Facebreaker's debut album, Bloodred Hell, opens with a friendly salutation of "Welcome to Hell," launches into a sprint, and proceeds to close at a gallop. In fact, it's this very commitment to almost unwavering speed and brutality that makes it a refreshingly old-school Scandinavian death metal album, reminiscent of Entombed, Unleashed, and even the early days of one of Karlsson's previous bands, Edge of Sanity. None of that clean, Gothenburg melody stuff to be found here; the only time Facebreaker indulge their more harmonic sensibilities is during brief solo guitar flourishes within the excellent "Human Spoil." Elsewhere it's kill, kill, kill, nonstop, all the time...but it works! The loud but clean production is spot-on for this kind of music, and Facebreaker prove they are old hats at this death metal thing with a set of stunning moshers in the likes of "The Demon," "Total Wasteland," and the rather Testament-like "Bringer of Death." And Karlsson's barb-encrusted death growl is definitely a highlight, his powerful, Cookie Monster delivery still ranking among the best the genre has to offer. In short, nothing Facebreaker does can be termed revolutionary, but sometimes sticking to what you do best can qualify as such.
© Eduardo Rivadavia /TiVo