UMUR
"Those Shredded Dreams" is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish death metal/death´n´roll act Furbowl. The album was released through Step One Records in June 1992. Furbowl formed in 1991 and released a couple of demos before being signed for the release of "Those Shredded Dreams". "Those Shredded Dreams" features six tracks and a total playing time of 31:38 minutes. Three of those tracks are re-recordings of the three tracks from the May 1991 "The Nightfall of Your Heart" demo.
Stylistically the material on "Those Shredded Dreams" is old school Swedish death metal mixed with an early version of death´n´roll. So this album features both brutality and buzzing raw death metal riffs (and also features a strong hardcore punk influence), and hard rocking moments of rock´n´roll. Lead vocalist Johan Liiva (who also handles all guitars and bass on the album, except for a couple of guest leads by Michael Amott) have a powerful and commanding growling delivery. He has his own distinct vocal style, which is a great asset to the band´s sound.
Although the music is both well performed and pretty well produced too (raw, organic, and suiting the music well), "Those Shredded Dreams" isn´t exactly a rocket science type release when it comes to the level of sophistication on display, but that´s not really the point. Instead the listener is treated to an honest and hard working band, performing their music with great passion and conviction. There´s not a dull moment in sight and "Those Shredded Dreams" is an entertaining release throughout.
People seem to think that it was Entombed´s 1993 album "Wolverine Blues", which was the first death´n´roll release, but while said album may have kickstarted the movement and the popularity of the subgenre, "Those Shredded Dreams" is proof that other artists (Furbowl was just one of them) were already doing something similar a few years earlier. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.