It's been 9 years after the split of INFESTDEAD and all was quiet from their realm... until now. The Swedish Satanic Death Metallers have put out a whopping 41-track compilation album spanning their efforts from 2 full-length releases and a handful of singles and EP's, cataloguing their journey through their career as Swedish Death Metal pioneers. The blackened anthology of their evil adventures is aptly known as "Satanic Serenades". Though these songs have come and gone many years ago, we are thrilled to delve into something contributed to the world of darkness.

Looking back, it's a little hard to believe that there was a time when America was more influential than Europe when it came to overly distorted guitar, machine-gun drumming, and ripping gutturals- well, at least in Scandinavia. That was a reality back in the early to mid-90's, especially in Florida, where the sunny sands and clear waters of South Beach ran red with the torrent of Death Metal that swept their community. And the world was taking notice. Thousands of miles away, deep in Sweden, a couple of metalheads got together and started INFESTDEAD as a response to that movement, drawing influences from bands like OBITUARY, DEICIDE, and MORBID ANGEL, and fine-tuning the sound. They came together at the peak of the movement in 1994 and between 1996 and 2007, these guys made magic with their records.

What makes this unit so intriguing is that it were formed by only 2 musicians: Dan Swanö and Andreas "Dread" Axelsson. And together, they crafted some fairly good tunes to rattle some heads. Dan proved to be a Jack of all trades, providing the entire guitar, bass, and drum tracks for every one of INFESTDEAD's songs. You'd think that a lot of the musicality would be watered down, but that's not the case. The guitar, his element, is swift, bold, and burningly technical during the solos, enough to rival even some of the most famous Death Metal guitarists who specialize in that instrument alone. All the while, the drums don't lack in skill at all and the bass, though maybe a little underutilized, plays its role and is mixed in well. It's a given that when someone has been part of about 30 projects in the European metal scene, they probably pick up a thing or two. All the while, Dread belts out some deep, ferocious, and unrelenting gutturals. What gets me most is that they're surprisingly accurate for his singing style, which is speedy and jumps all over lyrically, but also accurate; delicately constructed, even. And you can tell how this has evolved over the years after listening to "Satanic Serenades".

"Satanic Serenades" starts heavy and ends heavy- a no-bullshit-bullet train running fast and powerful, yet solid and steady, not about to derail in a world of chaos that fuels it's raging, metal engine. The album moves consistently, slowing and speeding here and there, but overall retains a very similar style all the way. Though the sound itself is well-refined (especially later in their career), the band itself didn't get terribly experimental and rarely steps out of their comfort zone. However, that comfort zone was welcoming and interesting enough to keep us staying longer than we had previously expected.

Since "Satanic Serenades" is a compilation, it's easy to understand how the band had evolved over the years, with the first disc being a re-release of their 2^nd full-length album, "JesuSatan" and the 2^nd, a collection of songs from their 1^st full feature, "Hellfuck", and other EP's. There's a huge difference in production quality on the 2 discs, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, being separated and not stopping the overall flow. Not to mention that most of the tracks on disc 2 averages about 1 to 2 minutes, evident to how they changed gears to make longer tunes. An audible anthology of INFESTDEAD's music and production, stepping back in time, is always quite a journey.

I especially love the songs "Re-Resurrection", "Born to Burn", "Black Night", "Sacrifice the Saviour", and "Bewitch the Virgin", all of which vary on production and some styles (with tempo and levels of technicality), but are all original in their own way and really stand out in strength. The guitar is at its strongest, the drums fire from every direction, and we hear Dreads really make use of his voice on several different fronts, with contrast between his quicker vocalization and longer, more drawn-out growls. Just those alone exemplify INFESTDEAD's abilities: evidently phenomenal.

Some bands live and some bands die, and it's a little sad to have just learned about INFESTDEAD only to realize that they've already come and gone, with this compilation album being their last say on how things really went. Even after a few listens, I'm thoroughly convinced that INFESTDEAD did some great things in their own right. "Satanic Serenades" made for a good, insightful listen.<