Grotesque - In the Embrace of Evil (1996)

Before the gates of hell fully opened, Tomas "Goatspell" Lindberg, Kristian "Necrolord" Wahlin and Alf "The Haunting" Svensson (among other known and unknown members) were tearing up Gothenburg, Sweden in the short lived ('88-'90) death metal band Grotesque.

This compilation gathers together the bands 1990 EP, 'Incantation' as well as the, 'In the Embrace of Evil' demo, which was never released as well as two old demo tracks that were re-recorded in '96 specifically for this release, which means the production varies from track to track, but the malevolent schizoid mood remains throughout these eleven songs.

Grotesque straddled the line between early frantic death/thrashers like Sodom, Sepultura and Sodom mixed with strong influences from Bathory and Morbid Angel. The songs herein are brutally pummeling technical tracks, which stab you in the gut repeatedly and even once your on the ground quivering in pain your struck with a final blow to the top of your head just to insure your eminent demise. Most of Grotesque's songs are relentless and brutal, but its clear as the band evolved their deranged creations took on different influences which made room for various tempo and mood alterations, which kept things interesting. Acoustic guitars even popped up here and there and the brief inclusion of some keyboards added further depth to the material.

However I hardly listen to Grotesque for their depth or mellower moods, I listen to them because its mostly just demented raging chaos that was unlike anything else out there at the time and by bloody fucking Satan is it ever immense. The guitar has such a thick muddy quality to it that it just levels over you and the insane blasting drums are absolutely impressive. Of course then there's Goatspell's vocals, just absolute maniacal barking that was not quite a growl but more of a black-ish screech spewing out words of blasphemy and desecration upon Gods flock, which I'll simply say, fucking ruled!

This stuff is colossal and it's really a shame that Grotesque didn't continue onwards, but of course these guys did go on to play in legendary bands like At the Gates, Liers in Wait, Arckanum and Oxiplegatz. Upon the release of Daniel Ekeroth's mighty, 'Swedish Death Metal' book the band did temporairly reunite for the release party, but quickly returned to the grave after a few shows.

Finding this original Black Sun Records release is surely a tough task, but thankfully the compilation along with At the Gates, 'Gardens of Grief' EP was re-released together through Century Media Records and is still widely available. Find it and worship these ancient desecraters and progenitors of pure Swedish evil.