DEMIURG — Slakthus Gamleby (review)

DEMIURG — Slakthus Gamleby album cover Album · 2010 · Melodic Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
Slakthus Gamleby is the 3rd full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Demiurg. The album was released in July 2010 by Cyclone Empire Records. Main man behind the project, vocalist/ guitarist Rogga Johansson, has yet again enlisted Dan Swanö to contribute. This time with lead guitars and keyboards. Johan Berglund, who has also worked with Rogga Johansson in Ribspreader and The Grotesquery, plays the bass on Slakthus Gamleby and no other than the omnipresent Ed Warby ( Gorefest, Ayreon, Hail of Bullets, Star One...etc.) plays the drums and sings occassional clean male vocals. We´re also treated to occassional female vocals by Marjan Welman.

The music on the album is old school Swedish death metal with a progressive edge. It´s especially Dan Swanö´s contributions on keyboards that gives the music a progressive edge and a reference to Edge of Sanity is undeniable. The clean male and female vocals on the album also adds a progressive edge to an otherwise old school death metal sound. So while there are some progressive ideas incorporated on the album, death metal purists shouldn´t worry too much. If you know the two preceeding albums by Demiurg or maybe some of Rogga Johansson´s other projects like Paganizer, Ribspreader and The Grotesquery, you´ll still know pretty much what to expect. Rogga Johansson is a death metal traditionalist so the music on Slakthus Gamleby is still predominantly filled with deep growling vocals, brutal fat and crunchy riffing and mostly mid-paced rythms. You won´t find any breakneck technical soloing or odd time signatures on this album. Just well composed, memorable and powerful old school Swedish death metal packed in a great production.

The musicianship is excellent. It´s always a joy to listen to skilled musicians play. Rogga Johansson´s growls are a bit monotone and undecipherable, but they are not too bad. The clean vocals on the other hand are a great asset to the album. Marjan Welman has a pleasant vocal style and to my surprise Ed Warby is actually a really great singer. Just take a listen to his performance in the beginning of Travellers Of The Vortex. He´s got a really great bleak Layne Staley ( Alice in Chains) imitation going on there.

Slakthus Gamleby is a positive step forward for Demiurg compared to their first two albums. I really enjoy the added progressive edge on the album, which makes the songs stand out a bit more than they did on the preceeding albums. The variation on the album was a much needed new feature to take the band´s music to the next level. A 4 star rating is deserved.
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J-Man wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Nice review! I really love this album.

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