KARNARIUM

The band is based in Gothenburg, Sweden, but the sound on KARNARIUM's self-titled release is early '90s Stockholm death to the bone. And boy is this one ugly cuss! Take equal parts INCANTATION ("Onward to Golgotha"),ENTOMBED ("Left Hand Path"),and GRAVE ("Into the Grave") as performed in the headworks of a sewage treatment plant and you've got KARNARIUM.

It seems the profile of this style of churning bludgeon has been raised due to a nostalgia wave and books like Daniel Ekeroth's "Swedish Death Metal", and very little of it seems contrived. Bands like KARNARIUM, labelmates NECROVATION and, to a lesser extent, NOMINON have performed it with pride and conviction. KARNARIUM is closest to a band like NECROVATION. However, KARNARIUM keep the arrangements even rawer and more stripped down, concentrating on sickening groove and an all-encompassing, doom-shrouded disfigurement. Much of that is due to the substantial role of the clanging bass (as in Cronos clanging!) and murky riffs, as heard right off the bat on the suitably titled "Of Groove and Lust" (that watery lead is spine tingling) and "Pasupuja". If you really want ugly though, a crawling abomination called "Engulfed with a Disgust for Life" is possessed of an AUTOPSY kind of ugliness! Funeral Whore's ungodly, blood-gurgling vocals contribute to the unattractiveness as well.

The album's lone instrumental track, "III (Hammer of Darkness)" , clocks in at a whopping 9:42 and works fairly well, even though the length borders on overkill. The track builds on a basic riff and beat, ascending to a reckless gallop and settling back down again before ending with a chilling keyboard line straight out of a B-grade horror movie. The tune comes off like a studio jam more than anything else and fits the mood of the album quite nicely. Finally, a cover of IMPETIGO's "Wizard of Gore" is a most relevant choice and is made even slimier by KARNARIUM.

The whole thing sounds like music that would accompany a series of unspeakable acts taking place in the dank basement of a dilapidated house in the middle of nowhere. Let's hope that wasn't actually the case. Either way, the album is worth checking out.