One of the many conspirators of darkness, mastering the creatures of the night, a heaving of chaotic invocations, piercing with an injection of a relentless force without any kind of fear or remorse, brutality is here, conveying the banners with its favourite tarnished colors. As if the current Death Metal scene is the main ground control for the Swedish invaders, but as it would seem, it can't be prevented. The Swedes have been taking control of Death Metal, readjusting their first incursion of the early 90s, producing material with highly vigorous rate, penetrating deeper into one's mind with a fierce wall of sound, retaining the old school vibe back to its years of dominance. DEMONICAL, a deadly shrapnel out of this massive wave of Swedish Death Metal bands not relying on the vanquished Gothenburg reign, which was originally spawned by CENTINEX departing members, have been creating quite a name from themselves with critically acclaimed releases, appeased by the gruesomeness of GRAVE, ASPHYX, late 80s PARADISE LOST, VALLENFYRE, DISMEMBER and PAGANIZER among others. Clinging to Cyclone Empire as their home, DEMONICAL reprieved their fourth album, "Darkness Unbound", from the clutches of the studio and out to the world to be tormented and coarsened.

Generally, "Darkness Unbound", beneath the garnered suspension out of the self-titled intro, it felt as if an iced volcano has erupted, spraying its steamy lava on its surrounding while above it a storm rapidly formed, tearing up everything on its path. Honestly, it can be proclaimed on nearly every Death Metal album with the same Swedish perception, yet with DEMONICAL it felt more or less unique. Blast beating their way into obliviousness, armed with a detachment of devilish tremolo picking riffs relishing a few melodies sharing a few Black Metal features, squashing their targets with Heavy and Thrash based soloing, overwhelming with SLAYERish Thrashy palm muted riffery antics along with a crude highly quality growling effort at the front end, DEMONICAL had me inspired.

"The Order", "Contempt And Conquest" and "The Healing Control" are a bash fest of meaty Death Metal oozed with blood and dirt, the sound might indicate a bit of Crust Punk as on the ZOMBIFIED act, yet it has become accustomed to nearly every Swedish band. The stormy nature of the songs triggered an energy surge, the will to create a wall of death. I was impressed by the frequent soloing along with their sorrowful melodic intent, even though nothing within these songs is similar to the old Gothenburg variations. The mournful "The Great Praise" ventured into the realms of extreme Doom Metal, several of the passages might hint of a slight replication of old PARADISE LOST or Greg Mackintosh's VALLENFRYE, hitherto I believe that DEMONICAL found their angle for devising their own filthy signature upon this amazing song. As bonuses, I must commend DEMONICAL for prescribing an energetic version to the KREATOR song, "World Beyond" and for reintroduction of their hit track "Burned Alive" from the debut release. As if nothing changed, this latter track seemed to be integrated well with DEMONICAL's consistency and vast reach into the forlorn lands of Death Metal.

It is positive the nothing within "Darkness Unbound" is closer to being original, yet it wasn't needed as they were able to achieve superiority with their robustness and respects for their old Death Metal scene.