Sweden’s Sorcery is considered one of the more obscure founding fathers of the Swedish death metal sound. This compilation was released 2 years ago, but towards the end of 2013 Hells Headbangers Records reissued this onto a deluxe 2 cd set, with a new cover and this includes all their demo material.
Disc 1 contains: The Arrival demo 1987, Ancient Creation demo 1988. Disc 2 contains: Unholy Crusade demo 1989, Maculated Life demo1992, Rehearsal 1989 as well as some bonus tracks. When it’s all said and done this is a total of 32 songs complete with one of the most extensive and exhaustive booklets I have ever seen in a release. We also get all the demo/ep covers, lyrics, pictures and the amazing liner notes that are akin to a history lesson of the band. This will all take some time to not only read, but to listen to, since this is all close to 2 hours of music. Their early sounds were influenced by Sodom/Bathory/Possessed, as well as the evolution of the swedeath sound. There was also a lot of death thrashing mayhem to go around and the band has a lot of energy, so of course expect some sloppiness to some of these early recordings.
All tracks have been digitally transferred and while some of the recordings are low I can tell they have been tweaked a bit in sound. Some of the quality is rough, but the band did manage to get good recording sounds for these early recordings, which makes the songs a pleasure to hear. This is really for collectors, I mean what the band would eventually morph into on their outstanding Bloodchilling Tales album in 1991, is a better representation of the band. Their debut album was remastered and retitled last year on Xtreem Music, Legacy of Blood and the remastering on that is phenomenal, as well as their reformation album in 2013, Arrival at Six. The Maculated Life demo on here sounds crushing.
If you like Sorcery or are into complete collections, myself included, this is really one of the best and most thought out compilations that you will ever own. Awesome!
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I loved arrival at 6, but this comp sounds terrible for the most part and purely for collectors. “maticulated life” is still one of the best swedish death metal songs written though. Glad is was redone with a better production on arrival at 6. I still need to located blood shilling tales
on Apr 28th, 2014 at 11:06Erik-yep only for collectors with this sucker. The Blood chilling tales reissue is phenomenal. Arrival at 6 was killer.
on Apr 28th, 2014 at 12:36Heard arrival at six and was hooked. old and new sounds this band rules.
on Apr 28th, 2014 at 18:45