UMUR
"Bloodchilling Tales" is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Sorcery. The album was released through Underground Records in December 1991. Sorcery released a string of demos in the late eighties before releasing the "Rivers of the Dead" EP in 1990 and are widely considered one of the earliest and most influential (upon the Swedish scene) Swedish death metal acts. After the release of "Bloodchilling Tales" they disbanded. Sorcery reformed in 2009 and released their comeback album "Arrival at Six" in 2013.
The music on the album is old school Swedish death metal to the bone. They don´t come much more "classic" sounding than this one. Buzzing, raw and brutal guitar tone, simple straight forward drumming, and an intelligible growling vocalist, who delivers his growls with passion and bite. The album opens with an atmospheric intro and then into "Legacy in Blood", which is a great, powerful and memorable track. Sorcery never really look back from there and the rest of the album are pretty much in the same vein. So there is a lack of variation, which is a minor issue, but overall "Bloodchilling Tales" is still a strong album.
The musicianship is decent although the drums sound a bit untight to my ears. The sound production is raw and powerful and suits the music perfectly. Overall "Bloodchilling Tales" is neither the most original sounding nor the best old school Swedish death metal album out there, but for the most part it´s a solid and entertaining release in the genre. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.