Band: As You Drown
Album title: Rat King
Label: Metal Blade Records
Distributor: Rough Trade Benelux.
Release date: 07/10/2011
Release: CD

As You Drown was born and raised in Borås, Sweden in 2003. The band plays death metal with speed metal influences. The line up consists of guitar players Mikael Åkerström, Simon Exner, and drummer Martin Latvala. The band recorded three demos and played numerous shows across western Sweden by 2005, including support sets for Entombed and even Vader. Later on in April of 2008, the band took its current form with the addition of bassist Robert Karlsson and vocalist Henrik Blomqvist, whose brutal approach on the vocals adds to the already dark and brutal music.

They started working on a record and finally last week they got it out on the street. There’s only I thing to say about their latest recording. It’s brutal as hell. Guitars, bass, drums and vocals all sound like they are preparing you for the apocalypse. To best explain this , the band can best be compared to bands like Morbid Angel. Although every metal fan likes his music loud and hard, this definitely isn’t for everyone, as you will get hit by a wall of distorted sound.

82/100

Jeroen.