Reviews - A Thousand Deaths

DIABOLICAL : A THOUSAND DEATHS

Diabolical's last album, their debut in Scarlet Records is still one of the favorite albums of mine, and thankfully this one came to assure that their success was not done by accident. The band is from Sweden and their sound is very close to the original Swedish style, at least it was in their previous release, since this one is moving closer to Thrash than their previous one, something that didn't mind us at all. Of course the Death elements are still here, specially in the vocals, but this time the sound is more Thrashier than before, with sharp and edgy guitar riffs, fast songs but also nice melodies and excellent musicianship. The band manages to deliver some very fine Thrash Metal along with enough Death elements, a style fully exploited but mostly welcome if it's well played. This time the song structures are a bit more complex but straight to the point, with many interesting parts, nice melodies, aggressive music and a very good production to put the final touch. Slowly but steady, the band builds his own style and sound, and makes album that might not be monuments of originality but contain well performed and well written Thrash, something that the fans of the genre will enjoy.

9/10

www.metal-guide.com


Diabolical - A Thousand Deaths - Scarlet 2002

- 8.5 -

If there was ever an album that made me want to finally go over the edge and take out my life's frustrations on society this is it.

Sweden has given us so much in the way of good Death Metal these past few years, how could we ever ask for more? Let's not worry about it and just enjoy this latest release by what should now be considered among Sweden's elite Death Metal acts.

The band's debut effort branded them with the Technical Death Metal label and while there are certainly some technical and complex applications on A Thousand Deaths, I don't want to make more of them than is warranted. Granted, they do some serious and torturous fret gymnastics from time to time but the core of this band is more of a nucleus of seething and hateful, precision Death Metal.

The album starts off with the atypical intro of combat sounds, much like SENTENCED did on Amok. However, don't expect a sudden burst of melodic Thrash. The opening track, "Children Of The Mushroom Cloud" blows out your aural cavities with complete nihilism and verbose misanthropy. A masterpiece of a Death Metal song I declare it! Its clear the band have not waivered in the least in the aggression department. DIABOLICAL's sound is still intact and even more abrasive this time around. The intial assault is a perfect tone-setting track as the entire album follows suit with one butchering song after the next. The band hit their peak with "Dead Angel's Choir" (you will wet yourselves over the opening riffs to this one!), and later, hints of melody crop up on "Under My Skin". Don't expect to much of that however, as the bulk of A Thousand Deaths lives up to its title - mean and nasty carnage-promoting Death Metal with highly articulated lead guitars!

What I love most about this album, apart from its consistency and hate-inspired persona is the insane nature of the choppy riffing, which almost never gives the listener a chance to recover. This is simply relentless Death/Thrash, almost prototypical. All I could say to myself during the listen was, 'Damn these guys are fuckin' good...'. That might be a markedly conservative appraisal. DIABOLICAL are, at times, downright brilliant with their furious breakdowns and eviscerating intensity.

There is no point in trying to convince you, the reader, that this is worth the effort to obtain. If you liked the last outing you'll love this one. A Thousand Deaths is not far off from Synergy. In fact, the two albums compliment one another quite well and I can't say I like one more than the other. Well, I admit that this one has my blood pressure up a few points higher but then again, I've been playing this thing from AM to PM. Who can blame me? Find out why yourself.

http://members.fortunecity.com/crucideth/diabolical-deaths.html



A Thousand Deaths - CD

Digital Metal [USA, 12/02]

Spiked wristbands, bullet belts and the middle finger, is what Diabolical is all about. Pure death thrash blended with a modern caustic edge, although not too different from the debut album Synergy, they have definitely taken some form of anger inducing medication and left a lot of the melodic NWSDM influences behind for a far gutsier, ballsy in-your-face attack. Structurally this is similar to Dew-Scented or Hatesphere, with some dark melody thrown in, but it has the rhythm section of an 800lb Gorilla. It's extremely tight, blistering and unforgiving. While much of Sweden is renowned for its melodic approach, Diabolical are more old school, using thrash-based, razor-sharp riffing and with the occasional breakdown, and a scattered sample or interlude here and there. While certainly up until now, this review may paint a portrait of a perfect album, but despite the massive intensity and ferocious delivery, the album just didn't leave me blown away like it should have. Sure, A Thousand Deaths is good and will give the most ardent headbanger a sore neck, but lacked that special songwriting knack that gives and album a long lasting impression after it's over. The kind of impression that has you humming a riff all day a suddenly craving a particular song. There are some good moments on A Thousand Deaths, but for me most of them were normally one of their few enjoyable melodic relapses that suddenly interrupted the pretty non-stop thrashing. However, my main beef with an otherwise solid album is the riff killing tendencies that Diabolical displays. Y'know, when a band gives you a few bars or chords of some just stupefying riff, and you're thinking, "Oh man, this is gonna be good", only for the band to break it off into either more standardized blasting or halt the riff all together. Or even worse, end the song totally. This happens few times on A Thousand Deaths, to the point where is was almost distracting. They will be happily thrashing away, and suddenly break into a brilliant riff or bridge that hints at metal perfection, but cut it short as if they suddenly realized, "Hey that was melodic, were fucking death metal. Fuck that!" Either way, I haven't heard this many cases of riff killing since Paradise Lost's Gothic. But don't let that ruin it for you, if you really want some very well executed traditional death thrash, Diabolical's new album is for you. After the war movie sample that is actually the title track (one of my pet peeves. I've always believed the title track should be an album's best cuts), Diabolical open with the raging "Children of the Mushroom Cloud", which mixes stop-start chaotic riffing and a killer heavy metal solo. That is cut short. Then "God of the Underworld" rips away your face (brilliant section/solo from 1:38 to 2:13) with oodles of fierce melody, but is ultimately underdeveloped so Diabolical can thrash it up some more. If lead guitarist H. Carlsson was given more room to roam, Diabolical might be something special. But I get the feeling sole remaining founding member and rhythm guitarist Vider W. is running the show and wants his seething riffs to be the focal point. "Dead Angels Choir" treads more traditional death thrash territory and has no such outstanding moments other than its constant rigid aggression. The quick stab of "Until The Day Arrives" is pure speed interrupted by two stellar solos that are no surprisingly cut short; but does show off drummer L. Soderburg, as he keeps a jaw-jarring pace up through the whole song. One of the real guilty riff killers is the otherwise raging but average "Under My Skin". It ends with 5 seconds of sheer metal heaven, but pulls the proverbial rug from right under you, feigning a killer ending riff section - why isn't this riff the whole song through, I ask you? Album closer "Profane Murder" is also is guilty of riff killing, opening with a spectacularly Swedish melody line that resurfaces a couple of times, but is all too brief. Overall, A Thousand Deaths is somewhat satisfying, but it's generically savage mayhem hiding a few real gems of songwriting that simply remain underdeveloped and underutilized. They were far more fleshed out on Synergy but here, the aggression seems forced and the material suffers, despite being decent. However, if 32 minutes of competent horn throwin' death-thrash, littered with a few moments of brilliance appeals to you, then Diabolical might satiate your need.

[Erik Thomas]

http://www.digitalmetal.com/ (December 2002)



Diabolical - A Thousand Deaths (World War III) Review By Scott

Once again I'm left wondering what the Swedish government is putting in the water to produce all these brutal death metal bands. Would somebody please tell what the hell is going on in this country!? Diabolical is yet one more band from Sweden that'll knock the shit out of you and laugh about it later. The vocals have the ferocity of black metal and the delivery is brutal death, but there are just enough hints of melody to set the band apart from their brethren. Listening to the album gave me visions of a marathon race with Hell as the finish line - it’s relentless and allows you little time to catch your breath. The production is first rate and the drums are absolutely crushing. My head was spinning and body vibrating for a good 30 minutes after listening to this monster of an album. The album starts and ends with the sound of warfare - agonizing screams, machine guns, cannons, and general carnage. The intro, "A Thousand Deaths" uses the ugly hell of war to thrust you head first into the next track, "Children of the Mushroom Cloud" (great title, by the way). This is the sound of war. It blasts away and murders everything in its path. "God of the Underworld" is a speed burner too, but has some cool melodic guitar parts in the middle, as well as some dual lead work. The sound is relentless and brutal, but mixes in some nice musical touches. Perhaps most representative of the band's work on A Thousand Deaths is "Dead Angel's Choir". It’s less than three minutes in length, but packs in an unbelievably massive dose of supersonic death and metallic speed into such a short time frame. The big chunks of metal guitar riffing on "Under my Skin" crush without mercy. The bludgeoning riffs on this one are beyond fat; they're obese! Here again, the band mixes in some sweet ass guitar parts and tasty soloing to keep things especially captivating. Testament has an album called Demonic and it may be coincidence, but Diabolical's "Demonic" actually sounds like a more brutal Testament with riffs straight off The Gathering. Damn, I love that shit! We are treated to more guitar harmonies to end the album on "Profane Murder", although I should add that "harmony" is a relatively term here - this ain't In Flames. After a lengthy passage of more Hellish war sounds, the song chugs on down the staircase to Hell until we reach the bottom at just less than seven minutes. This beast is menacing. A Thousand Deaths is instant holocaust. ...the horror, the horror...

www.live4metal.com



DIABOLICAL (SWEDEN) - A THOUSAND DEATHS - SCARLET

This is the second album of these Swedish death metallers. Powerful death metal reminding one of bands like At The Gates/The Haunted, Death and Dead Head a bit, so as you can read the band also uses a lot of thrash elements in their music and I also think that bands like for instance Testament and Dark Angel have been of certain influence to this band, as well as heavy metal (Maiden for instance) has. The combination of this makes the songs sound agressive, fast (no blast!), tight and under control. Expect some cool breaks and surprisive turns every now and then including elements of surprise, sometimes leaving the listener leaning on the wrong leg. The comparison with At The Gates does count every now and then, but I'd say this band uses less melody and more brutallity, so more towards The Haunted then At The Gates, though they do include 'a lot of' melody in their songs, packed in solo's, guitarlicks and such. Furthermore the songs are quite varied and contain certain renewing elements, even slightly weird at times, proving that this band doesn't just use influences from older bands or older styles of death metal or thrash, though the emphasis is definately on the older spirit. To top it off the album is foreseen with vile vocals. this is surely an agressive, brutal album, played convincing and enthousiastic which distincts itself from the most releases nowadays and this is meant positively. If you are looking for 33 minutes of good agressive deathrash I'd surely recommend you this one!

Reviewed by Danny on 18/04/2002.
(Ricardo Mouwen?) http://www.vampire-magazine.com



Diabolical - A Thousand Deaths - Scarlet Records - 2002

01. A Thousand Deaths
02. Children Of The Mushroom Cloud
03. God Of The Underworld
04. Dead Angel's Choir
05. Until The Day Arrives
06. Under My Skin
07. An Opposite Law
08. Demonic
09. Profane Murder


Once upon a time I was pretty involved in the scene here in Sweden. I knew pretty much about the bands that were around. I missed a few years and suddenly there were thousands of new groups. Nothing wrong with that - as long as they are good. Diabolical is a band that I never heard of, even though this is their second outburst. "A Thousand Deaths" is a very pleasant experiance. It may be wrong to label these guys as melodic death metal, 'cause In Flames has already got the patent on that term. Diabolical plays death metal with molodic solos (very beautiful ones), without sounding like In Flames. The only act which the Swedes reminds of is At The Gates, but not as much as most of the people say. The thing that I like most with this band is the really grim and screamy vocals. Respect! This is one of the better death metal releases from sweden that I have heard lately.

Dennis
www.swedishmetal.net, [05/02]



Diabolical - A Thousand Deaths - CD - World War Three/Mercenary Music - 32:50

Through cohesion of their talent as a full unit, Diabolical have taken the formula of Swedish thrash-death and maxed it out to its fullest potential. A Thousand Deaths sees the band crafting extremely well written compositions of hard thrash violence molded from the early deaths of Slayer and rounded off with a modern edge.

While drawing extensively on the modern trends of the thrash bands of their country--Carnal Forge, Marduk, At the Gates, In Thy Dreams, etc., while maintaining a death/black metal exo-skeleton through their use of violently spitting vocals, nihilistic lyrics, and samples of war and machine gun/artillery fire, Diabolical have solidifided themselves as a through and fully competant musical force.

A Thousand Deaths is a highly improved effort on all accounts. The use of effective, short samples and effects brings more life into the songs, the lyrics are solid, and they have sincerely upped the aggressive factor enough to be seen now as not just another faceless Swedish thrash/death metal band but as one who can write and execute finely laid, serious death-thrash metal. Quite exceptional, Diabolical's output is a fine example of growth within the confines of the genre.
A Thousand Deaths is a very recommended release.

www.angelfire.com/zine/jackalblaster/Diabolicalreview.html



A Thousand Deaths - CD

Xtreme Musick [Spain, 11/02] - English [read]

Does Scarlet Records have any non Göteborg sounding band? They must be the label with more Swedish Death Metal bands in the world! They release almost everything coming from Scandinavia and with Melodic Swedish sound! In this case, DIABOLICAL plays a bit more aggressive kind of metal of what they use to sign. Something like AT THE GATES with some influences from other bands like early SOILWORK for example. This is their second full length album, and it has a much heavier sound, mixing typical Swedish melodies with aggressive Death/Thrash riffs, 'Synergy', their previous album was more melodic and soft, although still quite intense. Drums sound faster now, and riffs have a more aggressive sound as well as I've said before. I think DIABOLICAL are one of the best bands of this so unoriginal kind of music, they are quite good musicians and their music has some kind of intensity and darkness. A fantastic dish for all those who enjoyed the last album of THE CROWN, early stuff from SOILWORK and other bands of this genre.

Rating: 7 / 10.
- Borja Menendéz (November 2002)

[http://www.xtreemmusiccom/]



A Thousand Deaths - CD

Metal Heart [Swe, 02]

Diabolical bevisade sin styrka redan förra året med releasen av sitt debut album "Synergy". En platta som visade upp ett hungrigt band på krigsstigen, med än högre potential. Med sitt andra fullängdsalbum fortsätter bandet efter den utstakade vägen, men med mer thrash influenser i stil med Kreator som komplement till sin melodiska dödsmetall. Det svänger och det "grindar" titt som tätt och öset vill aldrig ta slut. Underbart tycker jag givetvis. Produktionen signerad P.O. Saether och Studio Underground är dessutom klockren! Tyngre och skarpare sound får man leta länge efter! Med lite tur och intensiv promotion kommer Diabolical snart att positionera sig över många kollegor i branschen. Med hjälp av denna platta borde de mycket snart kunna få sitt definitiva genombrott. De förtjänar det! Deras förmåga att skapa minnesvärda låtar har gjort mig till ett evigt fan!

8 / 10

- Stefan Lejon

http://metalheart.2ya.com/



DIABOLICAL - A THOUSAND DEATHS - 2002

A Thousand Deaths es el segundo álbum de los suecos Diabolical, quienes debutaran el año 2000 con el EP de cuatro temas, Deserts of Desolation, para luego lanzar su primer larga duración titulado Synergy, durante el 2001.

La banda la conforman M. ödling (voz), H. Carlsson (guitarra), Vidar W. (guitarra) y L. Söderberg (bajo y batería). Actualmente el único miembro fundador que queda en la banda es Vidar, quién ha sido el encargado de continuar con el proyecto nacido en 1996, bajo el nombre de Misanthropic Orchestra.

El álbum nos trae ese sonido característico y tremendamente explotado este último tiempo por las bandas suecas, Death Metal de la vieja escuela pero con elementos más melódicos, plagados de riffs rápidos y cortos, una voz muy agresiva, incluso algunas vetas thrash y en general, todo lo necesario para convertir cualquier trabajo en un buen álbum.

El disco abre con el tema que da título al álbum, A Thousand Deaths y se trata de una pequeña intro de no más de 50 segundos plagada de sonidos de guerra, metralletas y gritos, que anuncian la llegada en pleno de este trabajo de Diabolical.

En general, la tónica del disco esta dada por temas muy agresivos y rápidos, con un excelente trabajo en las guitarras, riffs precisos y muy bien logrados, con el bajo y la batería en perfecta conjunción y con la voz de M. ödling al máximo en todo momento, la cual me recuerda en muchos aspectos al gran Tomas Lindberg, de los desaparecidos y añorados At The Gates. De hecho A Thousand Deaths es similar en muchas cosas a Slaughter Of The Soul, que fuera el último trabajo que nos regalaran los Gates.

A lo largo de este disco nos encontramos con temas de gran factura técnica y de mucha calidad como Children Of The Mushroom Cloud, Until The Day Arrives, An Opposite Law y Profane Murder, los cuales dejan en claro que Diabolical tiene mucho que entregarnos y que cuentan con las armas suficientes para convertirse en una gran banda.

Sin embargo, su actual estilo esta basado, como señalaramos en un comienzo, en toda la movida del Death Metal Sueco, con riffs y partes melódicas, aunque en Diabolical no se perciban con tanta agudeza. Quizás es esto lo que hace que A Thousand Deaths parezca ser un álbum más del puñado de grabaciones similares que podemos encontrar, un buen álbum sin duda alguna, pero muy común para estos tiempos.

Basta decir que la banda tiene mucho potencial y esperar que en su próxima entrega hayan encontrado su propio camino. La materia prima está, falta elaborarla un poco.

www.darkmetal.cl



DIABOLICAL: A Thousand Deaths

Man kann es sich natürlich einfach machen und behaupten, "A Thousand Deaths " sei desselbe wie das Vorgängeralbum Synergy in rot. Ganz von der Hand zu weisen ist diese Behauptung auch nicht, denn an der musikalischen Ausrichtung der Schweden hat sich wenig geändert: Noch immer deaththrasht sich das Quartett melodiös durch den skandinavischen Teil der Metal-Landkarte.

Doch "A Thousand Deaths" klingt auch gereifter, zwingender und schlüssiger. Die Songs sind dichter, was nur zum Teil an gesteigerter Härte und Geschwindigkeit liegt. Zwischen den wütenden Riffattacken und den stellenweise wirklich guten Leads, bleibt kaum Zeit zum Luftholen - vergleichbar mit Bands wie THE HAUNTED oder TERROR 2000, wenn auch im Fall von DIABOLICAL der letzte Kick in den meisten Fällen einfach noch fehlt.
Bei genauerem Hinhören lassen sich doch kleine Highlights ausmachen, "Untill The Day Arrives" zum Beispiel überzeugt mit mitreißender Thrash Rhythmik und sich überschlagenden Ballerparts, dazu eine hochmelodisches Gitarrensolo - zusammengehalten von einem Schlagzeuger, der auch mal vom Standard abweicht und ungewöhnliche Elemente einbaut.


DIABOLICAL haben sich wirklich Gedanken beim Songs schreiben gemacht, statt nur auf die Fresse zu zielen, bemühen sich die Jungs, den ein oder anderen komplexeren Teil in die Songs zu integrieren. Das geht zwar manchmal wie bei "Under My Skin" etwas auf Kosten der Geradlinigkeit und somit auch auf Kosten der Aggressivität, doch damit packt die Band auch eine Scheibe Eigenständigkeit aufs schwedischen Einheitsknäckebrot. Doch zum ganz großen Album reicht es einfach noch immer nicht, was DIABOLIC mit "A Thousand Deaths" abliefern, ist zwar überdurchschnittlich, da die Song ein ganzes Stück durchdachter, komplexer und dabei aber keinesfalls weniger aggressiv sind als die der vielen, vielen Kollegen, doch die richtige Durchschlagskraft fehlt einfach. Das könnte an Schreihals M. ödling liegen, der sich zwar alle Mühe gibt und konsequent alle Songs durchbrüllt, dabei aber immer ein wenig schwachbrüstig wirkt. Schade, denn wäre die Konkurrenz nicht so groß, dann wären DIABOLICAL sicher vorne mit dabei - so reicht es eben nur für das vordere Mittelfeld.

Tracklist:
A Thousand Deaths
Children of The Mushroom Cloud
God Of The Underworld
Dead Angel´s Choir
Untill The Day Arrives
Under My Skin
An Opposite Law
Demonic
Profane Murder

Label: Scarlet Records

[www.vampster.com]



DIABOLICAL - A thousand deaths (Scarlet/Adipocere) - 18/04/2002

Je vous avais déjà fait part de mon enthousiasme lors de la sortie du premier album des suédois de Diabolical ("Synergy"). Ces jeunes hommes avaient réussi à l'époque à faire de la musique réellement méchante et maîtrisée tout en conservant les poncifs du base du death-metal mélodique suédois. Ce nouvel album me fait dire que le premier essai n'était en fait qu'un balbutiement et que la suite est véritablement la révélation que l'on attendait. Sans jamais basculer dans le black, dont il ne reprend que la tonalité des vocaux, "a thousand deaths" réussit également le tour de force de ne jamais avoir besoin de parties grind pour être agressif. Au détour de chaque titre, on peut dénicher des breaks techniques et savamment interprétés, un solo mélodique digne de Slayer, une petite accélération détonante et efficace et une putain de rage qui fait plaisir à entendre. Les guitares ont vraiment la part belle sur ce disque et le son très thrash de celles-ci est superbement rendu par une production nickel-chrome tout droit sortie des studios Underground (Carnal Forge, Necrodeath, Terror 2000,...). Le amateurs de Carnal Forge ou de The Crown seront en tout cas aux anges avec ce cd qui ne dévoilera tous ses secrets qu'au bout de nombreuses écoutes. On croirait parfois entendre une synthèse de ce que le thrash et le death nous ont apporté de mieux ces dernières années et c'est véritablement un hommage respectueux à l'esprit du métal que Diabolical nous offre ici, à grands renforts de duels de guitares et de cohérence brute dans l'interprétation. On déplorera peut-être la courte durée du disque (33 minutes) mais je vous assure que ce condensé de puissance vaut largement le détour et que la qualité éclipse amplement la brieveté.

[Posté par: Loufi] Note : 16/20

http://vsolutions.free.fr/