Feral – To Usurp the Throne
Release Date: 18th October 2024
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Swedeath, Death Metal, OSDM.
FFO: Entombed, Grave, Dismember, Carnage, Autopsy.
Review By: Rick Farley
All hail the chainsaw! Classic Swedish death metal Vikings, Feral return with their grimy, HM-2 toned album, To Usurp the Throne releasing via Transcending Obscurity Records. For those unfamiliar with this old school death metal influenced band, Feral was formed in 2007 with the intent to viciously retake the throne left vacant by those classic Swedeath bands of the early nineties.
To Usurp the Throne is chock-full of gritty, distorted, chunky riffs, putrid murkiness and loads of manic, spirited energy with the intent to sever your head in two with its rusty chainsaw. Festering, grinding, groove laden violence, which sounds like a dirt crusted helldozer coming to crush the rest of your body into a gooey pile of flesh. Harsh, growly vocals, sickening hooks and crust filled ferocity, yes please.
To Drain the World of Light kicks off this rabid beast with a disgusting fast pace. The grinding riffs are heightened by the insanity of the chaotic drumming. Relentlessly beating the listener senseless with its pounding snare and twin guitar bludgeoning. The low-end rumbles along, adding extra weight to the merciless walls of distortion. Vile Malediction brings the swampy stomp that’s sure to inspire plenty of broken necks. A slimy tremolo picked melody over top bulky chord progressions midway through is creative, but also adds some brightness to the sludge filled track. Into the Ashes of History slowly builds from a doomy, foggy atmosphere to pure aggressive speed, clearing out anything in its path with recklessness. The guitars twist and turn between rapid hellfire and darkly melodic. A nauseating feeling settles over you during the slow moving, menacing sections before returning to absolute destruction. Closing track Stripped of Flesh is pure brute force, adrenaline fuelled beater, complete with ripping solos and vein bursting tension.
As fun as this record is, To Usurp the Throne does suffer a bit of listener fatigue over the course of its possibly too long forty-six minute runtime. That’s not to say this album is not good, this undoubtedly kicks some serious Swedeath ass, but in all fairness Left Hand Path was released in 1990. I’m not saying Feral are a clone of Entombed, but it’s what’s closest to the bands sound overall. Again, this is fine, simply because there is always room for high quality, well written, blistering OSDM from Sweden. Also, this genre is not exactly easy to keep fresh sounding.
To Usurp the Throne arguably could be lost in this overcrowded genre if you’re not paying enough attention. However, if you listen closely, you’ll hear a band that’s dynamic in how it approaches the songwriting and the way they structure the songs. Plenty of little titbits of mysterious doominess, darkened melody, crusty d-beats, and frenzied solos to go along with the skull crushing heaviness. Ultra-fast-paced riffs lead to pulverizing grooves just to circle back with some moody melodic atmosphere. It’s all well executed and presented in a way that makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts. It feels and sounds truly genuine. Feral is a band that makes music that they clearly listen to. If this particular sound is your thing, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a band in 2024 doing it more authentic.
(3.5 / 5)
