Tribulation - Putrid Rebirth EP (2006)

Although I adore the Gothic/melodic death metal evolution that Sweden's Tribulation has undergone, I was first introduced to the band on their 2009 opus The Horror, which was a much more explosive, energetic sound that felt like your trademark Swedish death metal getting a nasty, awesome thrashing kick in the pants. I would argue that that full-length debut remains their best overall album, a masterpiece of feral ferocity, though I take no issue with their later explorations whatsoever, it's almost as if they've given us at LEAST two good bands to worship over their career thus far (three if we include Formulas of Death as its own weird, psyche/death metal thing). Though I've reviewed a bunch by the Swedes, somehow it evaded my brain me to cover the band's EP PRIOR to The Horror, Putrid Rebirth.

So here I remedy this oversight, and to the surprise of none, this earlier material has the same propulsive and almost spastic energy to it that The Horror perfected later. This is some ghoulish death/thrash with a clear 80s ancestry, a blend of evil grooves circa Death and then the dizzying speed rhythms of a band like Morbid Angel. You can tell that the band was already adept at creating this shit, the only thing that Putrid Rebirth is really missing is a production as memorable as the debut, and to an extent the songs just aren't quite as catchy as what would come later. But it's all here, from the skilled drumming to the effective leads to the rabid barking. There's a bit of a jam room aesthetic to the mix, which is otherwise dry but fluidly captures all the instruments, it's not quite demo level (they have one before this I think), but on the level of some earlier 90s straightforward death metal records. There's not a lot of atmosphere for your imagination to work with, but the central thrust of the riffing and beats won't give you much time to notice.

The two sides of the EP have slightly different production, with the first more blunt and straight to your face, and the second a bit more atmospheric, kind of a bridge to The Horror but again, just not as skin peelingly amazing as that album sounds. Even if you have no interest whatsoever in the more dramatic style the band is exploring now, this and the debut are both fairly easy to recommend to anyone on the hunt for well wrought old school death metal. Putrid Rebirth is frantic and fun, especially if you've got no patience for bullshit and just want everything to sound like your buds' demos in 1991-92 that they were passing out before opening up for something like the Grind Crusher tour. There's nothing atypical about this, but if you like splatter, you like vintage death metal, get a copy.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://www.tribulation.se/

Tribulation - The Dhampir EP (2022)

Having somehow missed owning "The Dhampir" due to not picking up the double vinyl or the proper CD edition, I'm stoked that this 18+ minute epic is now available for myself and all the other plebeians to enjoy in an economic digital version, and in three digestible chunks. It offers what might even be the most fulfilling blend of Gothic haze, proggy escalation and hints of Tribulation's death metal roots that can be found among the Where the Gloom Becomes Sound sessions, if not perhaps as catchy as some of the originals that wound up on all versions of the album. I can see why such a thing might be clipped, but after wallowing in the experience I'd recommend tracking down any of the physical media where it's present as opposed to where it isn't.

"Part I" definitely builds to a steady clip after a folksy introduction with some great drumming, a very 70s vibe offset with some riffing that almost feels post-punk in places, but also features most of the 'metal' riffs in a conventional sense, and gives a similar melancholic, uplifting atmosphere to some of the tunes from the album proper. "Part II" is a more spacious, doomy section with a lot more experimentation in the instrumentation, some anthemic guitar harmonies and no real vocal presence, and "Part III" returns mostly to the pacing of the first, but then segues out into some rather abrupt changes that range from cleaner guitars, to almost ghostly sheens of atmosphere. Though the tracks flow pretty well into one another, there are certainly an excess of ideas here that don't necessarily need to be experienced in conjunction, but work well enough when the tune is divided into these parts. I wouldn't say that the experience as a whole is dull in any way, but there are a few parts that don't match up to others.

The coolest thing about The Dhampir is that it hints at even more open musical spaces the Swedes might traverse on future records...you could easily hear them going in a more prog direction (maybe not in the same way they did on Formulas of Death), or more psychedelic folk, or even using more cinematic soundscapes where the instruments drop out for haunting feedback. As a part of Where the Gloom Becomes Sound, or even independently, it helps round out a broad swath of influences, and provides a lot of gas left in the creative tanks even though parts of it conform to the general style of that particular album (or Children of the Night). A cool listen, although not immortally carving itself into my conscience like some of their other tunes.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://www.tribulation.se/

Tribulation - Where the Gloom Becomes Sound (2021)

If I was already surprised that Tribulation stuck to the same general sound for two full-length albums, I was even more so when that number became three. Where the Gloom Becomes Sound cultivates another minor evolution to the Goth-driven melodic death metal niche that the band has become possibly the sole inhabitant of, but it certainly does lack the element of surprise you might have experienced on Children of the Night. But don't take that as some deal-breaking critique, because this album is thus far their best manifestation of the corpse-painted, emotional noir that the band has been vibing off, and it's an album that repeatedly rewards the listener, especially when you can set the proper mood: an autumn drive through the countryside, an empty city during lockdown, or just the candles and shadows of your personal Batcave.

The tunes here are all written at accessible lengths, and not immediately impressive, but that's the true strength of Where the Gloom Becomes Sound. The riffs aren't 'long', per se, but the Swedes have learned how to play the long game with them, and craft tunes that are so much more appealing when you pull the lens back and appreciate their entire structure, which is more or less rock-based and then filtered through the grisly guttural vocals. Most of the guitars are wistful, melodic, even folksy, and the use of pianos, percussion and other elements definitely gives this one almost a Gothic country/folk spin to compliment the weaving of the electrics. That's not to say it isn't guitar-heavy or metallic, because the guitars dazzle with a bevy of hypnotic patterns in tunes like "In Remembrance" and "Leviathans" that are among the best they've written, but it's all fairly smooth and inoffensive, an extremely far cry from the harsh death/thrashing on the band's underrated debut (though the intro riff to "Funeral Pyre" gets a bit speedy for a moment, just not in the same way).

The bass lines are simple and perfect, the organs melancholic, the drumming is great, the entire band is aces, really, and what's even more important is that the tracks here are more effective and impactful than those of the prior two albums. I'm not even sure what else to compare this to? Maybe a bit of Sentence post-Amok, or Moonspell's earlier Goth metal diversions come to mind, where you'd hear a similar approach to the guitars, but Tribulation has really mastered the emotional resonance of this style by now. That's not to the album is 100% perfect for me...the piano segue "Lethe" is fine, and there are certain a few tunes in the depths that use samey techniques to some of the extremely strong album openers ("Elementals" starts like a reconfiguration and re-tempo'd "Leviathans"), but there's nothing in the 48 minutes that is really skippable, the lyrics read like gorgeous and fitting Gothic/doom lamentations, and the album is definitely one that hits me even closer to the feels with each successive listen. If I hadn't such a hard-on for The Horror, which could almost be a different band altogether, this would nudge past its two predecessors to become my favorite of their albums.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.25/10] (Among bellflowers and devil's bite)

https://www.tribulation.se/

Tribulation - Alive & Dead at Södra Teatern (2019)

The real question I had when I saw that Tribulation had announced its first live album was just how well their diverse slate of material was going to jive together in that setting. I can totally hear The Formula of Death mixing in with their more Goth-oriented records Children of the Night and Down Below, but how would an audience react to tracks off The Horror and its far different, intense death/thrash sound? To be frank, as much as I've enjoyed their evolutions, that record is still my favorite due to its reckless, explosive songwriting and carnal sound, but I can understand why the band would want to leave it behind them as they explored their gloomier new territory, the contrast might be a little jarring when you're trying to set a mood on stage. Stranger things...have happened? Maybe an encore with the masterful "Beyond the Horror"?

But not here, because the two-disc live album wisely avoids the answer by offering material just off the three most recent albums to its own release. The first disc is Down Below performed in its entirety, and the second disc is a mix of The Formula of Death, Children of the Night and a few fresh live bits. At any rate, the recordings sound quite excellent, with a great mix of the band's riffing melancholy, hoarse rasped vocals and drumming thunder. The band has a tendency this last decade to play pensive, melodic and sorrow-saturated material which really needs the air to breathe to lay in on the audience, and this live offers just that. Crisp clarity that doesn't drain the rhythm guitar of power, well-performed leads that scream straight into the mix where they belong, extremely professional beyond even the bands' years; there are legacy metal acts with 30-40 years experience that will often put out sub-par live products that cannot even come close to matching this. And the set is amazing, even the intro/organ instrumental that sets up the second disc, and the beautiful guitar instrumental later on. Turns out the slightly more adventurous, proggy pieces off The Formula of Death mixed in quite well with the black & white melodic Goth/death. That wafting gloom is never lifted throughout, and I can only imagine breaking out into the death/thrash of their formative years would have probably spoiled the spell this can cast on the listener...EVEN in the context of the live disc.

You also get a DVD of the performance with some added bonus materials, and it might even be my preferred way to experience the music, with a funereal din to it thanks to the lighting and the way the musicians' faces are pretty much obscured throughout. The whole package is a victory for Century Media, a live product that is wholly worth the money a Tribulation fan will spend on it, appreciated largely by folks like myself who haven't had the pleasure yet to actually catch them on a stage. After listening through and watching this several times, that's something I need to put on my bucket list, but even if tragedy strikes and I'm unable to do so, this feels like its nearly as good as being there.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

https://www.tribulation.se/

Tribulation - Nightbound EP (2018)

The Nightbound EP was another skimpy little fan EP that arrived with little fanFARE, available in two versions, of which the digital was the more substantial by one track. This is really just multiple versions of the same song, and while I like "Nightbound", and LOVE Tribulation, I don't really think there's enough of a deviation between the separate incarnations that it warranted any sort of additional product. Now, that's not to say that any of the three are BAD, but usually if you're going to release something 'extra' you throw the audience a bone or something, maybe include a cover, a rarity, something that makes them feel as if they've locked ears on something exclusive and interesting. In fact, this very band has done such before with singles. I'm going ot hazard a guess that this 7" and digital EP probably wasn't entirely the band's idea...

Now, all three of the "Nightbound" tunes included are fine...the studio track we already know off of Down Below, but the live recording certainly sounds pretty good in that context, with bright guitars, vocals and rhythm section all mixed quite well, and arguably this is the most energetic deliver of the track on the EP. Lastly, there's the instrumental demo, and while it's not a song that truly benefits from the lack of vocals, it's fine for mood music. I'm covering the digital edition myself, but if you go for the 7" I'm pretty sure it doesn't even include the studio version, so it's another reason you're just buying it for that minimal artwork and to have another 7" record sitting on your bloated shelves that might not ever even be listened to again...but hey, maybe will be worth something? Doesn't seem like the content to this is even historically worthwhile as a collectible. So the bottom line, I love the band, the song itself is cool, and I love their albums as I've written about numerous times, and the Nightbound EP is entirely skippable.

Verdict: Fail [3/10]

https://www.tribulation.se/

Tribulation - Lady Death EP (2017)

I've already gone on at length about Tribulation's latest album, Down Below, the first case in my opinion in which they've decided to stick around on one particular style and refine it. The results were roughly even with Children of the Night for me, but I've enjoyed both the albums quite a lot when I'm in the mood for an overcast but beautiful admixture of traditional, melodic heavy metal, death metal and the Gothic overtones the band has been obsessed with in both sound and image the last couple outings. "Lady Death" is the third cut on that full-length, opening with an ambient escalation into a downtrodden, mid-paced mope-rocker glazed in great, classic melodic lines that merge very well with the harsher bite of Johannes vocals and the sparser, steady lower chords...a treat for fans of melodic death, Euro-Goth metal, or even Trouble-esque doom metal since a lot of the note choices just put me in a similar mood to much of their material from around 1985-1990.

But, as with the first two entries in this triptych of Tribulation singles I'm reviewing, I had already heard half in advance. The "Lady Death" half. What truly drew me to this short player was the second song, "Skärselden", which I had not been acquainted with. To my surprise, it is not at all a cover or another rock-oriented piece, but instead a 4 minute swell of haunted dark ambiance which feels gloomily cinematic in its scope, cresting at about a minute in, and then again later in the song. Now, as a dark ambient fan in general, I was fairly satisfied with this. Usually I'd like a longer time to get these vibes festering in the shadows of my imagination, but if nothing else its proof Tribulation could have a career on a Cold Meat Industries or some other comparable label, alongside one of their talented ambient countrymen like Raison d'être. That being said, I could see how this would throw off some fans...I mean we don't have much context for this in terms of Tribulation's body of work, and I'm sure a lot of people anticipating Down Below would have preferred a more representative example of their music to whet their appetites alongside the lavish "Lady Death". Mileage is going to vary on this one, but it's probably not the wisest career decision. Nonetheless, in hindsight, the title track is about on par with the rest of their fourth full-length, and the ambient piece is fine for what it is. As to the value of this single? Or this 'EP', as semantics would have it? Not much at all, though the cover of the 7" is eerie, minimalist and classy.

Verdict: Indifference [5/10] (Beautiful and severe)
http://www.tribulation.se/

Tribulation - Waiting for the Death Blow (2015)

Identical to my approach towards Tribulation's prior single, The Death & Rebirth of..., released in early 2015 before Children of the Night dropped, I was only interested in Waiting for the Death Blow for one reason alone...the Swedes' cover of "One Hundred Years" by Gothic heads of state The Cure. Now, this single is actually comprised of TWO covers, the other being "Pay the Man" by the pop punk sensations The Offspring, but I had already heard that from the Melancholic EP in 2016, on which it was repressed. It was a strange choice, to be sure, but probably one of the Californians' least obnoxious tunes, and I'd say that its transformation into moody, melodic deathpunk metal probably raised its stock with me, but if I compare it to any of the original Tribulation material, in ANY of their stylistic eras, then it falls short of the mark.

On the other hand, "One Hundred Years" is closer to a stunner, capturing the mood of the original but also twisting it into something more appropriate for the cult, black & white horror nightscapes that the Swedes have become known for these last several years. This is Jack the Ripper and Vlad Dracula taking tea in some dingy corner pub while gleefully swapping tales of victimization. The vocals are a little overloud, moreso even than the complaints I occasionally read about their growling in general, and the bass guitar doesn't quite have the same presence as in The Cure version on Pornography. But the atmospherics conjured up by the guitars and steady shuffle of the kit are wonderful, and the lyrics, which contribute the title of the single, still haunt as they did coming out of Robert Smith's quivering wails. So this one is well worth a listen, and guess what...if you're smart, and not me, you can pick this up alongside "Laudanum Dreams" from the last single I covered, on the digipak version of Children of the Night through Century Media. Waiting for the Death Blow itself is unnecessary unless you've committed to collecting just about everything. Cool cover pic though.

Verdict: Indifference [5.75/10] (Ambition in the back of a black car)

http://www.tribulation.se/

Tribulation - The Death & Rebirth of... (2015)

I'm actually coming at this single in reverse order here, having already been exposed to the demo version of "Holy Libations" as it appeared on the band's Melancholia EP one year later. To briefly reiterate, I found it and the other demo recordings there to be roughly on par with the versions on Children of the Night, slightly less polished and fractionally more passionate due to the mix, but not enough that I'd switch over to them rather than just run through the entire album. For this single though, it definitely seems as if it would be hurried out the door just to have something ready for the band's installed audience, perhaps even a 'shot across the bow' for those who might not have been anticipating their transformation from the progressive death of Formulas to the more sultry and melancholic Children. To that extent, it serves its purpose, with this memorable, morose tune the vanguard, and the bonus that it's a limited press 7" collector's item.

But for those not interested in such baubles, fear not, because the B-side, the reason I was actually interested in checking this single out, is also available on several of the full-length presses, only somehow not on the one I originally covered, because fuck my life. "Laudanum Dreams" was the real attraction for me, and I was not in the slight bit disappointed, since it's a driving, solemn and vicious piece rife with thundering fills, walls of chords, and threads of melodic tremolo picked lines which almost create a mid-90s, mid-paced melodic black metal feel, and the brazen, shining 'chorus' of the guitars is well worth the investment, along with its overall triumphant aesthetic blow the torn throat roar of Johannes Andersson. Cool band pic, too, in coffin shapes on the cover, a Gothic noir sort of 'teaser' in the title as to their style change. Ultimately, you just want to track down a version of the full-length that includes "Laudanum Dreams", and if you need experience the demo mixes then go for Melancholia upon which there are more than them. So I can't stack praise on this, only that it's got a good B-side which is album worthy.

Verdict: Indifference [5.25/10] (Precedence is given to the dreamer)

http://www.tribulation.se/

Tribulation - Down Below (2018)

Tribulation has been one of the few bands out there lately which can make such huge tectonic shifts in style between albums and still pique my interest, exploring every continent on Planet Death from the kinetic thrashing Swedish death/thrashing intensity of The Horror, through the psychedelic augmentations of The Formulas of Death, and then subsequently into a melancholic style of Gothic-tinted heavy growl metal which seems a lot more laid back yet no less effective than the earlier incarnations. This is why Down Below strikes me as an anomaly, because for the first time the Swedes seemed to have staked their claim on a terrain and hung around for awhile. It wouldn't be a stretch to call this Children of the Night Part Deux; there are some minor variations in production and songwriting, as this seems a bit louder, mildly more energetic and straight to the face, but it does lack some of that surprise factor you might have experienced when first listening to the two full-lengths before it. Which might be a turn-off, if the style just weren't so attractive in and amidst all my other listening.

The riffing remains simple, sad, and beautiful, owing to its atmospheric adornments as much as any internal nuance. I'm not saying it's entirely predictable the first time through, but the band is relying a lot more on traditional senses of harmony and rhythm chords and not so much the death metal roots. When I listened to its predecessor, and when I also hear this, I feel like I'm hearing what shape a 'melodeath' sound might have taken if the amplification technology and rock music existed back in the Victorian era. The tunes all evoke cult horror imagery, and are unquestionably inspired by both the black & white cinema of those early Hammer and Universal flicks, or the Gothic literature of writers like Poe, Shelly, Stoker and Radcliffe. I realize this creates a strange anachronism, and even more so when Johannes Andersson's nihilistic gutturals stretch out over the gloomier but warmer rhythm guitar passages, but it's just one of those melodic death sounds that feels instantly distinct when compared to the more frantic, showy Scandinavian bands that have dominated that style for well over a decade. In fact, I could draw parallels between this album and Sentenced's underrated Amok in 1995, which also had a moody, Romantic heavy metal foundation contrasted by the grueling and charismatic growls of Taneli Jarva. Or maybe even their countrymen Raise Hell on the 2nd and 3rd albums, where they'd weave in similar horror-inspired melodies; only this is far less brash and not at all thrashy.

At any rate, Down Below is extremely catchy, with a lot of focus on leads and melodies that glaze its moderate rock beats like synth lines from classic horror films. Voluminous percussion. Grand, grating growls that, while monotonous, are strangely subduing. Well-developed bridges, breaks in the rain, exhalations across the dark smokestacks or gargoyle-laden skylines. Solos that are never overly indulgent, but fit the moods of their individual tracks and overall consistency of the album just fine. Even the few moments where this record devolves into sheer ambiance are wonderful. I would say that it does often seem a little too samey in its riffing structures and pacing, perhaps even more than Children of the Night, but that's only a problem so long as I don't enjoy what I'm experiencing, and for me Down Below and their last albums are emblematic of extravagant, ghoulish productions that I really enjoy sitting down to watch, or read. What a fucking great band this is, whether they stick around in this same sphere or once again forge ahead into the unknown, I'm on board, shivering in the full moon, checking out the windows for any black wings that might fly past.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (And the long night comes with grace)

http://www.tribulation.se/

Tribulation - Melancholia EP (2016)

The Melancholia EP is presumably, ideally, a means to stash a bunch of unreleased material somewhere fans can access it while they eagerly await Tribulation's next eclectic transformation on album #4, but an initial scan of its contents does not look wholly promising. You've got the titular cut already released on their last full-length Children of the Night (which I loved, don't get me wrong), two remixes of that track, three demos of other songs from the album, and...an Offspring cover. That's right, an Offspring cover ("Pay the Man"), which was itself fairly expansive and largely uncharacteristic of the band's standard punk rock anthems. If you weren't aware of the song beforehand, however, you might not even realize that this wasn't original, because of that very fact; Tribulation do a decent job with it but I can't actually say it's better than the original even if prefer Johannes' growls to Dexter Holland's irritating high pitched timbre. Still, the fact that they take such an unusual choice and blend it into their most recent aesthetic is pretty interesting, it was far from a throwaway choice.

Some might actually find the demos of "Holy Libations", "Motherhood of God" and "Winds" a little better than their final album counterparts, because they sound a fraction more visceral and raw. I might be on board with that, only beyond that fact there is not a terrible amount of difference with how they ended up. The emotionally resonant, drifting heavy/death moments of the tunes come off the same, though, and they lack the element of surprise when I first experienced them in their polished studio format. I couldn't care less for including the title track like on any cash cow maxi single, so a lot of my interest was directly focused on its remixes. The 'Steingrim' remix is more or less a remaster with different instrumental volumes, but it sounds a little clunky and in no way would I prefer it to the original. Far more of a risk is the Author & Punisher version of the tune, which does actually dissect it down into its components and bake them in a minimalistic trance of hip hop and industrial lite sound forms, keeping the growls intact but making everything else rather hypnotic, to the point that it's the best part of this EP and its only truly redeeming feature, just for the tones the musician is able to produce.

That said, industrial/electronic remixes of metal tunes are old hat, and this isn't exactly more unique or compelling than a lot of what you've heard from bands who used that as their primary style, or more severe experimenters like Ulver, etc. So while I enjoyed this deconstruction a few times as background noise, it wasn't really worth the price of admission for the physical EP. Ultimately, while I didn't hate all the content here, I think I would have much preferred 3-4 new or unreleased tracks over the choices the Swedes made. Maybe tack on the Author & Punisher mix and the Offspring cover as bonus tracks on that, but the fact is it's 2016 and releases like this have very little currency except as prehistoric means to claim a few dollars from the painstakingly loyal audience members. Considering the amount of buzz Tribulation were able to generate with their latest album, and the positive critical reaction to the prior two, it appears they've hit a level where frivolous product like this is possible. Not entirely garbage, and worth listening to once or twice if you care about the band, which I do, having thoroughly enjoyed each of their records for its own reasons. However, I'm far more excited for what their next complete creation/direction will prove, and this was barely even substantial enough as an appetizer. I'd tell the waitress it needed much more seasoning. Bland.

Verdict: Indifference [5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/Tribulationofficial

Tribulation - Children of the Night (2015)

I am still of the mind that The Horror is the greatest thing Sweden's Tribulation has yet recorded, but that's not to say I'm any less intrigued when there's the announcement that they're releasing anything new. Yes, their explosive, rabid death/thrash origins have yet to be eclipsed by their experimentation, and the sort of constant reinvention they pursue is likely to earn the ire of many a purist; but The Formulas of Death was certainly an excellent departure into a murky swath of prog/death territory which hadn't been explored with quite the same sound. The album I'll turn to when I wish to listen more with the skull-brain and not the dick-brain spearheading my testicles. With Children of the Night, the Swedes have yet again morphed into a new state of being, one quite unexpected, and if you're in the mood for it, one quite poignant and passionate.

This is essentially a brand of melodic, melancholic death metal with simple chord patterns that are infused with cleaner licks, pianos, and other means to conjure up a more emotional response from the listener, and it works really damn well as long as you're not just jonesing to chew out the band for simplifying its sound a few steps below its predecessors. I've seen descriptions of this as 'indie rock' with growled vocals, and I'm not sure there's much merit to that statement, but certainly the songs take a shift towards the dramatic minimalism of pure heavy metal or hard rock and occasional chord patterns wouldn't be out of place on a driving, melodic punk record. The difference is of course that the little leads ("Melancholia") and the snarled vocal anchors it into a shadier terrain which really holds the attention if you're tracking down something which is catchy and relistenable, reminding me of what I liked a lot about an album like Sentenced's magnificent Amok or a bunch of other Finnish bands whose balance of aggression and melody was derived from the Amorphis sophomore.

Rhythm guitar patterns are quite simple in structure, but the chords issued are quite nice in conjunction with the leads, and every song bears some form of distinction, while functioning near seamlessly on the whole. Every choice of mood and shadow seems practiced and deliberate, the tempos are fairly widespread across the track list, and Johannes Andersson's nihilistic rasp is a great contrast to the sadness espoused by the instruments. I couldn't even name a singular song on here which I'd hold above the rest, because it's all so consistently wrought over the hour-long experience, and it's an album I've come back to almost as much as anything else this year. Lyrically it's also a mesmerizing record, paying ode to the personal horrors of nightmares and other intangible unknowns, a 'ghost story' as opposed to a visceral death metal record. To that extent, Tribulation have yet another winner on their hands, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy this more than the sophomore. The rare effort where the sum is the equal of its parts but any individual piece of music would be a delight taken out of the context of the entire album. Something unexpected, ethereal, but never lacking in the underpinning darkness of blacks & grays, midnight signals from haunted columns and cobbles. Aesthetically, a 'Gothic novel' of the death metal medium, its dread patient, not punishing until that very last moment when the curse or loss is recognized.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (So the earth and so am I)

https://www.facebook.com/Tribulationofficial

Tribulation - The Formulas of Death (2013)

Endowed with what must be the year's most deliriously sarcastic album title, The Formulas of Death proves anything but. I'll be the the first to disagree with the prevailing notion I've encountered that Tribulation has somehow transformed from a prime example of the 'standard Swedish retro death' sound to something far more artistic, because even a cursory listen through their fantastic debut The Horror reveals a higher thrashing potency, with some of the most explosively entertaining leads in the field. Clearly this wasn't your typical, dime a dozen knockoff of Entombed or Dismember, thriving only on second rate D-beat death punk riffage and Clandestine production standards, but a truly memorable collection of songs that transcended the status quo. One of the better albums of 2009, in fact, which is saying a lot, since in my estimation, that was one of the most 'loaded' years of quality metal I can recount since the late 80s. Particularly in the more extreme categories.

With that said, The Formulas of Death is surely a major transformation for a band so early along its career trajectory. We are talking Darkthrone or Ulver proportions of disparity from debut to sophomore effort. I can recognize certain core characteristics that have been carried through from the one to the other: Johannes Andersson's treacherous, bloody barking vocal isn't a far cry from its original form, and the band's tendency to strafe the border between death and primeval thrash metal in both their groovier mid paced chops and the more rapid guitar runs is still pulsing through the music's veins. Yet the external, atmospheric shell crafted over the 76 minutes of material that is The Formulas of Death is so prevalent that it soaks itself deeper into the cell lining of the quartet's metallic entrails. Tribulation have essentially created a psychedelic, progressive death metal mirror universe in which they explore worldly occult themes across a variety of cultures and subjects, while ramping up their already impressive musicianship. In fact, thus far in 2013, I have not heard an album with so much ambition; so much instrumental proficiency. Not that the songs are the most technical, or polyrhythmic out there, as you might find in jazz-influenced brutal death metal or math metal shredding...

...but there is this immense sense of fulfillment, no shortage of ideas careening through this opus which will stand out to the ear of someone looking for metal that can balance riffing against atmosphere. The most obvious new ingredient to the Tribulation repertoire is the implementation of a myriad of cleaner guitars. Often they'll resemble 60s psychedelic folk, fit for a traipse across a maudlin meadowland with a slight complement of Eastern strings ("Vagina Dentata"). Elsewhere they are spry and spooky, to saturate the compositions with a tinge of occult horror ("When the Sky is Black With Devils"). The lion's share of the material is still driven by heavier guitars, but even there we get a considerable expansion of technique. Loads of droning, atonal ringing notes that drift out into a greenish/black mental fog. Muddier cleans. Dextrous clips of melodic picking sequences which sound like speed exercises being imbued into harder driving rhythms more redolent of their last album. In addition, the distortion levels have been dialed back for greater clarity. There is no shortage of guitar effects, but the rhythms are really clean and blunt, where they had a lot harsher hiss trailing behind them on The Horror.

The rhythm section here is like a dream. The bass lines are pendulous and polished, swaying and swaggering  into various grooves that evoke distant memories of dreamy prog rock or swirling pop records from the 70s and earlier. Then they'll turn right around and surge into the metal like a bong-ripping Steve Harris. Beats are incredibly well managed, and play a vital role in steering the versatility of the guitars. For example, a slow and steady cadence is used to set up the opener "Vagina Dentata" into a march-like piece reminiscent of what Metallica might have written in the 80s. The kick and snare are directly up front, and the fills and cymbal crashes constantly audible, which becomes even more obvious when they erupt into a more traditional blast sequence like in "Spell". Vocally, there is less evolution, but as you find yourself drifting through this 'cosm of nuance and nightmare, you'll hear some airier, eerie clean tones shimmering against the rhythms, like ghosts attempting to cross dimensions and faintly manifesting themselves from their natural incorporeality. There is always something waiting around every corner, under every eave...it's a busy and consistent arrangement.

It's definitely a difficult task to pinpoint shortcomings in such a lengthy work as this, but that's actually one of its few problems: The Formulas of Death feels overlong by a good 15-20 minutes. Not to say that it falls into a slump of needless repetition or runs short on imagination, but in listening straight through the track order, there were several points at which I felt I had reached some natural conclusion, only to have the next track kick into view. There are enough ideas here to fuel two or more albums from lesser bands, but not all the material is necessarily sticky beyond just its sense of novelty and refreshment. In listening, I felt almost as if I were salivating at some buffet table of tasty if not delicious fare, with a stomach that was already half fulls. Frankly, the harsh vocals and a lot of the heavier guitar progressions just weren't interesting or varied enough over the full 75-76 minutes to keep it entirely compelling. 'Busy' simply doesn't always translate into 'catchy'. The more I listened through, the more frustrated I became that a sizable portion of the music was more able and moody than memorable.

Lastly, though comparing this to The Horror is like comparing Dark Side of the Moon to a sole twelve-bar blues guitarist being rafted through a swamp, the debut was a more engaging and exhilarating burst of tunes with a lot of bite. You weren't coming away from tracks like "Beyond the Horror" or "Curse of Resurrection" without fang punctures on your neck in a best case scenario, tagged and bagged in the worst. Here, much of the dingy and adventurous atmosphere just does not feel as morbid or haunting as the album's occult themes would imply. I was creeped out a few times, but a lot of the riff progressions feel too consonant or ethereal to evoke the boogeyman. Don't get me wrong, this is ultimately an impressive, otherworldly album that will no doubt have people shitting themselves at its level of aesthetic vision and musicianship. Its sure to stun fans of progressive black metal and psychedelic doom just as much as it asserts new ideas into a stagnating spectrum of death metal nostalgia. Almost like a more complex and atmospheric response to last year's s/t sophomore from another Swedish band, Necrovation. Worth owning, or at the very least checking out, and overflowing with creativity; but once in a while the excess spillage dries out a little too quickly.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

http://www.tribulation.se/

Tribulation - The Horror (2009)

Fuck you, Sweden. Where were you hiding this one?

Tribulation are a four-piece death metal band rooted heavily in the chaotic, early German thrash. Think Kreator upgraded with that classic, thick Swedish death guitar tone and then prepare to have your ass kicked all the way back to Hell. After a few demos and an EP, they release this devastating first full-length. They've opened up my new year with bang because this is one of the best debuts I've heard in the death metal genre in some time.

Chaotic yet controlled bursts of infectious, infernal energy will drive these 9 tracks deep into your soul. Pianos grace a creepy horror intro called "Into the Jaws of Hell" before the band levels you with "Crypt of Thanatophilia", a beast of blazing death metal riffing with a structure not unlike something you'd find on Terrible Certainly. Not only is the rhythm section rock solid but they can rip off into the crazy evil solo style made legend by bands such as a Slayer or Pestilence. "Curse of Resurrection" begins with another Kreator-like power volley, fast as fuck and entirely unforgiving. "Beyond the Horror" starts with an intense thrash hook before grinding out the complete fucking evil. "The Vampyre" just blows your veins out with its descending melodies and fist pumping death/thrash mayhem. "Spawn of the Jackal" starts a little slower with some thrash/doom riffs but picks right up. The other songs are likewise intense, the closer "Graveyard Ghouls" is furious.

The album sounds stunning. The guitars are like meat hooks, sinking themselves directly into the flesh and then pulling you in multiple directions at once. The vocals are a good blend of the death and thrash styles, not as snarly as Mille but otherwise similar. The band is extremely consistent, this is one of those fast and fairly short albums like a Reign in Blood or Extreme Aggression. Get in. Get out. Fuck and fight. Take no prisoners. Leave no evidence.

We're unlikely to hear many more debut albums this year of the quality Tribulation offers, if you are a fan of Swedish death metal, classic German thrash, or really... ANY extreme metal, this is essential to check out. They may not offer much in the way of originality, but the intensity is hard to match.

Fuck you Sweden, for doing it to us again.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/soultribulation