Revelation Nausea

Five years after the end of Vomitory, I guess this name still enjoys a good reputation in the death metal scene. This does not surprise me, because some of their albums delivered the essence of old school death metal in its most energizing form. Especially "Redemption" (1999), "Blood Rapture" (2002) and the output between these two works invite the fans of the lethal genre to lose their self-control in a matter of seconds. You guessed it, the "output beween" is, of course, "Revelation Nausea".

The album unites all features that one can expect from a death metal full-length. The guitars celebrate sheer brutality, the sepulchral voice enjoys monotony as a value in itself and the rhythm section does all it can to deliver the suitable frame for the other guys. The obviously good "chemistry" within the band enables its members to show their best possible performances. Directly after the short, anti-religious introduction, the audience is at risk to be trampled to death. Indeed, the album does not suffer from a weak production. Quite the opposite, its massiveness delivers an extremely high degree of vehemence. Yet this approach is not at the expense of clarity and differentiation. Vomitory's sound combines brutality with an ominous accuracy. Thus, the listeners have the option to run for shelter or to stand on the battlefield without protection and breath the plumbiferous air. Guess it is a matter of course that we take the second alternative.

One might say that the Swedes just use the well known tools. I agree. Nevertheless, the aura of this album cannot be blamed for ordinariness. Spontaneous and impulsive, relentless and explosive, these terms describe the way how Vomitory attack in a suitable manner. Lovely titles such as "The Corpsegrinder Experience" do not promise too much. While their Swedish competitors were not always immune against lameness (Unleashed's "Warrior") or modern trends (Grave's "Hating Life"), Vomitory's compass knows only one aim, the gory realm of pure death metal. Three band members have composed the ten sticks of dynamite, only guitarist Urban Gustafsson fell victim to his own laziness. Nevertheless, the musical accordance of three quarters of the band guarantees compliance with the dogmas of the sub genre. This does not preclude that the band varies the tempo, but rather cosily grinding tracks in the vein of Bolt Thrower's mid-tempo pieces are conspicuous by their absence. Only "When Silence Conquers", the more or less epic track of "Revelation Nausea", points in this direction and delivers, intentionally or by chance, militaristic drum rolls at the beginning and the end as well as martial lyrics. Jo Bench can therefore drink her cup of tea with a satisfied smile, even though the unteachable horde from Karlstad delivers also faster parts during this song.

Vomitory do not run out of puff, far from it. Nevertheless, the songs of the album's second half are slightly weaker than the first five tracks. Regardless of this tendency, "The Holocaust" with its towering guitar lines, the mandatory high speed outburst and flattening intermezzo after the first two verses marks the final highlight of "Revelation Nausea". This song does not fall by the wayside in comparison with overwhelming tracks of the first half such as "Beneath the Soil" or "Under Clouds of Blood", that reflect the hellish ecstasy of Vomitory's most enthusiastic outbursts. Moreover, they possess a certain underground catchiness which is not totally sidelined by the destructive violence of the guitars. Long story short, death metal lunatics that do not know this album (or "Redemption" or "Blood Rapture") still have a lot to learn.