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MARTYRIUM

Time for a history lesson, y'all. Before everyone's fave corpse-painted godly Swedish deathmetalurgists Antestor tore it it up a couple years back with their Scandinavian-folk-melodies-incorporating Return of the Black Death, they recorded a set of more traditionally deathly fare.
. . . Only, back in '95 when they recorded it, they didn't call it mere death metal. No, to mourn the Satanism so rife in Scandinavia's extreme metal subculture, Antestor dubbed the product of their muse “Sorrow Metal.” It's an apt moniker for music that so finely balances the line between the maudlin and the mighty.
. . . Vocalist Martyr still has the guttural growl that's nigh a pre-requisite of Antestor's genre, yet he gets in the mood of a more orthodoxly sung funeral dirge on “Depressed,” and even goes a touch loungy (or somethin') on “Inmost Fear.” More surprising still is the (sadly uncredited) female vocals on the band's interpretation of Psalms 51, “Mercy Lord.”
. . . Throughout Martyrium's nine tracks, there are touches of more progressive deathiness: piano and other keyboards, those nearly operatic female vocals, etc. Some of these touches have become nearly commonplace among some of Antestor's metallic competitors, such as Emperor and their side projects. Might Antestor have been a band of believers who were actually (sit down for this one) innovating in their scene?
. . . Could be.However that verdict is called, the guys' lyrics have a pensive, fairly literary quality befitting their album's release on the label run by Samuel Durling, ex of industrial heavy weights Mental Destruction, whose musings were pretty erudite, too.
. . . Antestor have the look and the pummeling sonic abrasiveness to meet or best their God-denying rivals. If Martyrium is six years old already, their next fusillade could be of astounding proportions. Don't say you weren't warned.
[Endtimes (Swedish Import)/ Jamie Lee Rake]