Former Amon Amarth guitarist Anders Biazzi is becoming a Rogga Johansson/Johnny Petterson type, being involved with numerous projects and players, including the two dudes I just mentioned. After a few fine albums with Blood Mortized and then the war metal super group of sorts, Just Before Dawn, he has a new project, Gods Forsaken along with the aforementioned multi-tasker Johnny Peterson (Wombbath, Ashcloud, Henry Kane) on vocals, and drummer Brynjar Helgetun who has collaborated with many of bands of both guys and ol’ Revolting Rogga (Megascavenger, Just Before Dawn, Putrevore, etc).

So it’s no surprise what the debut from this trio sounds like; good ol’ fashioned, no frills, Swedish death metal. It basically continues the sound and quality of Blood Mortized, which was pretty good in itself, so you gets nods to the classic Entombed, Dismember, Grave sound (I even hear a touch of Desultory) with an unabashed homage in both guitar tone and song writing. Heck, the opening title track is simply the first few bars from Entombed’s legendary title track that opened Left Hand Path.

In A Pitch Black Grave takes very little more explanation. The  9 tracks are full of big old Swedish riffs , blasts, grooves, canters and gallops that bring the mid range hurt in spades. As you’d expect from an experienced trio, the nods to their peers and influences are plenty, from moodier, old school mid paced trundle of “Ashes of the Dead”, and instrumental closer “Curse of a Maniac” to more urgent barn stormers like “Black Winds of Genocide”, “Born of Blasphemy” and “Souls Torn Apart” and the classic Stockholm canters of “By Hate He Comes” and “Curse of the Serpent”, my personal favorite along with the varied and melodic crunch of “An Odyssey of Broken Bones”. It’s not as simplistic as the many Rogga Johansson projects, and is clearly a true homage the early Stockholm classics.

While not quite up there with Entrails‘ World Inferno, In A Pitch Black Grave  , Id put it up against the likes of Revel In Flesh, Sentient Horror, Abscession, Fatalist and Interment in the next tier of acts and is a fine effort from a trio of veterans that know the sound as well as anyone and deliver it as well as anyone. I hope more albums are forthcoming!

[Visit the band's website]

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