Facebreaker are one of those new breed of Swedish bands lurking from the murky terrains of old schooled Death Metal with an extremely ugly sonority that bears the hallmark of bands like Bloodbath, Deathbreath and so on. It’s surprising to see that this growing movement is led by well known figures of the Swedish scene like Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth), Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity), Anders Nyström (Katatonia) and Nicke Andersson (Entombed), which at some point in their careers have distanced themselves from a genre that truth be told will always be confined to certain limits. In Facebreaker’s case, I guess the devilish creature known as Death Metal has never been dormant or missing as it had occurred with their mates since vocalist Roberth Karlsson, the most prominent musician behind Facebreaker, have never strayed away from the stench of rotting, old styled Death Metal having fronted throughout the last 18 years bands like Darkified, Edge Of Sanity, Incapacity and Pan-Thy-Monium.“Dead, Rotten and Hungry” is actually the Swedes second album, following the relatively unknown debut "Bloodred Hell" (another victim of Rage Of Achilles disappearance) and it’s a competent enough work capable of entertaining those with a penchant for bands like Autopsy, Dismember and Grave. It starts rabidly with “Slowly Rotting”, a face-breaker track with plenty of frenzied, downtuned guitar activity that only slows down into a groovy rhythm to throw in a frantic lead. "Night of the Burning Dead" also carries out a nice groove although in a more mid-tempo pace that brings to mind the early period of Grave, while "The Awakening", likewise worthy of mention is a brutal, cavernous theme that could certainly be featured on an album like “Like an Ever Flowing Stream” from Dismember.
Swedish Death Metal bands don’t make albums like this anymore, so do yourself a favour and get your teeth on “Dead, Rotten and Hungry”. (7/10)
Band info: www.facebreaker.com
Label info: www.pulverised.net
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