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Sunday, July 26, 2009

Moondark - The Shadowpath (1993)



Genre: Death Metal with Doom elements
Country: Sweden
Year: 1993 (first recording), 2007 (re-release)

1. The Shadowpath
2. Inside the Crypt
3. The Dawn for Our Race
4. Dimension of Dakness
5. Trespassing Into... The Abyss
6. Concealling the Dayligtht
7. World Devastator

Download at Mediafire
Metal Archives Rating: 82% (2 reviews, 75% and 88%)
Last.fm

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Bone crushing. The first thought that popped into my head upon my first listen. This is one of those albums that's so unbearably brutal and overtly crushing, it's enough to make you cringe in your chair. The classic Swedish chainsaw riffs are there, but also downtuned ridiculously, giving "The Shadowpath" a very dark and twisted sound. Each and every riff is cold and deadly sinister, not to mention absolutely crushing (can't stress that word enough!). If I were getting ripped and torn to shreds by a meatgrinder on low speed or something, this is what would be playing as each limb were ripped off and squashed between the blades. The plodding, doom parts make this release all the more heavy and pronounced. Every riff and beat has meaning and you can feel each and every part of the song in your bones.

Enough about the instrumentation, what about the vocals? Pretty much the same deal. A very deep guttural, but once again, with that gritty, jagged sound, complementing the guitars quite nicely. One of my favorite vocal styles simply because of how much they affect me. I can really feel them, and it's impossible to glaze over and ignore them.

Carnage to the core.

Recommended.

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