Sweden’s Turbocharged have been around for a while now, with 4 albums and various other releases to their name. However, this is my first time hearing them, which is odd as I typically seek out anything with a HM 2 Swedish death metal guitar tone, but I missed these guys somehow.

But this isn’t your standard Swedish early Entombed, Dismember mimicking death metal (not that there is anything wrong with that), but a punky, thrashy, d beat, death ‘n’ roll style that’s fun as shit, even if a little repetitive as the album hits it latter stages. The guitar tone has that classic HM 2 buzz saw sound, but the riffs are more rooted in say Entombed’s Wolverine Blues and beyond era, or Wolfbrigade or The Generals with a little more boozy, sneering, The Crown-ish uptempo thrash/crust energy.

Ronnie “Ripper” Olson has a throaty LG Petrov-ish shout, the bass has a perfect rumble, and the solos squeal with aplomb and the overall music itself is indeed ‘Turbocharged’, largely fast and hard with a few moments of grooving heft (i.e “Black Tornado”). The 12 song , 35 minutes is brusque and no frills, with each song often getting right to it. Opener “The Crawling Path of Worms” is a perfect intro to the band’s sound followed by the careening “Total Doom Arise”, a rollicking number that gave me The Crown vibe I mentioned earlier.

All the tracks are fun, but standout tracks are the nasty and short “Doomsday Hammer”, galloping “Thirteen Burials” and “Dried Blood (The Heretic Confession)”, the album’s longest most varied track, containing sneering d beat, blast beats and thick grooves.  In all, Above Lords, Below Earth is a solid romp of an album from a veteran band that I will be checking out more often.

[Visit the band's website]

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