Valkyrian Music

Monoscream
“Redemption”
Swedish death metal
Released on 21st September 2011
Via Dead Tree Records

Monoscream are currently in the studio recording their second album, but until that’s done and out, let me tell you about the previous (and debut) “Redemption”.

When one says “Swedish death metal” he means a lot more than a death metal band that comes from Sweden. The expression implies a degree of sophisticated melody that adds strength, not softness, to its aggression. And that’s what we have here – 10 tracks (plus an intro) of sheer Swedish death metal.

“Oppressors Hand” was their choice for filming a video and “Nation Wide” to take part in Sicksound’s compilation “A New Era” (see here), so saying these two tracks are some of the album’s highlights is somewhat obvious. But they’re far from being the only ones priming for their grinding riffs and sharp beats. “Follow Your Shadow”, “Jealousy” or “17 Years” are just as worthy of praise, for their classy shredding. There’s also “Parasite”, with a quite belligerent rhythm making it the speediest track. But my personal favorite is “Voice Of Resistance”, for its lively overall structure and beautiful guitar solo. And speaking of “voice”, extra kudos for Andreas Deverstam, who manages to growl the lyrics in a perceptible way.

One always aims to improve, to evolve, but if the upcoming album stays on the same quality level, I won’t complain. (4,5 / 5)

By Renata “Pieni” Lino

This entry was posted on 27th April 2014 at 9:52 pm and is filed under Uncategorized with tags Dead Tree Records, Death Metal, groove, Monoscream, Swedish death metal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.