Every death metal fanatic must have heard a few of these bands with Stockholm death metal sound (Boss HM-2 pedal generated chainsaw guitar sound). There are several bands from Latin America, too. 'Evoking Darkness' is one of those good Swedish death metal worshiping albums, if you want one. Judging by this album alone, Remains from Mexico really love stuff like Grave, Vomitory, Unleashed and Dismember...

Here on their sophomore full-length album from 2015, Remains didn't opt to one certain vibe, but chose to go with stygian and groovy natured tones. However, this is not death 'n' roll, but true death metal. Lots of headbangable stuff, but some that should make one to take a part to a mosh pit. Like the opener 'Dead Breed' shows, sometimes a couple of riffs are enough. Just add some spices like fast drum rolls, guitar harmonies and insane yet melodious guitar solo; what a cool kick in stomach. The following 'The Darkness' ups the ante and more than doubles the riffs and drags in the ominous atmospheres. The album follows these lines. The Grave cover 'Soulless' ends the album with a bang. 'Pray & Shot' is Remains' own Grave style song here and they nail the style.

The atmospheres can also change swiftly from eerie to face-slapping skank beat driven stuff, so there's really no orthodox songwriting all the time. The pace is fast for a big part, with slower breather-giving moments. There are loads of bulldozing and hacking riffs and various potent beats to enjoy for those Swedish death metal aficionados, and the album flows on nicely, never really losing its momentum.

The production is done pretty well overall. While not extremely heavy, it is thick and rather unforgiving. It's nice to hear bass guitar with chainsaw guitars. Everything has some reverb into it, but the vocals are heavily reverbed, yet not to cave-dweller levels. The voice is raspy and low growl, but not guttural. The suitable cover art is channeling Dan Seagrave and H.P. Lovecraft. The lyrical themes are all typical for the genre: Wars, killing, madness, creatures, drugs.

Remains are easily up there with them great non-Swedish bands who love to do Swedish death metal: Fleshcrawl, Revel In Flesh, Zombiefication... So, a treat for the fans of the style, but anyone else..? No, I do not think so.

Rating: 8- (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
12/20/2024 23:03