lista zespołów Death Metal Mr Death Descending Through Ashes

I was a bit chagrined to see that Detached from Life, Mr Death’s debut released in 2009, did not garner too much public recognition and positive acclaim. Ex-Treblinka members had reformed to offer a good ole stab of Swedish Death Metal with furious anthems to sing along or thrash your place. They even had Tomas Skogsberg to produce the whole thing and somehow it did not achieve all the goodness I though they would.

But they didn’t give up. And two years later, back on Agonia Records, Mr Death just released Descending Through Ashes and they’re more ready than ever to make their statement clear. I wouldn’t go as far as writing that they completely changed their style into something altogether new because they have not. It’s still this extremely catchy mix of grooving Death Metal material lying in between the best Entombed tracks, the fury of old Carnage and a more subtle General Surgery. Be it the riffing triumphs of To Armageddon or Stillborn in a Dying World or in the more straight-in your-face tracks like Your Final Demise or The Coiled, Mr Death relentlessly feature epic and solid Death Metal. To some extent they added more “n’ Roll” to their Death which is more prominent in songs like Come Winter or Bloodfalls.

Still, if you were acquainted with Mr Death on their first release, this would not sound like anything new to you. So what? Is Descending Through Ashes just the simple continuation of Mr Death’s career? If it would be the case, I guess I’d just be content but not entirely ecstatic about the whole thing… But I am.

Chances are you’ll hear the difference between the debut and this sophomore from the very first notes. As much as I love the “made in Sunlight” sound and as much as I enjoyed Skogsberg’s work on the debut, I see now that this was not the best possible production for Mr Death almost punkish view of Death Metal. They may have sensed this as well since this time they chose to give control over to Daniel Liden of Demon Cleaner and Greenleaf fame, a guy more used to producing stoner and sludge acts. As much as you may want to find this union a bit queer, you’ll hear the results and change your mind in a second.

Descending Through Ashes is fucking powerful. I don’t recall any recent Swedish recording having such a “chainsaw” guitar wall of sound and probably not since the famed demos of Carnage or Nihilist. Everyone will remember the punk energy of Left Hand Path or Dark Recollections, and Mr Death bring it back again under the limelight. This sound, which is more aggressive, natural and direct, is definitely the one that suits them and you'll soon find yourself wanting to destroy just about everything around you.

If the songwriting has not changed that much (though some riffs are more memorable here and there), the delivery is much different and a lot more intense than it was on the debut. Give these guys credit for finding the perfect sound and check Descending Through Ashes because it’s really worth it!