Avslut - Deceptis

Published March 7 2018

*=Staff's pick	Pestilens* Förlorad Existensens Skugga* Legion Martyrium Deceptis Evigt Mörker Terra Mater Avslut

Genre	Black Metal	C.	Vocals
Tracks	9	E.	Guitar
Running time	43 Min.	S.	Guitar
Label	Osmose Productions	D.	Bass
Release	February 23, 2018	O.	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboards
Producer	-
Similar bands	Dark Funeral, Mörk Gryning, Marduk

It is perfectly obvious that Avslut (roughly translated to End or Closing) are of Swedish origin for two reasons. First, their preference for lyrics in Swedish, and second, the obvious influences from the Swedish 90's black metal scene. The sound is spot on early Dark Funeral with strong nods towards the more melodic contemporaries like Mörk Gryning.

In a sense, Avslut has captured the sound of their influences well. The tremolo riffing, screaming vocals and melodic touch are all there. They have done the homework and are already quite skilled songwriters, despite this being the band's debut full-length.

On the other hand, Avslut suffers from the same issue most bands with too obvious influences do. The sense of the listener that one has heard most of it somewhere else before. Despite being a good take on the Swedish underground 20 years ago, there simply are not enough fresh ideas to stand out. Another issue is the lack of rough edges in the sound. Avslut would have benefitted from a bit more aggression and a less polished production. Now it becomes a bit too flat for the genre and the lurking darkness never really reaches the surface.

The negative aspects aside, Avslut does indeed have the tools in place to really get somewhere. The instrumental, vocal, and songwriting skills are surprisingly good given the debut status and the band puts on a convincing performance in a live setting. In the band gets the time to develop the influences in a less generic direction we will all be in for quite the experience.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	2	4	7	6

Summary
5 chalices of 10 - Tengan