By: Anders

Posted: Jul 13, 2005

This is a death metal attack with a breathtaking impact. Technical full speed ahead death metal done the American way, with the Swedish taste of refined arrangements and heavy catchy parts. This Swedish quintet does here, with their second album. Show us that they have matured quite a bit and that they are ready to play in the big league.

The thing that hits me first, when listening to "Transcend Into Ferocity" are the well-crafted compositions. They are hard hitting, brutal, displays a great sense of incorporating technical details, without ruining the flow of the song. The musicians do show off their skills more than once, but the important red thread is stable through out each track. A pretty important feature when playing as fast, brutal and technical as Visceral Bleeding does.

If you are into sublime guitar playing you will dig this album. The guitars are spewing forth killer riffs, ripping solos, it is a real pleasure to listen to the 2 axes. The drumming is great as well, fast and technical and there are many great breaks. The strings on the bass are getting tested as well, they are getting some twists here and there. What is there to say about the vocals, delivered by Dennis Röndum (who since the release has left the band) of Spawn Of Possession fame (where he handles the drums, and so far has been doing vocals as well). He has an aggressive and straight in your face growl, anger and bile flows out of the speakers, together with the lyrics.

Production-wise is the album great too. The sound is pretty clear and the instruments well separated in the sound picture. Though the music is still presented compact and as a wholesome, a very hard hitting wholesome. The level of the mix is good too, and the instruments are brought forth when needed, and else being kept in check.

This without many second thoughts one of the better death metal releases from last year. Certainly a band that deserves a lot more attention, than it so far has received. This album is a great step up, compared to their debut "Remnants Of Deprivation", which by the way just has been re-released with some bonus material as "Remnants Revived" by Neurotic Records. If you already haven’t checked out Visceral Bleeding, then it is on high time, they’ll soon become one of the leaders of the genre.

Rating: 8,5/10

Print