Opus Mortis VIII 2011

"It seems that pre-melodeath Swedish metal is on its way back - you know the raw stuff associated with acts like Dismember, Unleashed, Grave, Nihilist and Carnage and the like.

While there is melody to be heard in Vomitory's sound - for instance in tracks like "They Will Burn" and "Hate in a Time of War", we are not dealing with melodeath at all, but rather with the more raw Stockholm-associated sound which was popular in the 90s among Swedish metal bands; that it, a style characterized by lots of raw energy and simple, but wonderfully aggressive riffage and the occasional blastbeats plus considerable influence from dirty German 80s thrash metal as well as from hardcore punk - and from Slayer... of course. In addition, it seems that early 90s Napalm Death and Morbid Angel serve as influences on this album as does Bolt Thrower (just check the intro of "Shrouded in Darkness" and some of the riffs in "Hate in a Time of War").

And this album has all the things which make early Swedish death metal awesome. It has the energy of thrash metal and hardcore punk, which makes you want to just mosh around like madman (or madwoman), combined with the tremolo riffage and blastbeats of death metal and grindcore, which adds a brutal edge to the overall sound, which is in an interesting contrast with the guitar melodies that pup up every now and then. The growled vocal style is, to me, not really that interesting, but it does suit the raw and aggressive music very well, and then the production is raw and unpolished, which is a plus I think.

So, if you like old school Swedish thrashy death metal, you should love this release.

(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"