Sometimes we must make tough choices. Tea or coffee? Hell or heaven? American or European death metal? In this dealing of the cards, we’re betting on the armoured warships of the Old Continent, represented by Benediction, Grave, Unleashed, and Severe Torture.
Benediction
The prime ministers of the United Kingdom may change, kings and queens can come and go, but no one’s taken the death metal throne from Benediction. The band was formed in Birmingham, the world’s metal capital. They debuted in 1990 with the album Subconscious Terror, back when death metal was still a novelty yet to be fully defined. Benediction were among the pioneers of the genre and today, they continue to be its masters, one of the few who have never tarnished their work with compromise. They’re coming back to Mystic Festival with the excellent Ravage of Empires.
Grave
You’ll never see… heaven. But you’ll see Grave again in the Gdańsk Shipyard in June. We thought we’ll never get to see this legend with the original line-up again. And yet Grave’s original members, who back in the late 80s and early 90s were defining the sound of the Swedish death metal, are demolishing festival and club stages right now. They’re soulless, hating life, and with a setlist centred around their cemetery hits of the 90s they’ll surely lure you into the grave. How could you ask for anything more?
Unleashed
Hold your hammers high, for the death metal Vikings are coming from Sweden to wage another battle for life or death. Johnny Hedlund was a member of Nihilist, probably the most influential band to come out of the Swedish extreme underground of the 1980s, but when his former bandmates formed Entombed, he decided to continue alone his journey to Valhalla. From their debut, the 1991 Where No Life Dwells, until their latest, 15th album Fire Upon Your Lands, Unleashed have remained undefeated, playing their unique, inimitable death metal from the ice-covered North.
Severe Torture
Torn from the Jaws of Death – that’s the title of the latest Severe Torture record, released a year ago. We would never do such a ghastly thing to you! We promise to leave you all alone to be devoured by the Dutch in peace… The band formed in the second half of the 90s, when brutal death metal was not a fashionable sound, so it was only really played by those truly bloodthirsty. From their debut album Feasting on Blood, Severe Torture have been building their reputation as one of the most uncompromising death metal bands in Europe and today each fan of the genre knows exactly what force they’re about to face.