Seance - Fornever Laid To Rest (1992)

Good band name, poor album title. I was rather surprised to find that Seance are a Swedish band - remarkable when you consider this apes the classic early '90s Floridian death metal sound - those grating guitars far removed from the chainsaw riffs of Entombed, Dismember et al. Sadly, because Seance have chosen such an American sound, 'Fornever Laid To Rest' is simply swallowed up in its unoriginal approach. It's bass heavy, gruff vocals, occasionally mid tempo with hyper injections, but it doesn't have the identity or brutality to raise its head above a million other same souding acts. 'Necronomicon' is a relatively solid cut, but four tracks in and I'm already reaching for the fast-forward button. There's nothing wrong with churning out heavy death metal, but so many bands who took on this no thrills approached found themselves floundering, and Seance are another of those faceless entities. 5.5/10