Review by Ryan Harding

DERANGED: HIGH ON BLOOD Regain Records PO Box 12026 S-245 02 Hjarup Sweden

Swedish death metal.

One hears the term and immediately thinks of ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER, GRAVE, and UNLEASHED in the beginning, and in present day AT THE GATES (RIP), DARK TRANQUILITY, and DEFLESHED. It has connotations of predominately melodic music. Yet the exceptions exist. DERANGED last laid the world to waste with the full length RATED X and mini cd SCULPTURE OF THE DEAD.

Though not overly obvious, the vocalist is new: Fredrik Sandberg replaced Per. The difference on the lower vocals is minimal, but Fredrik also employs some higher vocals which make him quite endearing from a brutal fan’s perspective (Fredrik, however, is supposedly out of the band now). There aren’t many other differences. You know DERANGED riffs when you hear them, some of the craziest axe-work out of Sweden, utilizing several hammer-ons and pull-offs which give their heaviness and speed a baroque feel; in other words, the music earns the band’s namesake.

One note of interest is the improvement of Rikard Wermen on drums. He was no slouch on RATED X, but his blast beats seemed to lag a fraction of a second behind entirely satisfactory. His other fast work was exemplary, and more than compensated. On HIGH ON BLOOD, though, he fills the slight void and works his snare faster in the blasts. What all this combined equals is a true gem of insanity, heavy in the way Sweden is reknowned but far more brutal than the bigger names in death. Witness the trademark dementia of "ROBBER OF LIFE," "RAISED ON HUMAN SIN," and "NAILED EJACULATION" as well as the punishing heaviness of "(EROTI)KILL" and "EXPERIENCE THE FLESH." RATED X was a great slab of brutality, but HIGH ON BLOOD hones the attributes of RATED X to finish as more energetic and ultimately superior.

4 Perplex Skulls

This review copyright 1998 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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