“Sweden’s Wretched Fate is a new band formed by members of melodic death metal band Non Divine Sun, and their debut album, Fleshletting is the album that Bloodbath should have released last year.”

That paragraph above was the opening paragraph from my review of the 2019 Wretched Fate debut, Fleshletting. And with the band’s second album, Carnal Heresy, I’m feeling a little bit of deja vu as Carnal Heresy once again trumps Bloodbath‘s Survival of the Sickest (which we never reviewed here it was so drab) from last year.

Again, the Bloodbath influence is the clearest of all the band’s vibes, especially vocalist Adrian Selmani who channels a perfect Mike Åkerfeldt And expectedly, heavy doses of Dismember (the promos photos see the band covered in blood much like Dismember’s  ‘indecent and obscene’ back artwork from Like an Ever Flowing Stream ), Grave and Entombed.

The same recipe from Fleshletting has been followed to a tee with Carnal Heresy; big, crunchy, and ferociously catchy Swedish death metal, of course, armed with a burly, buzzing HM2 buzzsaw tone (again from guitarist Mats Andersson).  Right from throttling openers “Mind Desecrator” and “Momentary Suicide” to closer “Spineless Horror”, the songs are more urgent and blasting, with very little respite other than a few brief, moodier moments in a handful of tracks (i.e “Cry From Beyond”, standout “Upon the Weak”, “Morbid Testament”).

However, though I wish there was just a little more, as Wretched fate, while excellent when tearing your face off, has a nifty, groovy little sound when they slow down a bit. just listen to another standout, “Utterance from the Inhuman Tongue”

The early part of 2023 sees some newer, younger bands in the style, Wretched Fate, Come Sweet Death, and Angerot, competing for your Swedish death metal attention, and all are damn fine releases that you should check out.

[Visit the band's website]

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