Where Death Becomes Art

Sweden has an endless list of great and underrated albums. Nephenzy, now Nephenzy Chaos Order, put out one of them. What we have here is the typical Swedish black/death style.

The song writing is solid, pushing the black/death genre even further to somewhat new grounds. Most of the moments in the album are excellent. Other riffs and passages, specially the less melodic, tend to be too cliché and overplayed. The good thing is that each song is constantly shifting, just how black/death should sound like.

The guitar work is distinctive of the genre; plenty of acoustic passages, simple yet melodic solos and unpredictable moments of brilliance. The bass guitar work is another let down, not too elaborated and follows most of the main guitar riffs which makes it sound dull compared to the rest of the instruments. The drumming is perfectly executed, not too technical but right on time, every time. A lot of blast beats, double bass and slower passages. The vocals are great as well delivering powerful screams and original vocal patterns. The last two songs on the album contain female vocals towards the endings. It would have been a great plus if they used the female vocals more often on the rest of the tracks. The way it was done, it is very unique for its kind and add a great ambiance to the music.

The production is very clear. The only instrument that does not stand out is the bass guitar and for a good reason, since not much creative work was done there.

This album shouldn't be hard to acquire on its original form so do not hesitate to buy it if you see it somewhere. You will rejoice on yet more well executed Swedish black/death metal.