Raise your fists for Revolting!
After a two-year wait, the Swedish band led by “Revolting Rogga” Johansson (guitar/vocals, Paganizer, Mecascavenger, Echelon, Ribspreader, Dead Sun…), Grotesque Tobias (bass, Nekropolis) and Mutated Martin (drums, Nekropolis) remains with Xtreem Music for the release of its tenth album, Supernatural Anthems!
The album kicks off with the title track Supernatural Anthem, which unsurprisingly immediately starts off macabre but quickly explodes into a catchy rhythm even before the wild vocals kick in, reinforcing the raw edge we love so much. The melodies effortlessly carve their way through the violence, just as on At Dusk They Rise, which follows hot on its heels and already has us headbanging in earnest while the abrasive sounds crash into our eardrums. The screams lead the repeated assault, allowing themselves a brief lull before the trio moves on to Upon the Chopping Block, which significantly darkens the atmosphere and serves up another dose of controlled violence amid roars and furious accelerations, not to mention the haunting harmonics. The pace suddenly picks up with Undead Wife, Happy Life, a sarcastic track that nevertheless delivers one of the album’s most ferocious rhythms yet also one of the most contrasting, given the gentleness of the choruses. But the song quickly transitions into Those Who Never Lived, which begins with a touch of melancholy before it, too, kicks into high gear and sweeps us along in its wake. The pace gets a bit chaotic toward the end, but The Dead Are Craving takes over and strikes with its own riffs laced with bloody yet ethereal leads that heighten the contrast with the more virulent foundation, as well as with the overall atmosphere where heavy tones abound, unlike Dungeon Overture, which does everything it can to snap our necks at every turn, piling on the accelerations. We continue at a similar pace with A Midnight Massacre, a fairly dark composition but also very intoxicating in certain passages thanks to the leads, then the album closes with The End So Near and its gloomier touch, though it doesn’t forget to show its aggressive side when needed and unleash the blast beat one last time.
Revolting unsurprisingly plays its Death Metal just as it always has, and although the Swedish influence is unmistakable, Supernatural Anthems remains a fairly varied album where violence and melancholy clash in powerful riffs.
80/100