With its buzzsaw riffing and filth-strewn savagery, 2009’s The Horror saw Tribulation establish themselves as one the leading lights of the new wave of old school Swedish death metal. Four years on and things have changed.
Sure, the building blocks of death metal are still there – the blood-gargling vocals, rapid fire snare drums. However, it seems there have been a few late nights with old Hawkwind and Pink Floyd vinyl and HP Lovecraft paperbacks. The results are spectacular.
By turns their second album is as raw as vinegar on a carpet burn and more spaced out than a busload of surfers. Wanderer In The Outer Darkness and When The Sky Is Black With Devils bring Coroner to mind, whilst Ultra Silvam and Vagina Dentata hint at the dark mysticism of Fields Of The Nephilim and the prog of Anathema. The Formulas Of Death is anything but formulaic and could prove one of 2013’s highlights.
