Ribspreader - The Van Murders

Published May 11 2011

*=Staff's pick	The Begining Of Their End The Cleaner And Mr. Filth* A Morbid Journey* Sick Minds Think Alike Going to L.A. (Instrumental) Silicon Valley Of Death* Slaughterhouse On Wheels Cadaver Disposal This Is The Ribspreader

Genre	Death Metal	Rogga Johansson	Vocals
Tracks	9	Rogga Johansson	Guitar
Runningtime	30 Min.	Andreas Karlsson	Guitar
Label	Vic Records	Rogga Johansson	Bass
Release	25 April 2011	Ronnie Björnström	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboard
Producer	---
Similar artists	Bloodbath

Every now and then you come across a band that you have read about or have heard about, but refrained from checking up because of various reasons. Heck, there is a ton of quality bands around nowadays, and there are new ones popping up all the time, so you just can't keep up with everything.

Unfortunately this is one of those bands that have gone me by during the years, because this is really good in a very primal and basic way. Ribspreader have released three full length albums prior to this, plus a couple of compilations, and this band is the brainchild of Rogga Johansson and Andreas Karlsson, both also in the band Paganizer.

Ribspreader play a very meaty kind of death metal, quite similar to Bloodbath both in sound and vocals. Very much based on midtempo groovy parts, spiced up with growls out of the ordinary. Ribspreader do not reinvent anything at all in the genre, it's just very well done and stands on solid and classic death metal ground.

The production is dirty and thick enough, even though it is a bit shaky at moments, and there is a good, pumping flow throughout the album and everything oozes of the good old days of the swedish death metal scene. No blast beats, just grinding and groovy parts.

I can not compare this album to their earlier releases since this is my first encounter with them, but if this is a good benchmark on how they have sounded throughout the years, I may have a minor goldmine to discover. True to the old school formula, the album clocks in at a mere 30 minutes. A nice touch since it leaves you craving for more, but I could definitely have handled 10-12 more minutes of this.

On the other hand, this gives me even more of a reason to look up their previous albums. I'm off to do that, and so should you. After checking this one out, that is.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	5	6	8,5	7

Summary
7 chalices of 10 - Tommy