Published on Dec 28, 2001
I found myself in a foul mood the other day, and decided to
release my aggression in the best way I knew how, short of totally
trashing my house. I went into the Pierce Memorial Archives and dug
out one of the death metal releases I have yet to get to.
(Sometimes, I shudder to think how many of these discs are still
awaiting me in the Archives… and maybe that I’ve been a little
too happy of late.)
In today’s case, out came Sweden’s own Soul Reaper and their
2000 debut release
Written In Blood. (As of this writing, the band is working
on their follow-up disc, though they presently are not signed to
any label.) What this group does right easily outweighs anything
they do wrong – and the “wrong” category has the usual complaints I
have with this genre. However, this is an impressive first effort
from this five-piece.
In its most basic form, Soul Reaper is a purveyor of the
almost-predictable Satanic style of death metal – and even though
vocalist Christoffer Hjerten is placed high enough in the mix to
separate him from the rest of the wonderful cacophony, deciphering
his grunts still is best left to the experts (namely, the ones with
lyric sheets). But look past the surface, and Soul Reaper shows
themselves to be a band who dare to think outside the boundaries of
the death metal envelope.
First and foremost is the crisp sound this group has – and if I
had a listing of who was responsible for the production on this
disc, I’d give them the credit they’re due. All the instrumentation
sounds like they’re fit into a perfect balance – Tobias Kellgren’s
drums don’t overpower Hjerten’s vocals, the dual guitar attack of
Johan Norman and Christoffer Hermansson is well structured, and
even bassist Mikael Lang comes through the sonic attack well. If
only so many other bands were able to strike this harmonic chord,
they’d be better remembered.
Second,
Written In Blood isn’t afraid to slow things down at just
the right time – the title track and “Labyrinth Of The Deathlord”
are prime examples of this. Yet it sometimes feels like Soul Reaper
was trying to stay away from the softening of their attack by
keeping distance from slower passages. Granted, they shouldn’t
throw them into the songs just to do so… but somehow, I don’t
think this is an issue right now.
In fact, this leads to the sole complaint I have with
Written In Blood – namely, the lack of contrast sometimes
undermines the music. Tracks like “Seal Of Degradation” and
“Ungodly” might have been more recognizable with a little more
variety in the song structure. I have no complaints with content
(even if I may not agree with the messages), and by no means do I
have a complaint with the musicianship. But around the mid-point of
this disc, I found myself drifting away, almost starting to think
that I had heard this all before. This does an injustice to Soul
Reaper’s style.
Keep in mind, though, that this is still a young band, and if
Written In Blood is a sign of things to come, these guys
could well be the next stars of the death metal scene. It may have
taken me some time to get to
Written In Blood, but rest assured, this disc has left me
eager to hear their sophomore release.