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WITHOUT GRIEF - Deflower Serious entertainment, 1997
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Here’s a band
that has been much overlooked and barely been recognized. After
releasing two well played and well constructed melodic deathmetal
albums (“Absorbing The Ashes” being the last one back in 99),
they’ve seemed to disappear. “Deflower” is a very tight debut
offering that represents everything we love about this godly
metalgenre, it gives a perfect picture of the melodeath sound at
that time. Nevertheless these Swedes have been ignored and never
been given a fair chance, especially this album did nothing but
drown among the thousands of deathmetal albums, everybody was
playing it, maybe if they had started a bit earlier it would have
been a different situation today. “Deflower” is a Gothenburg
melodeath album (yeah, like you hadn’t gathered that :) ) with tons
of great melodies and heavy riffs. The double bass drumming, and
melodic and heavy riffs dominate the songs, but occasionally the
band puts on some cool acoustic guitars, which immediately made me
think of In Flames. “The Last Days” points at some old school
powermetal influences like Helloween, but thankfully there aren’t
that many moments of happy powermetal. The band slows down with
“Shallow Grave” which is a classic “bed of nails” (or deathmetal
ballad if you like), and even go totally soft on the listener with
the experimental outro “Vocalise”. Jonas Granvik´s vocals are fueled
with anger and power but are also a bit dry, not exactly the most
experienced growler but he gets his message across the songs, which
of course adds to the intensity. The album was recorded at Aabenraa
Studio, which is known for delivering uncompromising sounds; the
sound is definitely heavier than you’d usually expect in the genre,
many deathmetal bands do polish the melodic lines, on “Deflower”
it’s quite the opposite, the sound is fresh and in your face.
“Deflower” is a pretty good album and Without Grief is a band that
has what it takes to become a bigger name in the future. “Deflower”
gets a 7,5.
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Rating: 7.5 of 10 - Reviewed by Frodi Stenberg |
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