Rating: 8.2

Country: Sweden

Release Date: 2008

Record Label: Pulverised Records

Track list:
1. Slowly Rotting
2. Dead Rotten And Hungry
3. Night Of The Burning Dead
4. The Awakening
5. Walking Dead
6. Burner
7. Consumed
8. Unanimated Flesh
9. Unlock The Horror
10. Soul Eater
11. Devoured By Decay

Band Website: Facebreaker

Facebreaker - Dead, Rotten and Hungry

Roberth Karlsson - Vocals
Janne Ivarsson - Guitars
Mika Lagrén - Guitars, backing vocals
Jonas Magnusson - Bass, backing vocals
Mikael Wassholm - Drums

Facebreaker deliver their promise by merging likeable old school death metal elements with the shameless heaviness of contemporary bands to create death metal music ideal for today's times. In a manner similar to their recently deceased compatriots, God Among Insects, Facebreaker have incorporated heavy groove parts into the established raw and jagged Swedish sound to make music that should be agreeable to most deathheads – old school death metal that is not hackneyed, and not nonsensically brutal either. A potent mixture of early You'll Never See era Grave and newer Panzerchrist would actually be the best way to describe the stupendous music on Dead, Rotten and Hungry, Facebreaker's sophomore album.

Blasting its way like a tank out of an underground bunker, Facebreaker's music rolls forth with intimidating ferocity and a dogged determination to decimate its nation's melodic weaklings and more lately the dumb/pretentious sounding bands that seem to be overcrowding the scene there. Sounding like the revving of a colossal tank and the subsequent crushing of a thousand skulls, album opener “Slowly Rotting” sets a stern tone for the rest of the album. Encumbered with power riff ammunition, flesh-tearing solos, and explosive firepower percussion, the music trudges in a strained, sluggish Grave-like manner, which is seemingly maintained throughout the album despite deliberate attempts at varying the speed. After a grim build-up, “Dead, Rotten and Hungry” surprisingly hurtles forward, like an hitherto motionless crocodile suddenly coming alive to capture its victim, which, by the way it does quite easily. In the same song the band exhibits rare dexterity in whipping out a timely lead to sizzle up the proceedings, while in the next one, “Night of the Burning Dead” leads having the same temperament as the stubborn music are given birth.

“The Awakening” with its shredding perkiness displays Dismember traits and is laced with Eurodeath touches, the song also featuring a wicked Vader-esque lead that is played in accompaniment with a truly sinister part. In “Walking Dead”, Facebreaker ram Bolt Thrower style into what used to be known as walls, and later celebrate by hooting leads in their typical epic style. Featuring pulsating and strangulating beats, “Burner” with its incisive riffs brings to mind the grimy grit of post-Soul Collector Panzerchrist. Then, in Bolt Thrower/ Grave fashion, following a terrific build-up in “Consumed”, the band goes ballistic, charging ominously and firing heavyweight cannons, spreading an aura of utter domination. Before it's too late, I must mention the sheer delight one experiences listening to the well- enunciated growls of Roberth Karlsson, who also did vocals on Edge of Sanity's Cryptic in place of Dan Swano. Thanks to him, even in the absence of lyrics one can also make out cool lines such as “They rise from the grave!” in “Unanimated Flesh”, which happens to be another great song. With his vocals sounding like a cross between that of Jorgen Sandstrom (early Grave) and Bo Summer (Illdisposed, Panzerchrist), not only does Roberth perform the job outstandingly well, he encourages you to growl along with him, something very few vocalist in these times of unintelligible ree-ing are able to do. After providing a mid-paced groovy track akin to Panzerchrist in “Unlock the Horror”, Facebreaker unleash what could prove to be a modern catchy death metal classic: “Soul Eater”. Suffice to say, with the song's throbbing skull-bludgeoning beats and the vocalist's tasteful reiteration of the words "SOUL EATER", songs such as “Mindsnare” and “Spearhead” come alive in your mind and wreak havoc, killing whatever little social behavioral sense that had remained in there.

Facebreaker will give true fans the brutal punch in the face that was required for them to wake up from their coma and fill them up with pure death metal rage. Staid but an incredibly powerful album, Dead, Rotten and Hungry it will lend to the listener an air of invincibility that arises from cruising in an impregnable, unstoppable tank packed with explosives.

February 17th, 2007