Wombbath – Choirs of the Fallen (Review)

Wombbath are a Swedish death metal band and this is their fourth album.

SWEDISH DEATH METAL!!! Yeah! Wombbath return to give us another 50 minutes of the good stuff. I have a soft spot for this style that’s undeniable, but Wombbath have proven their worth in the past. Featuring members of bands such as Ashcloud, Henry Kane, Just Before Dawn, Gods Forsaken, Heads for the Dead, Ursinne, Repulsive Vision, and many others, you know that the style is in experienced hands before even pressing play.

Following in the footsteps of 2015’s Downfall Rising and 2018’s The Great Desolation, Choirs of the Fallen once again offers up steamroller riffs, macabre melodies, and world-swallowing vocals. This time around, however, the band have produced a longer album with a few extra tricks up its sleeve in addition to its core sound.

Yes, despite the conservative nature of Swedish death metal, the band throw in a few unexpected surprises across the album, be this grand atmospheric sections, doom elements, or tricks from the melodic death metal toolbox. These augment the main assault of the Swedish style, adding texture, mood, and character to the music.

Apart from this, the meaty riffs crash and crush, and the songs have plenty of belligerent hooks and barbed catchiness, as you would want. Filled to the brim with old-school authenticity and armed with all of the chainsaw guitars you can handle, Choirs of the Fallen is a satisfying slab of spikes and growls.

Tried and tested, and endlessly appealing to people who want simple heaviness and song-based brutality combined with decent melody and atmosphere, Wombbath once again deliver a solid release. Choirs of the Fallen is an easily enjoyable collection of death metal played in the Swedish style, with a few extra frills too. Brutally good fun.