Welcome to Dissident Aggression, where we sow the future, reap the present and highlight the past to bring you the underground of The Underground…
Oh, Swedish death metal. You could literally write entire books on the subject. You could devote thousands of words to tomes regaling the triumphs of Swedish death metal bands from the last three decades, not to mention the bands still churning out killer music today. (Oh, hello Amon Amarth!) One man who could potentially have an entire chapter devoted to his work is Rogga Johansson. Johansson has taken part in some of the best of what the extreme Swedish underground has churned out over the last decade or so – Paganizer, The Grotesquery and Bone Gnawer just to name a few. But Mr. Johansson may have outdone himself with his newest slab of death metal mayhem: Megascavanger.
Megascavenger’s debut full length album, entitled Descent of Yuggoth, is a throwback to the classic “buzzsaw” sound of the early pioneers of Swedish death metal. Fans of Carnage, Entombed, Dismember, Grave and Unleashed, just to name a few, are going to wonder if the clocks have been magically turned back 20 years upon first listen. That’s not to say fans of the more melodic “Gothenburg sound” won’t find things to latch onto here but, much like those aforementioned bands, this album is more suited for fans of doom and crust than it is fans of In Flames. The hooks on this album are so infectious your ears might actually catch musical VD (Not sure exactly what that is but pretty sure it’s contagious and incurable). The true beauty of this album though is how a track like “Void of Damnation” can just slow to the pace of a tank methodically rolling through city streets only to shift gears to a track like “Funerals and Ceremonies” which will have you starting circle pits in your kitchen. Not to mention that Johansson also managed to pull together some of the biggest names of Swedish death metal to help him on vocals and/or guitars. Vocal duties are handled by the likes of Dan Swano (Edge Of Sanity, Bloodbath), Marc Grewe (Morgoth), Jörgen Sandström (ex-Grave, Torture Division) and Paul Speckmann (Master, Abomination) as well as guest solos by Patrick Mameli (Pestilence), Jonas Lindblood (Puteraeon), and Eric Daniels (Asphyx, Soulburn). So needless to say if you’re a fan of even one single band these guest musicians have worked with you are probably going to be a fan of Megascavenger. Descent of Yuggoth is out now on Selfmadegod Records.
Metal Homework
About a decade ago a band from Boston exploded on the scene and pretty much destroyed everything in their path. Watchmaker was at the time one of the best grind bands in the world but a relatively short lifespan, combined with a lack of touring outside of New England has seemingly relegated this band to “cult” status (or maybe that’s “kvlt”). Their 2003 album Kill.Fucking.Everyone. was so brutal that it…well…killed fucking everyone. Your homework this week is to go back and rediscover a truly underrated gem of the grind scene. Check out the write up of this album over at 666 Days Of Metal.com.
