Death Meditations

Torchbearer is a stale and stupid moniker and makes me think of half-naked Greeks carrying the Olympic fire through landscapes of the not-very-Satanic kind. And with that out of the way, let’s move on to the review. This Swedish melodic death/black outfit is back after five years of silence with their third full-length, “Death Meditations”. Sporting Christian Älvestam, the Dan Swanö of the 21st century (over-productive is quite the understatement), and other seasoned musicians from other bands such as Satariel and Miseration, Torchbearer are nothing short of professionals at their craft, and this disc is another proof of just that.

As with most other bands of which Älvestam is a member, Torchbearer has plenty of variation in their material. Rooted in melodic death metal and very generously seasoned with influences from both black, thrash, power and progressive metal, “Death Meditations” is a complicated stew with lots of things going on. Cheesy melodies, blast beats, tremoloed minor chords, high-mid barking, lower growls, equilibristic guitar solos, oriental strings, naive traditional heavy metal riffs…all during the course of one song. Sounds a tad schizophrenic? A humongous tad? Yup. But still, somehow, it works.

The production is OK, but during blast beats and other faster sections the soundscape gets real muddy and it’s hard to discern any rhythms going on. Though the almost omnipresent synth strings/choirs/pads elevate the atmosphere, they’re a bit overused. The solos could’ve been a bit more integrated into the mix as well.

Composition and arranging values are professional, as stated before, but not of the highest possible kind. I’m not talking bargain-bin riffs, but you wouldn’t put these in your display window. As enjoyable as ~90% of the stuff is to listen to, most of the riffs and melodies fade away in a few moments and some definitely have the “re-cycled” stamp on their foreheads. Could’ve drawn back on the amount of shred too, from time to time it just seems to be a way to cover up for the lack of memorable stuff underneath. No bulls-eye this time around, fellas, but keep on grinding and we’ll see if you hit the jackpot next time.

This is absolutely not for purists of any kind; if you’re looking for no-frills brutal death metal, this is too cheesy and melodic for you. If you’re looking for evil black metal, this is too cheesy for you. I’m guessing that fans of bands like Wintersun, Dimmu Borgir and, dare I say, early Children of Bodom will love this, but this does absolutely not mean that Torchbearer lack balls. They’ve just encrusted ‘em in cheese. Har har. Mental picture of the day. At times the cheese does get a bit overwhelming though, and just balls would’ve tasted better. But what are you gonna do? Dig ‘em out with a knife? Huh? Yeah?! Fuck yeah!! Let’s do it – spread ‘em, baby! Daddy’s here, and he’s HUNGRY!!!