After a tasty little debut EP back in 2011 and a few splits and subsequent EPs, former God Macabre front man per Boder  has finally released a full length album from Mordbrand, a dusty, d beat driven old school Swedish death metal return, and it’s a ripping little release.

While certainly old school and Swedish, Mordbrand’s style is more rooted in the punky, simply, but effective, d-beat throes of peers like Bastard Priest, Tormented and some of Rogga Johansson’s projects (namely Revolting and Ribspreader). It’s to the point, it’s simple and its a rollicking good time that isn’t trying to force the style and nostalgia down your throat with an over done mid range production, but a healthy organic Stockholm buzz that’s natural and dusty.

That all being said, this project isn’t a game changer, none of the songs have a real classic or truly brilliant moment or riff like some of their reactivated peers (ie Entrails) or similarly nostalgic bands (Brutally Deceased, Demonical, Putereaon, etc), just a consistent, solid and reliable pace and structure. But like bands like Vangheld or Nominon, I don’t think Peter and Co set out to reinvent the wheel, just revisit it effectively. Many of the track have classic early Dismember/Entombed canter such as opener “Revelate”, “Their Name Are Myriads”, ‘The Spawning (Born of Rot)”and the  more furious “Hoarding the Grotesque”  . But the band, as with the aforementioned EP, like to slow things down to a bit more of an Autopsy inspired mid paced or slower crawl as heard on the aptly named ‘That Which Crawls” and arguable album standout  “Bastion of Blood” or parts of closer ‘Sever the Limbs That Grace” . A little experimentation surfaces for the short atmospheric title track, but for the most part, you know exactly what you are getting here.

My only slight misgiving is larger picture as I wished  Peter had returned with a project more akin to God Macabre and taken a more doomy/epic or unique take on the style as opposed to this,  an admittedly well done, but  dime a dozen homage that’s a little saturated right now, if still incredibly satisfying.

[Visit the band's website]

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