Description

2 Albums on one CD Diabolical, a traditional death metal group, was formed in Sundsvall, Sweden in 1996, originally using the name Misanthropic Orchestra under which name they released one track on the Voices of Death compilation album by Vod Records before changing name to Diabolical. The Canadian Death Network released Diabolical's first CD, ‘Deserts Of Desolation’, in May 2000 and Scarlet Records released their first full-length album, Synergy, in April of 2001. With ‘Synergy’ they masterly cut their way through eight tracks of intricate, melodic, aggressive and semi progressive death metal, great songs like ‘Suicidal Glory’, ‘Ashes II’, ‘Caged Wrath’ and especially ‘Haven’ show the awesome potential of the band. The real shining aspects of ‘Synergy’ are the guitars, the riffs, melodies and solos to be more specific; ‘Haven’ has some outstanding solos and pounding riffs, ‘Drowned In Blood’ has a very Chuck Schuldiner like tapping solo that later goes into the usual Swedish shredding, the wah-wah licks in ‘Caged Wrath’ are tastefully arranged and if the orgasmic lead work in ‘Ashes II’ doesn’t do the job, nothing does. The busyness of guitar duo H. Carlsson (from In Battle) and Vidar W. definitely makes this album a whole lot more fun to listen to, they work very well together and Magnus Odling’s (from Setherial) casual Jeff Walker screams put another level of aggressiveness into the songs. Their second full length album ‘A Thousand Deaths’ reflected the band's experience and is more aggressive, creating a faster and tighter brutal impact but still being quite technical Swedish death metal with melodic nuances thrown in here and there. Without the shade of a doubt, ‘A Thousand Deaths’ shows several improvements respect to ‘Synergy’. It all has been tightened and enhanced here: the tracks are overall more aggressive and intense, deeply structured and eventually better produced, the whole sound being warmer than their previous record. Moreover, some of the guitar work by the two axe-grinder H. Carlsson and Vidar W. is just what can make this band stand out from the pack, being technically very proficient and interesting. Track listing: "Synergy" 1. Suicidal Glory 2. Ashes II 3. Caged Wrath 4. Drowned In Blood 5. Guidance Of Sin 6. Human Control 7. The Passenger 8. Haven "A Thousand Deaths" 9. A Thousand Deaths 10. Children Of The Mushroom Cloud 11. God Of The Underworld 12. Dead Angel's Choir 13. Until The Day Arrives 14. Under My Skin 15. An Opposite Law 16. Demonic 17. Profane Murder