Saturday 19 March 2016

Interment - "Scent of the Buried" (Album Review)

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 1/4/2016
Label: Pulverised Records /
Dark Descent Records (North America)

Scent of the Buried’ strikes an excellent balance between thrashing speed and grinding riffs, and pulling the reins in on the tempo as needed for the sake of variety.  Though it is very by-the-book, it’s done so well that you can’t even really call that a knock against it. Instead, it’d be more accurate to say that the album is proof that if you do a basic formula well enough, it’s more than enough to compete with flashier albums built on a flimsier foundation, stylistically.

‘Scent of the Buried’ CD//DD track listing:

1. Death And Decay
2. Sinister Incantation
3. Chalice Of Death
4. Repugnant Funeral
5. Scent Of The Buried
6. Rise Of The Dead
7. Unholy Upheaval
8. Dawn Of Blasphemy
9. Skullcrushing Carnage
10. Nailed To The Grave

Interment is:

Johan Jansson | Guitar,Vocals
Torbjörn Brynedal | Guitars
Allan Lundholm | Bass
Kennet Englund | Drums

The Review:

If there’s one thing there isn’t a shortage of in 2016 and it’s bands with that early 90s Stockholm/Sunlight Studio sound. A lot of its popularity comes from hardcore influenced bands seeking to use that sound to give their bands a new or different dimension (e.g. Trap Them, Black Breath, or NAILS), but there are plenty of newer bands seeking to relive a glory period they had no chance of being a part of the first time around, due to age or some other factor. For the most part, a lot of those efforts fall short of the mark, with style over substance being a frequent concern. Thankfully there are bands like Interment who are still around to remind everyone that a classic sound can be done the right way, though they have the added benefit of being a part of the first wave.

Interment released three demos from 1991 to 1994, which in retrospect offer a similarly high level of quality to the bigger bands of the era. Johan Jansson and Kennet Englund moved on to bands like Uncanny, Dellamorte, Centinex, and Demonical. Once Interment was resurrected in 2007, the band started life anew through a series of compilations and split releases and releasing a well-received full length album in 2010, ‘Into the Crypts of Blasphemy’. Bringing us to 2016 and ‘Scent of the Buried’.

From a stylistic standpoint, the album doesn’t really offer anything you haven’t heard before. It’s completely indebted and dedicated to the Stockholm sound of the early 90s (though the band’s home of Avesta is roughly two hours drive from Stockholm itself). The album was even recorded in the famed Sunlight Studio itself with Tomas Skogsberg at the helm. With all of the ancillary details in order, all that’s left is for the music to come through, which it absolutely does. ‘Scent of the Buried’ strikes an excellent balance between thrashing speed and grinding riffs, and pulling the reins in on the tempo as needed for the sake of variety.

With as much of this particular death metal style as there is right now, it’d be a real shame if this album got lost in the shuffle. It sounds massive, and it’s absolutely a top-tier example of the genre, with its only real drawback being that it comes out at a time when the market is flooded with similar, though inferior bands. Though ‘Scent Of The Buried’ is very by-the-book, it’s done so well that you can’t even really call that a knock against it. Instead, it’d be more accurate to say that the album is proof that if you do a basic formula well enough, it’s more than enough to compete with flashier albums built on a flimsier foundation, stylistically.

You can pick up a digital copy here and a CD copy here and eventually here in North America. 




Band info: Facebook