Wombbath – Beyond The Abyss

Formed as early as 1990, old-school Swedish death metal act, Wombbath released their seventh album entitled Beyond The Abyss. This new 10-tracker (nine songs plus the “Intro”) released by Pulverised Records arrives four years after the release of its predecessor called Agma. Line-up: Håkan Stuvemark (guitars), Jonny Pettersson (guitar & vocals), Thomas Von Wachenfeldt (guitar), Matt Davidson (bass) and Antti Silventoinen (drums). The band separated in 1995, and reformed in 2014, with the aforementioned Håkan Stuvemark as the only original member.

The band cites Dismember, Entombed, Carcass and Edge Of Sanity as main inspirations, touchstones and reference points, but it doesn’t mean that Wombbath are the clones of the aforementioned acts. On the contrary, they always have some nice additions like harmonies, odd notes, violin etc. with an even greater attention to the symphonic element. In a way, each album is an extension from the previous one and Beyond The Abyss is no exception, being a great contribution to their growing opus.

Track list:

1. Intro
2. Words Spoken
3. A Symphony of Dread
4. Discord of Doom
5. Beyond the Abyss
6. Malevolent
7. Faces of Tragedy
8. Deep Hunger
9. The Damned And The Slain
10. Consumed by Fire

Two tracks stand-out for me, “A Symphony of Dread” with buzzsaw sound containing some catchy riffs, well-executed drumming and steady bass line. Another strong song is called “Faces of Tragedy”, mainly due to the mid-tempo pace, while maintaining the raw atmosphere and obscure death metal brutality. The final track “Consumed by Fire”, by which Wombbath concludes this album, is equally effective song providing the slow mixture of hunting doomy riffs, with the gloomy violin melody creating an oppressive, dense and suffocating experience.

Beyond The Abyss is once again recorded, mixed and mastered at ‘Studio Unbound’ by Jonny Pettersson. As the consequence of it, the overall sound on Beyond The Abyss dark, filthy and in a way more organic, compared to its predecessor, Agma. Its green-toned cover artwork (illustrated by Columbian artist Felipe Mora) with a portal in the background reflects the beyond of an abyss where you see skeletons and rotting bodies on an endless path to hell.

Despite of some tough periodes for the band, with changing line-ups etc., Wombbath are back without losing the sound of the time in which it originated. Thus, with the release of Beyond The Abyss the band from Sala (Västmanland) proves that old-school Swedish death metal is still alive and hard-hitting as ever before. Especially recommended for fans of Entombed, Convulse, Dismember, Coercion & Swedish in particular, and worshippers of Swedish-style death metal in general.

For further information on this 10-tracker release from Wombbath visit their bandcamp.