These days, the pretenders to the ‘classic’ Swedeath throne feel that a vintage copy of Left Hand Path, an HM-2 pedal and few d-beats will do the trick. New Jersey’s Sentient Horror stand out by adding a typical US rhythmic rigour and by sporting not one but two shredders.
There’s much Entombed and Dismember worship to be found here, especially the latter’s greasier-than-six-tons-of-fat guitar tone, and they remain quite brutal, but SH have an obvious soft spot for Edge Of Sanity too – not just because former EOS vocalist Dan Swanö has mastered the album, but because SH also know how much a simple catchy chorus and some heavier tempos can bring to the table. So even if Ungodly Forms is mostly aimed at those who can’t get enough of that instantly recognisable sound born in Stockholm in 1990, they simply have better tunes than 90% of their contenders.
