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VOMITORY
All Heads Are Gonna Roll
Metal Blade Records

Call me a purist, call me cVlt, call me an elitist, call me a traditionalist, or the lamest of all labels, a "gate-keeper" - but Old School Death Metal reigns supreme these days. Between what I feel is a HUGE resurgence in the past decade in "Extreme" Metal, a label not ALL heavy bands deserve to use, from both old bands and new bands, it only benefits the scene as a whole. Where a lot of the new bands falter, OSDM is there to remind you that they 'Make-Death-Metal-Great-Again". Newer bands worry about going 300bpms (exaggerated blast-beats and double-bass speed), lacking groove with way overly technical guitar playing and a way over polished sound, while the old school bands kept focus on groove and hooks and rhythms that keep the listener engaged and headbanging in time. I get it. We live in an ADD/ADHD generation with a lack of caring. For those who keep their hat on tight though, never lost focus and still respect what the veterans who built up the genre have done, this album is for you. Sweden's Death Metal greats VOMITORY return to unleash some more great brutality 12 years in the making.

With such an appropriate title like All Heads Are Gonna Roll, it seems they knew exactly what the outcome would be. Opening with the title track, it straight rips your guts out. Full of brutal grind and crunchy guitars that made up the Swedish DM sound, it's a great opener setting the tone for what is a banger of a record. The production and all around sound is superb, completely capturing some great bottom end and depth in the drums and guitars with enough rumbling from the bass and clarity of the vocals. It's hard to pick a favorite track off this album, so you'll have this on repeat for the foreseeable future. With song titles like "Piece By Stinking Piece", "Ode To The Meat Saw" and what's sure to be a fan favorite for a long time to come, "Rape, Strangled, Sodomized, Dead" - of which they released a video for, is the epitome of brutality. For fans of DEICIDE, CANNIBAL CORPSE and the other Swedish greats I'll mention later, All Heads Are Gonna Roll will not disappoint.

I breathe a sigh of relief that they maintained this aggressive style. Unlike a few Swedish Metal bands who have become a lot less aggressive in recent years and releases, as well as those who I feel don't at all represent Swedish Metal, VOMITORY clearly don't feel the need to diminish their sound to be more marketable nor the need to cater to non-death metal fans. In the tradition of Sweden's other greats like DISMEMBER, GRAVE, and UNLEASHED, VOMITORY have managed to keep it trve after 35 years capturing the epitome of what I believe is the true original sound of Swedish Death Metal before it becoming more recognized as a melodic sub-genre. Blast-beats, guttural vocals and straight forward brutal riffs keep this demon driving. There are still some moments where the melody is present but it doesn't over-power the rest of the mood on the album.

I know many are stoked for their reunion. What started in 2017 for the Summer Breeze Festival and to honor the memory of Festival Organizer and Metal Blade Label Manager Michael Trengert, the same man who got VOMITORY signed to MB, it had been 12 years since their last release, Opus Mortis VIII (2011) and about 6 year long hiatus. For them to put out such a banger of an album full of gut-rupturing material is quite a statement. With the rest of the year planned out to play more concerts and festivals, they are set to ride the success of their return and their new album All Head Are Gonna Roll.

4.5 Out Of 5.0