The hot bed for amazing metal that is Sweden, continues to unleash awesome band after another. Despite the retirement of one of the greatest metal bands of all time in Dismember, there are still several fantastic bands waving the banner of true death metal, and "Ghouls of the Endless Night" serves as a perfect reminder of that. Bastard Priest is definitely one of the bigger names as far as new Swedish death metal goes, along with bands like Tribulation, Morbus Chron, and Miasmal, but they also have their own twist on the genre.
On Bastard Priest's debut album "Under the Hammer of Destruction" the band's primary focus was sounding as vile and crushing as possible. They managed to accomplish this task without sounding like a messy trainwreck and deliver a great album that left many waiting for another. "Ghouls of the Endless Night" is sure to not disappoint those who anxiously awaited it, because it is better than the first.
How is it better? It sure as hell wasn't because of more technicality being added to the music, or because Bastard Priest decided to wuss out, but an improvement on some little things that make this record and the material a bit more memorable. One noticeable change is that there is more of a death metal element in the sound this time around, as opposed to the d-beat assault that was present on their debut. The songs here provide a terrific mix of the two genres, most notably on the album closer "Enormous Thunder of the End." The track starts with a dark intro that could easily find a nice home on an album like "Left Hand Path," but then a ridiculously catchy riff comes in that could have been written by Repulsion. In the midst of all the intensity and sheer aggression that is found on this record, Bastard Priest managed to stray away from the relentless death/crust sound and mix in some doom on the track "Poison." A four and a half minute track that could haunt a graveyard on a Halloween evening, with the extremely doomy and dark riffs along with the terrifying and chilling vocals.
The biggest highlight of this album, though, is actually what Bastard Priest became known for. Some highly catchy, yet dark and destructive death metal with some crust on the side. The track "Fucking Slaughter" is one of the crustier songs on the album and it is guaranteed to be one hell of a live song, capable of wasting an entire venue. The song "Last Scream" is an awesome death metal piece, but it also has an atmosphere that resembles grind masters Repulsion on their masterpiece "Horrified."
There really isn't much more to be said about this hellbeast. If you're a sissy who doesn't want to have a great time headbanging to some fantastic death metal, then you should probably leave this record alone. However, if you're looking for an album that represents everything that death metal should be in the 21st century as well as a mainstay on your music rotation, then you should get your hands on "Ghouls of the Endless Night" ASAP.
Best Songs
"Ghouls of the Endless Night"
"Fucking Slaughter"
"Enormous Thunder of the End"
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http://www.facebook.com/bastardpriestsweden
Final Rating - 4.6/5 or 92%.
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