Anders Biazzi (ex Amon Amarth,  ex Blood Mortized, Just Before Dawn) and his arguably more busy  Just Before Dawn cohort Jonny Pettersson (Wombbath Ashcloud, Nattravnen, Henry Kane, Heads for the Dead,) and drummer Brynjar Helgetun (Crypticus. Megascavenger, Just Before Dawn, Putrevore) are back with the second album under the Gods Forsaken moniker. However, some new blood has joined since 2017s In A Pitch Black Grave, in the form of former Blood Mortized member Gustav Myrin, and Alwin Zuur from Asphyx and Grand Supreme Bloodcourt. And this injection of new blood has taken and already solid Swedish death metal super group, to the next level.

Already a damn good outfit playing a nasty form of classic, HM2, buzzsaw drenched  death metal, Gods Forsaken have released a sophomore album that sees the energy and song writing (which the 2 new guys helped with significantly) increased to levels that should see them mentioned in the same breath as Entrails. The already sick guitar tone from the debut is some how even thicker, using a fucking HM-300 pedal no less, the grooves are even groovier and the rambunctious canters are even catchier , making Smells Of Death an improved follow up that comes across as Dismember on Steroids.

If that alone isn’t enough to lure you in, the 40 minutes of top notch Swedish death metal will. There isn’t a weak song in the 11, from thunderous opening title track, through  standouts “They Crawl”,  “The Process of Death” (written by new member Myrin), older  Bloodbath like “Dead and Buried”, monstrously moody “Birth of Insanity”,  even the closing atmospheric number “Curse of Matul”, with its homage to Fulci’s Zombie theme (though it has a passing resemblance to “Left Hand Path”). It all reeks of the classics like Left Hand Path (just listen to the classic canter in “The Dead Laughed”) and Like and Ever flowing Stream and Into the Grave, but with a more hulking presence and delivery, better solos and a heftier tone.

With Entombed (not Entombed AD) allegedly making/releasing new music this year, and a rumored Dismember reunion, those revered veterans are really going to have to release something special to keep up with what bands like Entrails, Gods Forsaken, Morbid Vomit, Abscession, Demonbreed, Wretched Fate, Demonical, Sentient Horror , Revel In Flesh, Gravestone and others have released in their stead as their throne has been kept well and truly warm over the last few years.

[Visit the band's website]

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