A lot has been said about the Uppsala gang that spawned the late In Solitude as well as a number of short-lived yet essential death-affiliated bands whose sole output were a bunch of now highly collectable demos.
Graveless, Katalysator and Veternus all had distinctive personalities, and Degial are no exception. Like Vorum, with whom they share a member, their world was initially built upon the voracious attack of early Morbid Angel, but their second full-length has diverted into even more unstable territories.
Propped up by former In Solitude bassist Gottfrid Åhman’s idiosyncratic production values – not exactly lo-fi or flashy, yet quite thrashy – the way their serpentine riffing works with the scattershot drums comes straight from the late-80s South American scene, while their off-beam sense of melody has more in common with former Eastern Bloc black metal bands such as Root than with Trey Azagthoth.
With eight chaotic tracks that jump straight into the lava, their muddled sound doesn’t make it easy for anybody, but then Degial probably don’t care.
