Reviews : Albums : Murder Squad, "Ravenous, Murderous"

First of all there is only one way I can start this review. The cover art of "Ravenous Murderous" is the worst cover in the history of metal! This makes whoever did "God Was Created" by Vehemence appear to be Dan Seagrave or Necrolord in the midst of one of those moments of divine inspiration that has led to what can be considered the metal equivalent of a Rembrandt or a Van Gogh. That said the cover is important to the album since this is flashback to the days when Stockholm ruled Sweden, before Gothenburg. The overall feel of this album, when combined with the artwork is that it may actually be an old demo more than an album. Then you realize this has two members of Entombed, two from Dismember and Christ Reifert, (ex-Death, ex-Autopsy, Abscess). My favorite part of this lineup is that the vocals are from Matti Karki of Dismember, who I've always felt was a bit overlooked. Chris Reifert handles some of the vocals but it's mostly Matti on the stick. This is one of those side bands I don't understand since it's members of Entombed and Dismember making what is basically an old Dismember or old Entombed record. I would say that it is probably a bit more gore influenced than either of those bands ever was, probably due to Chris Reifert being around, but overall the sound is that dirty old Stockholm sound. When in doubt, downtune. The overall tempo is also a bit slower than either of those bands were, which is why I don't quite love this the way you might think. They do get a bit fast on some parts, especially on the intro to the song "Spunkslut", which has a rock based, almost-Voivod solo to start it off. If this was more on the fast side I'd be more into it, but it tends to stay slow. It's a solid record, but if I'm going to hear this sort of thing, I'll just pick up "Like an Everflowing Stream" or "Left Hand Path".

Standout Tracks    Spunkslut    Born in Sewage, Bred in Bile    Masterpeice in Morbiditiy

K.Huckins