Luktar Svensk DödsMetall!Swedish death metal pioneers, Nirvana 2002, were formed back in 1988 originally under the name of Prophet 2002, but quickly changed their moniker to Nirvana. Sometime soon after Nicke Andersson from Nihilist/Entombed informed guitarist/vocalist Orvar Säfström of the existence of a new band from Seattle who had just released their first 7" EP, which resulted in Nirvana adding the 2002 suffix from the earlier name.
Although they only created four demos/rehearsals between '88-'91 and never released a full-length album, Nirvana 2002 is remembered as one of the stunning bands on the '91 CBR compilation, which is a much sought after item since it features Mayhem's only studio tracks with Dead on vocals. It's been also said that after Robert Sennebäck from Dismember heard Nirvana 2002's song, 'Mourning' he told Sunlight Studio producer Tomas Skogsberg that he wanted his guitar to sound exactly the same on the bands debut album, 'Like an ever flowing Stream.'
In 1992 the band was offered a deal with Deaf and Necrosis Records, but did not take either deal and instead of becoming legends like their fellow countrymen in Entombed, Dismember and Unleashed they became relics of the past. Eighteen years later, Relapse records released this compilation, which consists of the song, 'Mourning' from the CBR compilation, both a remastered and original version of the 1990 demo, 'Disembodied Spirits' as well as various other rehearsals and one live track from the bands reunion a few years ago.
It goes without saying that if you have any love for early Swedish Death metal you simply must hear this material. This is classic Sunlight studio death metal material here with that unbelievable downtuned buzzsaw guitar tone that unfortunately is a thing of the past in the death metal scene. They truly don't make it like this anymore, but I'm quite glad these old recordings were unearthed as songs like, 'Mourning,' 'Slumber,' 'Zombiefication,' and 'The Awakening of...' are simply death metal masterpieces in all their grimy gory glory. Some of the rehearsal songs like, 'Further Beyond' & 'Snake' show considerable promise too, though there are also some very lo-fi garage-ish jams on this comp., which leave a bit to be desired, but you can certainly see the heart was present. There's also a live version of Mourning from the 2007 reunion, but it too is a tad on the lo-fi scale, though the crowd seems utterly ecstatic for the band.
The album comes as a digipak with a very nice booklet that contains tons of old/new photos as well Orvar provides various comments on the bands existence and each of the songs present on the compilation. Tomas from At the Gates also has a few words to say about Nirvana 2002/Orvar and Swedish Death Metal in general.
Nirvana 2002 is back together these days and whether or not they'll finally record their full-length album is yet to be seen, but for now they are occasionally playing live, but if they don't come to your town we've at least got this great collection to bang our heads with.
No comments:
Post a Comment