UMUR "Prodigal Sun" is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Afflicted. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in December 1992. Afflicted formed under the Afflicted Convulsion monicker in 1988 from the ashes of thrash metal act Reptile. The band shortly after changed their name to Defiance before changing it to Afflicted Convulsion. After releasing three demos under the Afflicted Convulsion monicker the band name was once again changed to Afflicted, removing the Convulsion part of the name (this happened in 1990). Afflicted released a further string of demos, singles, and splits in the years 1990-1992, before being signed for the release of "Prodigal Sun".

So it´s safe to say that Afflicted (and Afflicted Convulsion) was one of the seminal and most prolific Swedish death metal acts from the late 80s/early 90s. They aren´t often mentioned along side more well known artists like Entombed, Dismember, Unleashed, and Grave, as their profile was a much more underground one, but in terms of being influential on the scene and in terms of output of demos, Afflicted ranks among one of the more prolific acts of the era.

One of their last releases before "Prodigal Sun", was the November 1991 "Wanderland" demo tape, which is a high quality Swedish death metal demo, showing great promise and a band, who while being old school Swedish death metal at its core, also display progressive ideas. That trend is continued on "Prodigal Sun" and while they don´t sound that much alike, the combination of old school Swedish death metal and progressive songwriting ideas do lead my thoughts toward contemporary Edge of Sanity.

So there is still death metal brutality in spades on "Prodigal Sun" (and even some deathgrinding blast beat parts), but they manage to combine it with groove laden heavy riffs, rock´n´roll infused guitar solos (not overdone), the odd psychadelic/progressive moment, and loads of death/doom heaviness. Almost all tracks on the album are culled from their demos and re-recorded for "Prodigal Sun" (all four tracks from the "Wanderland" (1991) demo for example appear on "Prodigal Sun" in re-recorded versions), and since it´s material written in the years 1989-1992, the death metal brutality of the material isn´t that strange. There are actually only three new tracks on "Prodigal Sun", which are the short instrumental intro title track, the technical and progressive "Harbouring the Soul", and "Rising to the Sun". The latter isn´t even exclusive to "Prodigal Sun", as it was released as a single earlier in 1992 to promote the release of the album.

Afflicted are incredibly well playing in terms of technical skill but also as an organic working unit and lead vocalist Joakim Bröms is an expressive and varied death metal growler. His deep growls are commanding and intelligible, but he has a great aggressive and near hysterical edge to his delivery, which is a great asset to the music. He also on occasionan sings in a shouting almost desperate sounding vocal style. Overall the music is a very unique and creative take on old school Swedish death metal.

Unfortunately "Prodigal Sun" features a signature Sunlight Studios sound production which leaves a bit to be desired. It´s not a bad quality sound production, but it´s not quite as clear sounding as it could have been, and as "Prodigal Sun" is not just another straight forward and pummeling early 90s Swedish death metal release, the details of the band´s music deserve a better sounding production than it was given. It´s a minor issue, but it is an issue.

Sound production issues aside "Prodigal Sun" is a high quality early 90s Swedish death metal release and definitely one of the most unique sounding releases from that scene. I´m highly impressed by the many creative songwriting ideas and the boldness and willingness to pull them through and make them work within the context of the music and Afflicted deserve many praises for that part of the album. The high level musical performances are another great asset (the level of technical playing is very high for the style), and upon conclusion "Prodigal Sun" is through and through a high quality release. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.