What we have here is the complete discography, 26 songs in total, of now defunct Swedish act, Fulmination, who were around for a few short years in the early 90’s and featured yet to be members of Uncanny, Centinex and Entrails but never actually releasing a full length album.  The band played a pretty straightforward brand of Swedish death metal, with influences ranging from Grave, Dismember, and Hypocrisy.  I give major kudos to Dark Descent Records in conjunction with The Crypt for getting such a beautiful reissue together for release, that makes this one of the best reissues for 2013 and a must own.

Disc 1 contains all their demo material.  The two 1992 demos, Fulmination and Through Fire, the 1993 promo and the last 4 songs are live songs from 1994.  No lyrics are included most likely due to the lyrics never getting printed back then and all the demo covers are included in the booklet with some liner notes and photos.  The entire material has been remastered and the sound is stunning.  Loud, crisp and in your face.  I cannot pick a favorite track, since they all rule, but “Sanity Dies”, “New Fire”, “Sanctuary of the Mind” and “Born to Obey” are vicious, catchy and vocalist Mats Berggren had a very distinct, low, gruff voice that is very understandable, too.  The bass guitar sounds perfect and the guitar riffs and solos stand out too.  The live songs, sound as if you are there, back in ’94.  These 4 songs have to be from a soundboard, because the sound is killer.

Disc 2 contains Fulmination’s 1994 full length album, Fading Illusions, that was never released.  There are many crimes out there that simply go unpunished and I wish to make my charges retroactive against all labels from the 90’s for not picking this album up.  Again the album has been remastered and while disc 1 is punishing in its own right and sounds amazing, Fading Illusions was really the bands crowning achievement and best material they recorded in their mere 4 years together.  The song writing is tighter, they spent more money on the recording budget, therefore the instruments sound even better, especially the double bass.  Really this 10 song debut is one of the best albums that was never heard, until now.  “The Righteous Few” starts things off with punishing double bass, snappy snare drum sound and a killer guitar sound, that is similar to Grave, but a little cleaner sounding. Mats Berggren’s vocals sounded clearer and deeper on the album and his gruff approach really helped in their sound.  All the songs are memorable and easy to remember and there is no filler, whatsoever.  So there you have it; a positively brilliant reissue, no filler, killer booklet, equipped with liner notes, demo covers, photos and this is a 110% Buy or Die!!!!!!

[Visit the band's website]

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