also in a plethora of bands, and Thomas have everything from all out speed to really nice melodic riffs and stunning guitar solos. It’s also cool to hear the bass clearly from Giulio Rimoli (acting as a very proficient session musician), providing drummer Jon Rudin comfort in either unleashing blast beats or in line with the more melodic death metal.
From the beginning of opening track “Fallen”, you just know that this album is going to be right up there. Everything you need to happen in a death metal song is in this from melody to all out brutal force, everything is synced together perfectly from musicians that breathe death metal. Death metal is a way of life and these guys live it every day. Clocking in at just short of five minutes, “Fallen” has all the riffs you want, the blast beats and the melodies that if ever you were to play this to someone who wants to be introduced to death metal, this would be the one you would play.
From the all out brutality of the opening track to a haunting melody at the start of “Crawling from the Pits”, Wombbath can do no wrong. Building atmosphere, albeit dark and disgusting, the whole track has my neck sore from banging in tune with it. Having heard vocalist Jonny in a few of his other bands, his vocals must get special mention here with one of his best performances to date. Mixing deep growls with higher pitched growls adds variety and depth to the song and the album as a whole.
I could go on about every single song on here as they are all worthy of your attention. “A Sweet Taste of Death” sees a bit of punk grind and groove and a most welcome addition to the album as a whole. It also brings a most welcome return of the old school type of keyboards throughout which intensifies the atmosphere no end. I love the drumming from Jon in this track in particular at the beginning, but it’s at 2.25 where I find myself losing my shit while my parents are watching Dancing on Ice. I’m finding it hard not to kick the TV over thanks to the stunning riffs, groove and sheer aggression on display.
“A Vulgar Declaration”, whilst not having such atmospheric touches as many other songs on the album, does have the best solo amongst more straightforward savagery. “Wings of Horror” is again more of the same savagery with Jonny reaching his lowest point on the record, and with the atmospheric touches returning by means of a creepy piano section, there was the mid-section of Left Hand Path that came to mind. I didn’t feel it was too much when the same piano section came at the end of the track but it did make me scared to go into my next room in the house.
“Choirs of the Damned” is a slower number in comparison to majority of the album, so what can the listener do at times like these. Oh that’s right, raise your horns and bang your fucking heads, that’s what. This could just be the hymn to the damned. Final song “A Cloak of Anger” does what its title suggests after another haunting chorus, the speed picks up no end with swirling riffs and blast beats. Pure Swedish death metal to its very stinking core.
Nobody can beat the Swedes at bringing top quality old school Swedish death metal. I know for certain already that this album will be up there in my album of the year list. It is a testing listen and will take a number of repeats to appreciate the fifty minutes of stunning musicianship on show here. Wombbath have returned with another killer album. This will keep the old fans happy and I am sure Wombbath will win a few new fans over too.
Choirs of the Fallen is out March 6th – order it through Amazon and help this site
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