Demonical - Servants of the Unlight

Centinex is no more... That was sad news for the fans of Swedish death metal for sure, as it was one of the best and longest running bands on that scene (formed back in 1990), releasing a number of excellent albums even at the time, when death metal wasn't the most popular genre. Anyway, the band called it quit, but it doesn't mean its members retired. All of a sudden they reformed the old corpse of Interment and also formed completely new band, called Demonical. Don't ask me if there's any sense splitting one death metal band and forming another one, personally as a fan I'm more than happy that something like Demonical was started as this band simply fuckin kills! Musically they differ a bit from Centinex, who presented more melodic, although still damn aggressive style, but Demonical is all about the ravage, uncompromising, brutal and fast death metal. There’s not much room for melody here and not all songs are all ultimately fast from the beginning to its end; Demonical is much more diverse than that, but the overall feeling that comes with their music is one, which I could compare to the tons of bombs that fall on the city destroying it completely (ha, incidentally "Servant of the Unlight" has a song titled "Leipzig 1945", which if you know the history a little tells about the destruction of Leipzig by the Allies' aircraft).

"Servant of the Unlight" is the debut album, recorded in January 2007 and it contains eight Demonical tracks plus Onslaught cover. The vinyl, released by Cyclone Empire, is definitely one of my favourite LPs I have bought in recent years. I totally love the music on it and the production is so damn awesome (definitely it’s the best sound I can imagine for death metal band). The opening track, "Suicide Throne" is actually also my favourite one on the LP. It's opened by slow, marching rhythms, with thunderous drums and cold riffing, accompanied by mournful guitar lead, what soon transforms into midpaced, very classic Swedish death metal track - man, bang your head till death! The tempo fastens with "Revel In Misanthropia" and this song is a beast. "Burned Alive" is very dynamic, with simple structure based on two or three riffs and verse / chorus, but it works well, as it's all about the energy and aggression that such track can bring. "Feeding the Armageddon" is the last song on side A and shit... Believe me or not, but it really reminds me about Marduk! The riffing in this track is very similar to Morgan’s, played in unbelievably fast tempo, totally ruthless and destructive, with the atmosphere of WWII... Man, that song is really hellishly good and is able to do some serious damage in your apartment.

Side B is pretty much all about the same as side A, so I would only repeat myself, trying to describe Demonical songs there. There's one track, which I absolutely fuckin love ("Unholy Desecration"), relatively slower, but so damn good and catchy, that it welcomes the listener to band the skull until the last second. "Slaughter of All Hope" is also great, so is "Leipzig 1945", which is more instrumental song, but has great cold atmosphere and great riffs - this is fuckin epic, and it has Bolt Thrower-esque vibe! How cool is that, ha? Finally the whole album is completed by the mentioned Onslaught cover... I have nothing more to desire, really.

I know that some malcontents may say that Demonical isn’t too original or that there are some many other Swedish bands around… Some may even say that Centinex was better. In my opinion, if you care to listen to it, Demonical is at the moment in absolutely top three of THE BEST SWEDISH DEATH METAL bands, that’s the first thing. Then the originality – I don’t give a shit.  There may be few others, who play similarly, but none does that as great as this band. And finally, I really like Centinex, I have all their CDs in my collection, but I enjoy Demonical music even more, as it’s more aggressive and doesn’t repeat Centinex mistakes, which were softened styles and melodies thrown in their last albums. All in all, Demonical is a band that I absolutely recommend and this debut album, "Servant of the Unlight", is a must addition to my vinyl collection.

Favourite songs: "Suicide Throne", "Unholy Desecration"
Final rate: 95/100