siLLy puPPy When you think of all the extreme metal that emerged from Sweden during the 1990s and early 2000s it’s easy to assume that every act emerged from the Gothenburg melo-death scene or the world of progressive metal first started by Opeth. While Norway was dominating the black metal market, Sweden’s Bathory actually played a major role in starting it all while band’s like Candlemass were developing a new strain of epic doom metal but thrash metal? Well that seemed to be a metal style that passed Sweden by while the USA, Brazil and Germany were killin’ it.

Thrash metal wasn’t a complete stranger to Sweden with Bathory’s early black metal experiments basically being a thrash hybrid as well as Merciless getting in on the act during the initial thrash metal world domination. One band that doesn’t get much attention was the Växjö based HYPNOSIA that may have missed the initial thrash party but formed in 1995 as the second wave was getting underway. Inspired heavily by the old school thrash metal bands like Slayer, Dark Angel, Kreator, Sadus, early Death, Sodom and Sepultura, HYPNOSIA formed by Cab Castervall (guitars/vocals) and Mike Sjöstrand (drums) was determined to keep those sounds alive as the extreme metal world was splintering in a million different directions.

After the band released two successful demos, HYPNOSIA was featured in all the metal publications df the 90s and attracted the attention of the old school thrashers who craved a return to the “good old days” when thrash was brutal and pure. HYPNOSIA delivered exactly what they wanted and the interest led the band’s only album EXTREME HATRED which came out in the year 2000 and released on the Hammerheart label. Sounding more like it emerged from the fertile SF Bay Area scene in 1991 rather than 2000 Sweden, HYPNOSIA may have been late to the thrash party that waned in the mid-90s but displayed a commitment and ferocity that very few of the original thrash bands had retrained. Just think of what Metallica and Megadeath were releasing about this time!

EXTREME HATRED was a veritable mix of Teutonic thrash in the vein of Kreator with the technical thrash prowess of US bands like Sadus. While the band often gets associated with death metal i can’t really say i can detect anything from HYPNOSIA’s sound that really falls into the death metal category. The music is a brutal form of thrash metal all the way and as far as the vocals are concerned the band evokes a mix of Morbid Saint, Kreator, Demolition Hammer and bands like Dark Angel so death metal, no. Thrash metal all the way and despite the trend to merge extreme metal with progressive rock, the avant-garde or wildly experimental, HYPNOSIA delivered a very authentic slice of classic retro-thrash.

Given its staunch attachment to the past it’s not a surprise that EXTREME HATRED is not the most original thrash metal album of all time but it certainly is worthy of thrash metal fan’s attention for its uncanny attention to detail and it’s dedication to redrafting a veritable art form that had fallen from grace as the alternative 90s disrupted the flow of the mainstream metal movements that developed in the mid-80s on. Despite not exactly developing a unique style all their own, HYPNOSIA nevertheless dished out an authentic representation of pure thrash metal in an unadulterated form with higher than average competency level. As far as i’m concerned this is an excellent album as HYPNOSIA featured the perfect vocal style accompanied by energetic thrash guitar, bass and drum assaults. The melodic aspects are perfectly balanced with the aggressive brutality and the overall performance are quite effective. Brutality at its best. A second album was in the works but never emerged and the band split in 2002.