The new The Elysian Fields album has been an interesting surprise. Their previous piece of work entitled 12 Ablaze, back in 2001, was in my opinion an exceptional piece of work where the band sounded mature enough to add to their Swedish Death Metal a more personal sound. After four years of silence the band returns with Suffering G.O.D. Almighty where they manage to elevate their sound with ease on to a brand new level.
The Elysian Fields have a ten-year existence of active discography, starting with the release of Adelain back in 1995. Between this release and 12 Ablaze the band only made We... The Enlighten in 1998 so they can't be considered as an over-productive unit. Still, all their releases can be described as fine crafted pieces of work.
The revolutionary step in the band's music is the addition of several electronic themes in their music. Where 12 Ablaze was the band's turn from brutal Death to the more technical side of the genre (call me NWOSDM), Suffering... is an exploding mixture of Death Metal and electronic music. And when I say electronic I don't mean the addition of some keyboard parts. Nope, the band has adopted a modern vibe in their compositions where the new age elements often come in the forefront (indeed the keyboards have a front seat reserved wherever they appear).
Doed the edgy production give an extra push to the whole album? I don't know if this is an attempt by the band to reach a broader audience but definitely it's a smart move in order to avoid sounding exactly like the thousands of other technical Death Metal acts. I just hope that they will become more productive in the future...