Curriculum Mortis
Into Death
8.8
I rarely enjoy demos, but when I get a project from Fredrik Andersson, (Amon Amarth), Leo Pignon (A Canorous Quintet, Niden Div. 187) and Mattias Leinikka (Guidance of Sin), you’ve got my attention. Considering the band's lineage, you really shouldn’t need to hear the style of music, but needless to say if you like Amon Amarth’s stirring sound, this should appeal to you; epic yet bombastic old school Swedish death metal with a hint of melody. The 5 songs contained here, to be honest are professional album quality, and frankly it puts many full lengths to shame, hinting at a potentially brilliant debut album soon. I’ll keep this like the demo itself-short and sweet; all out blasters like “Kill All Life”, the wickedly harmonious title track, “Into Death”, and “Preserve You Forever” are all tracks that could have easily slotted right in on any Amon Amarth album. But there are two standouts; the seven minute dirge “Walls of Ice” is a monumental, crawling epic track, though not Viking death metal, certainly gets the blood pumping. “Frail” is the other track that slightly differs from the obvious AA comparisons. Beginning with a peaceful acoustic intro, it explodes into 3 minutes of sheer fucking bliss, with brilliant solo work and more sublime yet savage melody, making it one of the better songs I’ve heard all year. If you heard this with no idea as to what or show it was, you would almost think that is was a professional MCD from Amon Amarth, it sounds great, with a crisp production and some just killer riffs. Frankly I think there’s more energy here than on the last 2 somewhat disappointing AA albums, maybe this project is sucking some of Andersson's creative energy? Either way it's killer. The only downside is that I want more, More and MORE!!! Will a label please sign these guys NOW!!!!
