Tribulation - Putrid Rebirth

 

TRIBULATION - Putrid Rebirth (BLOOD HARVEST - EP 2006)

This is an amazing Swedish death metal band, that have been formed in the beginning of the 00’s, first being active under the name Hazard (which released a couple of thrash metal demos). After the name change (for Tribulation in 2004) those Swedes have also changed their music style into more death metal oriented and released “The Ascending Dead” demo in 2005 and then have spawned this obscure recording in 2006 which is a 7”EP titled “Putrid Rebirth”. I guess the title couldn’t explain the musical direction of Tribulation better, as this music was one of the first attempts to resurrect the old styled, putrid death metal music, one which bands like Kaamos and Repugnant started to exhume from the grave first and which were later joined by the likes of Necrovation and Tribulation. This is how the Swedish scene started to become really exciting yet again.

Anyway, Tribulation was one of those first bands, which were playing the old style again and man, when listening to “Putrid Rebirth” it does feel like going back in time, into the not so distant past of early 90’s, when as a kid I was discovering such amazing albums as “Show No Mercy” / “Hell Awaits” and “Abominations of Desolation” / “Altars of Madness”. The opening song – “Dread City of Death” – do fuckin sound like a mixture of those cult LPs, trust me, at the beginning you may have a feeling like you’ve just discovered an unknown Morbid Angel recording from their “Abominations…” session! The production of the EP is really similar, which I find amazing and just love it! When the song starts with chaotic guitar leads and merciless riffing, maaan… I have a feeling of déjà vu, but in a good sense of this word. Even the vocals of Johannes Andersson feel like they were recorded by a young lad named David Vincent (or Mike Browning at least) hehe. Then “Zombie Holocaust”, a second song, has more of “Show No Mercy” influence, is more thrashing, but at some point it speeds up so much that again the good old Morbid comes to my mind, as well as the mighty Possessed and even Amon in few riffs. This is a crushing song, really, maybe even my favourite one from the whole EP, with such a cool chorus part (“Holocaust!!!!!!! Zombie holocaust!!!!!!!!) that I can ask myself: “Are you morbid? You bet I am!”.

While side “A-bomination” was recorded in 2005, then side “B-lasphemy” was recorded in 2006, so there’s a small difference in the sound, but the ferocity and relentless aggression from side A was kept on side B, which is good for us. Two songs from B-side are just as fast and old school as you would wish, “Imprisoned In Abhorrence” is 6 minutes long, which is sort of surprise, but is a fuckin smasher really, the quality is never going down. The thrash metal influence again gets bigger in few parts, but think of bands like Massacra and Messiah, which were always on the verge of thrash and death metal… With Tribulation it’s the same, really. There may be riffing in Kreator, Slayer and Sadus vein, but the feeling is more aggressive and uncompromising than in those bands and that’s cool. Anyway, Tribulation do not let you rest and throughout the whole EP they keep crushing with cool riffing and raspy vocals. The final song is cool instrumental bit, and as soon as “Putrid Rebirth” finishes, I swap the side of the vinyl to listen to it all over again. Really, really good single, one which Blood Harvest has actually released twice, but both versions look exactly the same, so there’s no way you can tell which one is which… So, get it and blaspheme in abomination.

Final rate: 90/100