As the title suggests, this is a tribute to old metal, predominantly death metal (with mentions to Dismember, Entombed, Unleashed, Possessed, Hypocrisy, Macabre, Carnage, Acheron, Napalm Death, Sinister, Edge of Sanity, Massacre, Morgoth), but there are also thrash, black metal and heavy metal references.Label owner Kunal Choksi states, “I’m very glad things worked out with this band because they always showed tremendous potential. Still, Sea of ignorance is great, but the song in question here is probably my least favourite in the album. Initially I opined that this album is their best, but then I decided that Screams of anguish is better. “Tribute” comes from re-animated Brutality’s comeback album from 2016. The last verse of the song name-drops the Big-4 of Swedish death metal, namely Dismember, Entombed, Unleashed and Grave, as well as Unanimated and Merciless. The song comes from Tormented’s debut, Rotten death (2009), an absolute gem of an album! It is the closing song, it starts with a sampled scream (probably from a movie), and launches into a furious, fast skunk-beat, before it slows down with a classic sinister melody, followed by a dirty mid-tempo beat, and a tremolo picked chorus. Tormented is much less adventurous than Edge of Sanity, and more in line with the thrashy side of Swedish death metal, whose origins are debatable, but I think that “ Bonehouse” off Entombed‘s Hollowman EP is a key station in the genre. Tormented is the band led by Andreas Axelson, one of the forefathers of Swedish death metal, who offered some of the most astounding death metal via Edge of Sanity. Symphonies of sickness, Season of the dead, Slowly we rot), and numerous songs by death, grind, thrash and metal bands (there’s also a reference to KISS – Knights in Satan’s Service!). There are also references to foundational death metal albums ( e.g. From then on, the song continues with more death metal references, including Napalm Death, Possessed, Unseen Terror, Repulsion, Morbid Angel, R.A.V.A.G.E., Xecutioner, and Necrophagia. The first time I listened to it was through Speckman Project, an album every single one in my group of friends owned, and eventually via Master and Deathstrike. It starts with “Mannequin mannequin, they’re all the same”, a phrase that can lead every serious old-school death metaler to instant headbanging. Of course, the most explicit way that the song pays tribute to old death metal is though its lyrics. The song is the ultimate tribute to early death metal, from the thrashy beginning and the Slayerish melodies and drum-beat, which have been so central to the genre, to the inclusion of the late Killjoy from Necrophagia. “Masters of death” comes from Serpent Saints (2007), which ended up being the band’s final album before it changed its name to Entombed AD. Three instances of this nostalgia materialised in songs come from three bands that were either there when death metal first started, or their leader was: Entombed, Brutality, and Tormented. It was also the time that defined their lives to a large degree, as many of these foundational death metal groups ended up having a career in the music business, some of which quite lucrative too. As most death metal fans know, and as written popular accounts of early death metal culture show (for example Ekeroth’s Swedish death metal and Mudrian’s Choosing death), most of early death metal was music that came from committed fans of metal, who did not listen to music as a pastime activity, but built their entire teenage lives around it by making zines, listening to music with friends, writing cassette-tapes for one another, and engaging in extensive tape-trading with people from all around the globe. Why wouldn’t they? It was a time when they felt like they were part of something new and authentic. Old school death metal musicians are nostalgic of the times when death metal was born. Filed under: death metal, people | Tags: Brutality, Entombed, Masters of death, nostalgia, old-school death metal, Reversed funeral, Tormented, Tribute
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