For some reason, my interest for
Swedish death metal has slightly faded the last few
years. Although both Vanhelgd and Miasmal delivered great releases
last year, former favorites like Tribulation and Morbus Chron has stepped away
from their roots (the aforementioned remains one of my current favorite bands though, even if they don't sound like they once did) and other bands aren't being as active as they used
to. My own laziness is probably to blame as well, I haven't even
listened to the latest offerings from Bombs Of Hades and Usurpress
yet. Fuck, time to regain vision.
Anyway, the sound of the debut demo of
Crawl from Kalmar definitely makes you feel excited about this whole
genre again. The influences of good old Swedish death metal are
definitely there, but they still manages to avoid sounding generic
and boring. The vocal performance is absolutely killer, reminds me of
Angelcorpse's Pete Helmkamp. It also alternates from deep grunts to
more high screams sometimes, which makes you think of old Carcass.
Musically there isn't much to
complain about, all songs are well written and captivating enough for
you to not loose interest while listening. I do think there's room
for development towards the more intense and violent direction
though, and the production could have been a bit more rotten. But it's an enjoyable 3 track-tape, I'll definitely keep my eyes open for Crawl's upcoming releases. 6.5/10
