Morbid Saint – "Swallowed by Hell"

Sometimes you CAN judge a book by its cover

Once upon a time – in 1990, to be exact – this little record came out called "Spectrum of Death". And that little record went on to achieve cult status in the global metal community – also outside of the thrash metal subdivision. Because with "Spectrum of Death", Morbid Saint, its Wisconsinite originators, had taken the ugly, profane, and apocalyptic elements from then-Sepultura, combined them with the uncompromising darkness of Slayer and the technical proficiency of Megadeth and created something as extreme as it could get within the genre.

And then, after a handful of years, instead of releasing a sophomore album, they split up. Fuck knows why. And so they remained until 2010, finally releasing the sophomore LP, "Destruction System", in 2015, but with a different line-up.

However, with vocalist Pat Lind and original guitarists Jay Visser and Jim Fergades back together, "Swallowed by Hell" could be said to have at least as much comeback album status as its 9-year-old predecessor. And what a comeback it is.

Granted, there isn't exactly a lot of originality going on here. Because, as illustrated by that archetypical Ed Repka album cover and a song title like "Fuck Them All", Morbid Saint aren't exactly out to make art here. They're out to kick the sorry asses of as many people as possible. And let it be known up front that they're achieving that purpose, alright.

This is clearly the sound of people who have absolutely nothing to lose; who are extremely adept at playing their instruments, and who refuse to compromise for anything. If you don't like that combination of qualities; you're probably not a metalhead in the first place.

There's no atmospheric intro or anything. Opener "Rise From the Ashes" starts off with a loveably ugly, wasp-like tremolo riff, drum punches like a heavyweight boxer, and a millimeter-precise, systematic auditive massacre of anything that's less aggressive. Which is a quantity that encompasses most things in the world, really.

Something that I wrote more than once when taking notes during the final pre-review spin of the album is, paraphrasing: "This is hella fucking fast and hella fucking tight and hella fucking uncompromising". And the short version is, that pretty much sums it up. Just like there's not a lot of originality here, there's not a lot of variation, either. This is the blisteringly intense end of thrash, and that's all according to plan.

Some things do stand out, of course. For example, the guitars often play the rhythm and lead figures in semi-harmonic intervals. And I'm deliberately using the word semi here, because it's not harmonically gratifying in a traditional sense rather than ugly and disturbing. (Which, of course, makes it paradoxically gratifying for those of us who've long developed calluses on our eardrums.) The biggest standout is relatively new drummer DJ Bagemehl whose airtight precision cannot be overstated. Another cool feature is that unlike in a lot of other thrash, not only can you actually hear the bass guitar, but it has one of the most crispy tones I've ever heard in the genre.

Something that I wrote more than once when taking notes during the final pre-review spin of the album is, paraphrasing: "This is hella fucking fast and hella fucking tight and hella fucking uncompromising". And the short version is, that pretty much sums it up.

This might have something to do with the relatively clear production. Some people have been bitching about that, but I'd gladly be the first guy to applaud it. I've said this before: The more extreme the music is, the sharper the sound needs to be, lest the instruments end up muddling together in an inaudible mess. Music is an auditory medium; you wanna be able to actually hear what's going on, for chrissakes. And the decisive difference is, the production here isn't panderingly polished as with jock garbage like Linkin Shitzkit. It's simply AUDIBLE. What the fuck else do you expect??

And this is reflected in the songwriting itself, too: Whenever the band is playing down-tempo, it's not those tiringly predictable, hackneyed breakdowns that have long served their purpose in this century and in music altogether. They're not even half-timing; they're often changing the pace altogether. And this is something that's easy to overlook in a relatively monotonous medium like thrash metal: Morbid Saint sometimes reach levels of complexity bordering on downright prog. This is most prevalent in "Bleed Them Dry", featuring several different tempos and a break section with a more convoluted riff than 9 out of 10 thrash groups ever wrote.

However, just like with the relatively clear production, some people have been kinda bitching about the fact that "Swallowed by Hell" sounds too much like a lot of other thrash. And sure, like I said: Originality isn't the objective here. And really, I don't know how else this should sound. Granted, an album like this does get a bit tiring towards the end. But that doesn't make it any less kickass. This is clearly the sound of people who have absolutely nothing to lose; who are extremely adept at playing their instruments, and who refuse to compromise for anything.

If you don't like that combination of qualities; you're probably not a metalhead in the first place.