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Morbus Chron - Sweven

Published March 03 2014


*
=Staff's pick

Berceuse
Chains*
Towards A Dark Sky
Aurora In The Offing
It Stretches In The Hollow
Ripening Life*
The Perennial Link*
Solace
Beyond Life's Sealed Abode
Terminus*


Genre Death Metal
Robert Andersson
Vocals
Tracks 10
Robert Andersson
Guitar
Running time 53 Min.
Edvin Aftonfalk
Guitar
Label Century Media
Dag Landin
Bass
Release 24 February 2014
Adam Lindmark
Drums
Country Sweden
-
Keyboard
Producer Fred Estby
Similar artists Tribulation, Atheist

Morbus Chron released their debut album Sleepers In The Rift three years ago and quickly got recognition and universal praise for their relentless death metal that had more resemblances with the American scene, early Autopsy in particular, than the Swedish one. It was a breath of fresh (or putrid, perhaps?) air and I enjoyed that album immensely. But why stick to a winning concept, right?

Sweven is something else entirely than Sleepers In The Rift. In the same way that Tribulation debuted with an old-school death metal album and followed it up with a progressive album pushing the boundaries of the genre, Morbus Chron are also going their own way with this album. As I just learned, sweven is an old English word for dream or vision, so it's a rather fitting title considering the overall atmosphere and sound of the album.

The opening track Berceuse immediately sets the tone and the expectations for what's to come. A berceuse is a musical composition resembling a lullaby (That's the second new word I've learned while doing this review) and the track starts out slow, cradling the listener into a false sense of safety, progressively sounding more threatening until finally, via the second song Chains, erupting into the nightmarish dream landscape that is Sweven.

The album journeys through these nightmares via brutal death metal, calmer passages, acoustic guitars and an ever present psychedelic touch. There are a lot of instrumental parts and moderate use of vocals which, like a threatening force, seem to occasionally materialize to remind the listener that there is no safe haven in the nightmare. I'm probably overanalysing, but still.

To call Sweven experimental would not be entirely accurate as I don't get the impression that they are experimenting on this album - to me, it sounds as if they know exactly what they're doing. If there's a genre called psychedelic death metal, then this album fits right in there. This atmosphere of the album is perfectly synchronised with Fred Estby's production - the guitar sound is organic with only slight distortion and Robert's voice sounds like tormented, painful screams from the deepest tracts of Hell.

I wouldn't go so far as to call this a melodic death metal album, because that's a term that brings a lot of associations that have nothing to do with this. There is a rather heavy emphasis on melancholic and almost hypnotic melodies - with Ripening Life, The Perennial Link and Terminus as prime examples - but in a way that doesn't take the edge off the brutality and it works impeccably well in this context and atmosphere.

In conclusion, I'm deeply impressed by Sweven. It's an immensely mature album, seemingly impossible to get tired of, by a very young band and although their debut was a fine tribute to old US death metal, this album is really shows that they can do more than pastiches and that they are rising up to become one of the most interesting bands in the scene today.


Performance
Originality
Production
Vocals
Songwriting

8

10

9

7

9

 
Summary



9 chalices of 10 - Bjorn


Related links:

www.myspace.com/morbuschronband
www.facebook.com/morbuschron