When I received the usual promo list my first and immediate choice was DEMIURG. Why? The answer is pretty simple; the name Dan Swano was written next to it! I am a huge fan of his, I have followed up his entire career and loved each one of his projects; from the most famous such as EDGE OF SANITY , BLOODBATH , NIGHTINGALE etc up to the relatively unknown, for the majority of the Metal fans, projects he participated in (it would take me almost a paragraph to name each one of them), but still I had never heard of DEMIURG before. The progressive Death Metal band from Sweden has been around since 2006 and they have recently released their 3^rd album entitled "Slakthus Gamleby". From the first time I listened to the album their music blew my mind away. I could not believe what I was missing all this time since their previous releases were also very good, but fortunately it's never to late. Anyway, lets get to the point.

DEMIURG is the spawn of PAGANIZER/RIBSPREADER mainman Rogga Johansson who took charge of the rhythm guitars and vocals. Soon he was joined by Dan Swano who started in the band as the drummer, but after the first album he concentrated on what he does best, becoming the lead guitarist of the band and also arranging the keyboards. The band consists also of Ed Warby in drums & clean vocals (HAIL OF BULLETS, AYREON , THE 11^th HOUR etc) and Johan Berglund in bass (THIS HAVEN, RIBSPREADER). All of them together create a dreamy lineup able to create great stuff. Also in "Slakthus Gamleby" female vocalist Marjan Welman of the Dutch gothic Metal band AUTUMN participates as a guest in some songs,which proves to be a great addition.

The band describes the music as "Progressive Old School Death Metal" and that's pretty much the term that is closer to their unique style. Their music is based on progressive Death Metal combined however with the brutality and many influences from old school Death Metal bands like BOLT THROWER and GRAVE. We can also find many elements from EDGE OF SANITY and Swano's solo career, but that is logical. I also noticed some Doom/Death Metal riffs and melodies blended perfectly in their music mostly during the clean female and male vocal parts. All in all what we have is great harsh and deep death growls, razor-sharp riffs combined with great melodies, impressive drumming with blast beats and some mid-tempo Doom/Death melodies along with beautiful female vocals in some songs. Put the above mentioned facts together with the exceptional mixing and mastering of Dan Swano and what you get is a great release.

"Slakthus Gamleby" starts with "Life Is A Coma",one of the best songs of the record, that combines all the elements you will find in the album. Riffs full of aggression, great melodies and an impressive Doom/Death mid-tempo break in the middle along with beautiful clean male & female vocals. There are many other highlights like "Death Grasp Oblivion", "The Cold Hand Of Death" ,"Cold Skin", which focus mostly on the pure aggression and brutality of their music and "Travellers Of The Vortex" and "From Laughter To Retching" in which we have the perfect balance between the aggressive and the more doomish/melodic elements.

The point is that "Slakthus Gamleby" is a really well balanced record with all of the songs being of high quality and in the end it is really hard to say which ones should be considered as the total highlights. So, if you are a fan of progressive Death Metal , old school Death Metal and probably Doom/Death metal ,or you are a fan of Dan Swano's and Rogga Johansson's projects, then this album is for you! I recommend "Slakthus Gamleby" without any hesitation!