Review Summary: The return of Sweden’s finest chainsaw.
It was a sad day when
Vomitory called it quits 10 years ago. Band members kept in touch with the scene by forming the side project
Cut Up, releasing a couple of albums in 2015 and 2017 but they couldn’t fill the hole that had been left behind. Smiles were put back on our faces when news about the band’s reformation and an album in the works, but would it live up to the expectations
Vomitory had set for themselves with their earlier works? Well, there’s some brands you know you can bet your money on, and this is one of them.
Despite being from a country with a gargantuan death metal history and a landmark sound that comes with it,
Vomitory designed their own kind of aural assault and didn’t diverge that much at any point in their discography. You’ll come across the same nerves and aggression in
All Heads Are Gonna Roll that the band had in the past, which is quickly evident from the first guitar lines that explode right from the beginning of the album in the self-titled track. With one overpowering riff after the other, at multiple tempos and with excellent solos here and there,
Vomitory goes straight for flesh and uses plain brutality to establish its dominance.
When it comes to song construction, do not expect any surprises. In fact, for the fans, listening to the record will feel like having childhood comfort food after many years, as the characteristic sound of the band is actualized through its crushing tracks. Erik Rundqvist’s fantastic vocals are as good as ever and the drumming is massive, constituting to some of
Vomitory’s heaviest but at the same time, most accessible material.
All Heads Are Gonna Roll’s almost playful title and flashy front cover might mislead the listener into thinking the band has left its gruesome self behind, but thankfully they’re still disgusting, both musically and lyrically.
This textual ugliness shines at the record’s catchiest track “Raped, Strangled, Sodomized, Dead” (a distant homage to 2007’s
Terrorize Brutalize Sodomize..?), which on the other hand, is by far the most melodic on here and has a chorus section straight out of modern
At the Gates. Aside of that,
All Heads Are Gonna Roll is just pure brutality and doesn’t think about it too much either. While others dig into how to philosophize with the hammer, this band breaks down the room and smashes the hammer as well. Highlights include “Ode to the Saw”, “Dead World” and the devastating “The Deepest Tomb”, just a few instances of the vintage
Vomitory sound, but in 2023.
Having 6th gear and cruising on an endless highway. That’s how effortless it seems for
Vomitory to produce banging material, for as long as inspiration allows. Their tenacity and a decade-long break probably makes this record even better than it will ultimately be, as strictly speaking, it doesn’t reach the levels of carnage achieved with, e.g.
Blood Rapture or
Primal Massacre. Anyhow,
All Heads Are Gonna Roll can offer some serious enjoyment and is totally appropriate to be played on repeat, without that enjoyment wearing out.
