It’s kind of hard to comprehend that Vomitory have been doing this for over 20 years now, a milestone that they reached with their past release ‘Carnage Euphoria’. Despite the length of time they’ve been about though, they have stuck with the adage of, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. The Vomsters stick with what they know best, and that is broootal blasting death metal. You will find little in the way of bells and whistles or any deviation from their sole intent, that being to destroy everything in their path leaving a trail of blood and gore in their wake. So ‘Opus Mortis VIII’ is unlikely to be any different, right? Well, truthfully no; but it has its share of surprises.
On first hitting play, my first instinct was to double check I was listening to the right album, starting as it did with a groovy bass driven intro, but within 10 seconds any last shred of doubt was removed as ‘Regorge in the Morgue’ hits full swing. The guttural vocals, the blasting drums, the razor sharp riffing…how could I have possibly doubted? Listen just a bit closer though and a few subtleties spring to mind. See, now that’s a word that normally you’d never use where Vomitory are concerned. Subtleties. There’s definitely more of a melody going on here than usual, and maybe the brutality is not quite so brutal. Is that a bad thing? Well that very much depends on your own personal opinion. In mine, a straight ahead blast is all well and good, but what’s wrong with introducing a bit of variety into things?
Tracks such as ‘Bloodstained’ and ‘Torturous Ingenious’ are true to what you would expect, but then listening to ‘Hate In a Time Of War’ with it’s much pace more akin to Slayer’s ‘Dead Skin Mask’ and it’s quite a surprise, but a welcome one. Erik Rundqvist’s vocals still sound like raw brutality fed through a cheese grater, and the guitars of Urban Gustafsson and Peter Östlund are as tight as you will find anywhere, churning out riff after grin inducing riff.
Clocking in at a little over half an hour, ‘Opus Mortis VIII’ is short, sweet and invigorating, yet I can’t help but feel that this album will be beset by naysayers. There will be those that will complain that Vomitory have gone soft, which they most definitely have not, there’s maybe just a touch more refinement in places than before. Then there will be those who will say that this is just more of the same old stuff churned out with little care or thought. It’s like a no win situation really which is unfair as ‘Opus Mortis VIII’ is probably the most enjoyable album I’ve heard this year. It’s still brilliantly broootal enough to flay you skinless, and it grabs your attention from the first note and holds you through probably the fastest half hour of your life. Vomitory fans should be more than happy here, just so long as they are not going to be sniffy that this not ‘Revelation Nausea’ or ‘Terrorize, Brutalize, Sodomize’. This one is for fans of Deicide, Dismember, Bloodbath, Sodom and Slayer, and it’s an absolutely essential purchase. Great stuff.
http://www.myspace.com/vomitoryswe
Lee Kimber
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