This year is full of sick death metal releases. No matter how hard you try, you just can’t keep up with them, but hey you won’t hear me complaining… To me this is one of the many filthy releases from this year. Firespawn is a new band that first started off under the name Fireborn, which they changed after releasing their 2015-demo. This five-piece just breathes metal in Sweden.
Well, before I’ll write about the songs on The Reprobate, I’d like to mention that Firespawn isn’t just a new death metal band at all, because this band exists out of real death metal heroes. The vocals are done by L-G Petrov, a.k.a. the voice of Entombed (A.D.), ex-Morbid etc. This release is all about shred machine Victor Brandt’s riffs, guitarist for Entombed A.D., ex-Satyricon (live), Six Feet Under (live) and many others. This guy’s resumee will just blow you away. Then there’s Matte Modin, which you might have seen play with Dark Funeral. This genius takes care of the blast beats. Frederik Folkare (Unleashed, ex-Necrophobic) is the second guitarist and Alex Friberg (Necrophobic) makes the band complete all together with his bass. Real death metal breathers know exactly what is up when these names and bands get mentioned.
Their debutalbum Shadow Realms didn’t really get a lot of positive feedback, but one year later they’re back and way better than before! I hope you’ll turn this banger on while reading this because, in my opinion Firespawn sounds a lot heavier than Entombed A.D. Where Entombed went death ‘n roll, in Firespawn Petrov lets us hear his more gruesome vocal side with angrier riffs to back it up.
Just like their first full length, the artwork was done by the amazing Paola Girardi, one of the greatest painters in death metal. You will be surprised by how many artworks of him you know. As I said, this isn’t just another random release.
The first track gets your head banging immediately after the mean “ough” Petrov blows out of his throat. The beginning of Blood Eagle, the second track, isn’t really my thing, but after a while it speeds up and the riffs just get better and better.
Full Of Hate starts off heavy as hell, which might be one of the reasons why this is one of my favorite tracks on the album. Death By Impalement is just as filthy and as cruel as a death metal track should be. General’s Creed starts off with some fast riffing, pursued by deep vocals from the guts of a death metal god and some super sick solos. This is what I call a real headbanger.
The seventh track is called The Whitechapel Murderer, in which the horrors get described that took place. You can even hear guest vocals by Jack The Ripper himself. During A Patient Wolf your ears will witness some mad riff duality in the middle and the end of the song, which makes things very interesting.
The title track’s opening riff is a wink towards Morbid Angel’s Where The Slime Live and progress on from that riff taking us through a vortex of insane solos. Seriously, the solos alone on this whole album are worth giving it a listen. The last track makes clear the members are huge Game Of Thrones fans. Well, all jokes aside, Nightwalkers is nothing new, but a solid last track where the vortex continues.
It’s hard to pick one favorite song, but it’s definitely a solid release with a couple of standouts, like the opening track, Death By Impalement, The Whitechapel Murder and the title track for, once again, the solos. I’m looking forward to hear more of them in the future. They will be playing Stonehenge Festival in the Netherlands next year and just announced there’s a new video in the making.
The Reprobate is released on vinyl (still black and green for sale) and CD (digipack) at Century Media Records.
Release date: April 28, 2017
Label: Century Media Records
Tracklist:
1. Serpent Of The Ocean
2. Blood Eagle
3. Full Of Hate
4. Damnatio Ad Bestias
5. Death By Impalement
6. General’s Creed
7. The Whitechapel Murder
8. A Patient Wolf
9. The Reprobate
10. Nightwalkers
