Across the Horizon

I will admit, I am a man who doesn't usually care much for Scandinavian death metal. I don't know if it's a difference of riffing style or song structure, or maybe it is the atmosphere the music gives out. I am not much of a fan of death metal bands of this period and in this area. I am usually a USDM fan, their are exceptions of course, and this is one of them.

Utumno play a more atmospheric style of death metal. They use tremolo picking, crushing slower riffs, twisted leads and thrashtastic riffs to weave some exceptional death metal. Most of the riffs are fast paced and hellish sounding, but the band switches to bone crushing slower riffs at the drop of a hat. The progressions are not always extremely convenient, but always interesting. I like the drumming very much. He doesn't always use typical beats and is often quite creative. There is no blast abusing, which is a plus. The blast beats are used in moderation and when most affective. The vocal work is also great. I really like the his vocal sound. He takes a higher pitched approach that sounds very hellish. His vocals really fits the music.

What we have here is 28 minutes(which is long for an EP) of death metal that stands apart from other generic sounds of the time. It's atmospheric, packed with riffs, memorable, dark and superior to almost all other Swedish death metal bands at the time.