Candlemass - Psalms of the Dead

Doom metal, Sweden, 2012
Napalm Records

Candlemass bids farewell with Psalms of the Dead, announcing it to to be their last studio album. This is how it should be done: Robert Lowe still has his voice as made apparent in the opener. The Sound of Dying Demons features an eerie keyboard, and Lasse rips his first lead that are definitely up to snuff as made apparent throughout the album. Dancing in the Temple (of the Mad Queen Bee) reminds me a bit like If I Ever Die from their previous album, Death Magic Doom. Waterwitch is the first thoroughly slow song on the album, yet again I have nostalgia crawling up my spine remdining me of Bleeding Baroness from Death Magic Doom. Do not fret, these comparisons are mostly in the "feeling" and pace of the songs more than anything. There are still plenty of fresh, original riffing going on.

1. Prophet
2. The Sound of Dying Demons
3. Dancing in the Temple (of the Mad Queen Bee)
4. Waterwitch
5. The Lights of Thebe
6. Psalms of the Dead
7. The Killing of the Sun
8. Siren Song
9. Black as Time

Candlemass: Metal-Archives.com

Authorize Interview

I seem to have stumbled upon an interview with Micke from Authorize (Sweden) that was scanned from a magazine. I don't remember where I got this, or what magazine or year it is from. There also seems to be interviews with Bard, Bestial Warlust, Beherit, Blasphemy, Varg Vikernes among others but almost all of them are too low quality to be read.

If anyone has information on where this came from please contact me.

Enjoy.

Sorcery - Rivers of the Dead

Death metal, Sweden, 1990
Demo

Unrelentless Swedish death metal with raspy vocals and deep growls with brief keyboard leads. Short demo but lots crammed in.

1. Rivers of the Dead
2. The Rite of Sacrifice

 Sorcery: Metal-Archives.com

Sorcery - Rivers of the Dead: mediafire.com (zip, 12MB)

Gorement - The Ending Quest

Death metal, Sweden, 1994
Crypta Records

The first song My Ending Quest begins with a slow, doomy riff and a solo-like lead over top. As it progresses it alternates between the doom riffs and a couple of much faster blasting riffs. There are many lead hooks throughout the songs that tie it together.

That's definitely the theme of this album, doom/death contrasting with fast death riffs and plenty of lead hooks and memorable riffing. Every thing on this album is tune low, vocals, guitars. This band knows what they want, and can achieve it. I highly recommend this is as a lost gem that just got lost in the rush of the Swedish death metal scene of the 90s. It's very unfortunate they never got a chance to develop further.

1. My Ending Quest
2. Vale of Tears
3. Human Relic
4. The Memorial
5. The Lost Breed
6. Silent Hymn (for the Dead)
7. Sea of Silence
8. Obsequies of Mankind
9. Darkness of the Dead
10. Into Shadows

 Gorement: Metal-Archives.com

 Gorement - The Ending Quest: mediafire.com (zip, 52MB)

Mefisto - Megalomania

Thrash/speed metal, Sweden, 1986
Demo

The production is possibly above average for the time. The drums are for the most part clear, vocals are some what hazy but that's mostly the vocalists style (ghoulish harsh screams soaked in reverb), guitars and bass are very surprisingly clear.

The riffing is where this band shines, they alternate between simple Teutonic thrashing and more complex, solo/leads inside a twisting song structures. I am quite surprised at how well this band is musically developed considering their time and place. The song Frost of Inferno features an acoustic intro with a long airy solo over top. In fact there are plenty of solos, solos may take up more time throughout this twenty minute demo than the vocals do.

It's no surprise why this band helped kick started Sweden's extreme metal scene. Unfortunately they never got past releasing two demos.

1. Betrayed Truth
2. Act Dead
3. Missing in Action
4. Frost of Inferno

 Mefisto: Metal-Archives.com

 Mefisto - Megalomania: mediafire.com (zip, 26MB)

Morbid Fear - Darkest Age

Thrash metal, 1990, Sweden
Demo

The precursor to Authorize before they changed names, this band is much more in the thrash vein. The demo starts with an acoustic intro and eerie, spoken vocals over top. Broken Hynposis comes next, being a fairly fast song (faster than most of Authorizes material) with some early blast beats present. The vocals are more of a croaked, almost black metal frog like, that I find odd than anything else, reminds me of some of the vocals Paul and Rich did for Tirant Sins demos. The vocals get much more "screamy" later on in the 4th song, Mindless Confusion.

Thrash, thrash, thrash riffs. Fast, and headbangable pretty much sums this demo up with an eerie intro/outro (the intro and outro are very similar they are practically the same). After releasing this demo, Darkest Age, they changed their name to Authorize and started to play death metal. I think they got their names mixed up, Morbid Fear sounds much more death metal than Authorize! An incredibly solid release, hampered a bit by the poor recording. They definitely knew what they were going for and were committed to achieving it.

A brief interview with their drummer can be found here, explaining as to why they changed style.

1. Intro
2. Broken Hypnosis
3. Darkest Age
4. Mindless Confussion
5. Thy Kingdom
   

Morbid Fear: Metal-Archives.com

Morbid Fear - Darkest Age: mediafire.com (zip, 25MB)

Authorize - The Source of Dominion

Death metal, 1991 from Sweden
Putrefaction Records

Mid-paced death metal with twisting, dark passages from Sweden.

1. Intro
2. Silent Nocturnal Symphony
3. Broken Hypnosis
4. The Source of Dominion
5. Subconscious Nightmare
6. Darkest Age
7. God of Christianity
8. Within the Obscurity of Tormention
9. Infanticide
10. Mindless Confusion
11. Nothingness

Authorize: Metal-Archives.com
Authorize - The Source of Dominion: mediafire.com (zip, 65MB)