Crematory - Denial (1992)

I recently saw a copy of this go on Ebay, on vinyl and sell for over £70!! All that for a death metal record. I personally wouldn't pay that, but this is a very good slab of Swedish death metal, the sort of band who most certainly didn't hit the headlines like their fellow countrymen Entombed did. This is far more basic death meta, reminding me of Unleashed, Sinister, Grave in its attacking prowess, all very dense in its guitar sound and guttural vocally but not a lot here to distinguish it from other death metal acts. This has a strong old school mid-tempo feel to it at times, particularly on the title track and also on 'Chunks Of Flesh' which admirably shifts between speed - one moment a deep, growling groove then speeded up but thankfully not hyper fast to the point of a lack of comprehension. When the band do slip into hyper mode, they still maintain a level of control - 'Into Celephais' a prime example of this - but 'Denial' is very typical of its era, and whilst quite a rarity on vinyl, it doesn't really do enough to stand out from the maddening crowd. 6.5/10