Wombbath – Beyond The Abyss

Written by on 05-04-2025 at 08:30.

Despite the fact that the sound often finds its (chainsaw) basis in the almost mythical Boss HM-2 pedal, the one old-school Swedish death metal record is not the other. Wombbath shows it once again on Beyond The Abyss. Because already at the first spin you notice that the record sounds kind of fresh. Not in the sense of clean of course – the smell of rot has to waft from your turntable – but in the sense of energetic and inspired.

Quite impressive, because the band’s origins date back to 1990, and even a bit earlier, because according to The Metal Archives between 1988 and 1990 the band was active  under the name The Shadows. Cliff Richard will like that! The band’s first stint ended in 1995. Maybe (also) because of the rapidly changing Swedish death metal landscape at the time. Founders Entombed had already switched to a kind of dogged groove thrash in 1993, while a band like Grave also took a different (somewhat lighter) course with Soulless. That may all be but in 2014 Wombbath returned for a much more productive period than the first. In the first phase the band only managed to release one LP: Internal Caustic Torments. With Beyond The Abyss they present album number seven.

The title of the macabre intro (Intro) doesn’t yet radiate inspiration, but the rest of the album very much so does. Words Unspoken starts off at a nice pace with heavy pounding drums and a riff with outbursts that pull everything a nice bit out of balance towards the end. The heavy grunts of Jonny Petterson, who also sang on the last two albums of the American legend Massacre, pull things even further into the low end. “There is no escaping!”, the man roars. But I don’t want to escape! It’s all far too uncompromising and convincing to leave. Just listen to the roar with which the slower A Symphony Of Dread opens. That song seems to drag itself away from the gates of hell with its last bit of strength, helped by the fire of a beautiful guitar solo.

The band itself claims they wanted to push the progressive elements that first surfaced on the previous album Agma further, but in the most old-school sound since the early days of the early nineties: dark, dirty and organic. And the guys have succeeded in that. For example, at the beginning of Discord Of Doom, bass and drums plough through deep, malodorous layers of earth, while slightly corrupted guitar lines seek higher ground together with the deranged vocals of someone who has lost all hope (and sanity?). In the title track, a symphonic part climbs on a very fast riff that sounds almost industrial (TV-II). On the ultra heavy  Malevolent, with beautifully dragging guitars and some lighting here and there, Rotpit drummer Erik Barthold has a guest role. Nothing strange about that of course, but he puts his sticks aside for a moment to play a riff on his saxophone. Why not? But it works quite well next to the longer guitar passages where riff-like leads and well-flowing solos alternate, also because the wind instrument is not completely at the top of the mix. The excellent rocking guitar solo that follows also seems to free itself somewhat from the constricting death metal mold.

It’s great that Wombbath is trying to break new ground, but for me it’s just as (or more) important that the songs on Beyond The Abyss are well written (The Damned And The Slain!) and are a very good listen. Because that is actually the power of the genre you can find on records like Left Hand Path (where the creeping horror melody in Deep Hunger seems to make a small bow to) and Like An Ever Flowing Stream. Fans of the Swedish school know what to do: get their hands on this convincing record.

Score:

84/100

Label:

Pulverised Records, 2025

Tracklisting:

  1. Intro
  2. Words Unspoken
  3. A Symphony Of Dread
  4. Discord Of Doom
  5. Beyond The Abyss
  6. Malevolent
  7. Faces Of Tragedy
  8. Deep Hunger
  9. The Damned And The Slain
  10. Consumed By Fire

Line-up:

  • Håkan Stuvemark – Guitar
  • Jonny Pettersson – Vocals, guitar
  • Thomas von Wachenfelt – Guitar
  • Matt Davidson – Bass guitar
  • Antti Silventoinen – Drums

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