Demonical - Chaos Manifesto

Published April 15 2018

*=Staff's pick	A Void Most Obscure* Towards Greater Gods Sung to Possess Välkommen Undergång* Torture Parade From Nothing* Unfold Thy Darkness Death Unfaithful

Genre	Death Metal	Alexander Högbom	Vocals
Tracks	8	Eki Kumpulainen	Guitar
Running time	36 Min.	Johan Haglund	Guitar
Label	Agonia Records	Martin Schulman	Bass
Release	March 23, 2018	Kennet Englund	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboards
Producer	Daniel Liden
Similar bands	Dismember, Centinex, Amon Amarth

Demonical rose from the ashes of Centinex to deliver old-school Swedish death metal a few years before the huge retro wave took off and still swills the world to this day. The first two albums 'Servants of the Unlight' and 'Hellsworn' stuck to the roots of the filthy uncompromising Stockholm sound. 'Death Infernal' saw a turn towards a more melodic sound on some tracks with Amon Amarth being an obvious influence. On 'Darkness Unbound' these influences were even more prominent giving the album a split nature, rather than a coherent one.

We have now reached the band's fifth effort 'Chaos Manifesto'. As a whole, this one keeps treading the path of 'Darkness Unbound'. Fast, tremolo-riffing meets their more melodic counterparts with some melodic vocal lines put into the mix. The production fits the blend quite good, not too weak to drown the aggression nor too distorted to hide the melodic parts.

Most importantly, though, the band finally succeeds in merging the influences from Dismember and Amon Amarth into a coherent and natural entity. The result is a quite unique album walking the middle line between two death metal movements without ever seeming out of place.

'Chaos Manifesto' is a solid listen from start to finish without fillers, but not any of the monumental songs either as were seen on the debut and sophomore. Save for 'Välkommen undergång' which strikes a nerve with me. Be it the infectious Swedish lyrics or the simple but catchy riffing, this tune keeps me revisiting this album over and over.

With 'Chaos Manifesto' Demonical finally blends the influences from the two previous albums into a dark and filthy entity capturing the essence of what death metal has become since the early 90's. Although I still hold the first two albums as the bands finest moments, the path Demonical now walks is a necessary one. The band has always been strong songwriters and with the sound now comfortably set we are likely to see even stronger efforts in the future.