Death metal is a wonderfully multifaceted genre with so many variations upon the single fixation of ripping open an unwary listener’s skull and sodomising their brain. Sometimes though it’s just nice to clear out the technical wankery and take an icepick straight to the bone.
Case in point, Interment’s
Into The Crypts of Blasphemy. It is indeed a homage to the early days of Swedish Death Metal in particular Dismember. In fact the band could be accused of outright plagiarism by their erstwhile contemporaries and with good reason. Johan Jansson’s roar is a dead ringer for Matti Karki’s signature vocal style and Interment’s combination of jagged melodies, dense harmonies and distorted, almost punk-like production bears more than a passing resemblance to the sound of
Like An Everflowing Stream. Yet for all of Interment’s apparent forgery, on this LP they’ve managed to craft a truly brutal exercise in aggression.
While their song-writing doesn’t match the heights of Dismember in their prime, the songs on
Into The Crypts... are well thought out and carefully constructed. They’re stripped of most technical pretences but lose nothing for it due to the band embracing their influences, both in death metal and crust-punk. Songs such as “Torn from the Grave” illustrate a considerable d-beat influence yet lose none of their venom due to the transitions between styles being seamless. The one technical liberty that Interment take, the soloing, is also tastefully done, accentuating the aggression for short periods but never dominating the sound. The result of all this tact? A display of methodical destruction, old-school style. Yes, this album could be criticised for its lack of adventure but by only biting off what they can chew Interment show what was so great about the old Swedish death metal scene and, more importantly, create an excellent album in the process.
