ALBUM REVIEW: Revolting – The Shadows At The World’s End

Swedish Death Metal titans REVOLTING are back with their 7th album. Set for release via Transcending Obscurity Records on November 27th.

Melodic HM-2 riffing and upbeat drums kick into a delightfully morbid array of catchy and memorable Death Metal grooves. Horrifically evil vocals spew over the crushing mix while the instrumentals twist and turn through monstrous layers of gorgeously dark and eerie yet rather cheerful sounding hooks. Visceral, daunting and aggressive yet permeating with a melodic charge, this is clearly going to be some monolithic and impactful music from some masterful and certainly experienced musicians. Carnage continues to erupt as the grooving, rotted Death Metal rips and stomps through exquisitely written and layered bouts of grotesque fury. Convulsing with a masterful rhythm, this material hits damned hard, while we also get some atmospherics from spectral lead work occasionally to elevate the music to more creepy heights.

The sonic charge of this record is unrelenting and fantastically varied with diverse tempos being utilised to full effect for a skull-cracking experience. Rogga is certainly no stranger to delivering prime cuts of Swedish Death Metal filth and this is one of his more prolific projects. This is evidenced by the utterly abhorrent soundscapes we are thrown into on this record with furious Stockholm buzzsaw assaults meeting Gothenburg-esque melodies in perfect harmony, this is truly the dream for Swedeath lovers. D-beats come in for ruthless stampedes while not overstaying their welcome, this record is not a one trick horse. While revoltingly violent and hugely melodic, we see some doomy textures subtly embed themselves in the sound that gives us a really unique experience, not quite like any of the bands contemporaries.

Warping into overdrive, this magnificent journey may be only just over half an hour in length, but in that time we see such a large amount of skill that runs amok into various stylistic ideas which then melt together for an utterly phenomenal end result. Vitriolic performances delve into these ideas to hit as hard as possible with not an ounce of passion spared, dedicating everything to delivering conjurations of totally macabre havok. The awe-inspiring atmospherics that really develop in the latter half of the record truly see some staunch deliverance through a pummelling drum performance and utterly ghastly riffing, backing up a slew of vomitous vocals. This is the pinnacle of how Swedish Death Metal can still be just as impactful and unique as it was in the 90s. The flame is still burning as strong as ever.

This is some of the best Swedish Death Metal to be unleashed this year. Stockholm chainsaw madness meets Gothenburg melodies with a sprinkling of Death-Doom to really escalate things. Rogga & co. have not skipped a thing in crafting a masterfully gruesome half-hour of pure rotten Death Metal carnage. -9/10