UMUR
"In These Veins" is the fourth full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Hearse. The album was released through Dental Records in October 2006. It´s the successor to "The Last Ordeal" from 2005 and the two albums feature the same trio lineup of Johan Liiva (vocals), Max Thornell (bass, guitars, and drums), and Mattias Ljung (guitars).
Hearse play a rock´n´roll infused type of death metal which often features melodic death metal traits. Anyone familiar with Liiva´s and Thornell´s early- mid 90s band Furbowl (pre Liiva´s involvement with Arc Enemy) won´t be surprised by the sound of Hearse, although Hearse are generally a bit more varied and sophisticated in their approach to death´n´roll. The material on "In These Veins" is raw, organic, and heavy death´n´roll and Liiva´s vocals are sometimes raw deep range shouting, and sometimes closer to traditional death growls. The band occasionally add guitar harmonies and themes to the heavy riffs and rock´n´roll infused guitar solos. The lead guitar work is generally stellar, while the riffs are also strong but slightly less intriguing.
"In These Veins" features a raw and unpolished sounding production job, and while a clean and polished sound production probably wouldn´t have suited the material on the album, a slightly more detailed sounding production wouldn´t have hurt. The material are generally well written and after a few listens the individual tracks also start to become more memorable, but "In These Veins" is not the most catchy release by Hearse, and I miss some of the strong hooks from the early releases. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.