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Mega Slaughter > Calls from the Beyond > Reviews
Mega Slaughter - Calls from the Beyond

Call from the Beyond - 75%

dismember_marcin, June 24th, 2019

Here's another lesser known band from the Swedish death metal scene of early 90’s. Another band, which did have some sort of small impact on the scene, small recognition, but never really had a chance to become “top league” kind of band... simply because they were not good enough. I know that nowadays even such bands are often called “cult”, etc, but do not exaggerate, please. Megaslaughter were fine, solid death metal band, but nothing more than that. But I think it’s cool to know and remember also such smaller bands nowadays, because a lot of many were just good and worthy on their own way, even if they never went beyond a demo or a 7”EP.

Megaslaughter did manage to record one album. "Calls from the Beyond" came out in 1991 on Thrash Records, which was a cool label, I think, because they had a whole lot of killer bands in their roster. Let me only remind you such jewels as Excruciate, Epitaph, Carbonized, Sentenced, Wombbath, speaking of the full lengths. And they also did 7 inches from the likes of Sorcery, Old Funeral, Vital Remains, Revenant... They're all a wet dream of vinyl collectors nowadays. So is "Calls from the Beyond" LP for sure. It's interesting that originally this album was only available on LP, first CD version came out already in the 00's - and it was a boot from Arsenal of Glory, which I happen to have and play now. For a boot, the sound is pretty good, but do not expect anything from the visual side, as the booklet is as simple as it can only be. There's nothing there. But CD contains also two demos as a bonus, which is a nice addition to the collection of old Megaslaughter recordings. So, let's give it a spin.

Starting with "Calls from the Beyond"... This is your harsh and vicious death metal from the early 90's, one of those, which you could easily put aside to Authorize, Crematory, Uncanny, Interment, Mastication, Therion (very early!) and so on. Megaslaughter did not have much in common with the lantern of the Swedish death metal like Entombed, Dismember, Unleashed or Grave. They hardly used any melodies at all, their sound was also far from the fat buzz of Sunlight Studio. They also did not sound so atmospheric as Tiamat, Cemetary or Edge of Sanity nor as progressive as Afflicted. But even without these trademarks, you could have no problems with guessing where were they from, because Megaslaughter was alike to these harsher, more brutal and obscure Swedish bands (some of which I mentioned above).

The thing is, "Calls from the Beyond" reminds me old demos, but not necessarily Swedish full-length albums. Usually most of these Swedish bands jumped on a higher level with their albums, speaking of both compositions and production. Megaslaughter didn't really. They kept their death metal as primeval, nasty and harsh as possible, and the production was improved from their demos rather little. But I like their attitude and viciousness of such songs as "Blood Runs Free" or "Raise the Dead" (which do sound more Swedish than all the rest of the album, there're are even keyboards in one fragment, which is awesome, I think). "False Paradise" begins with the typical Swedish melodic pattern as well, so I have point this out. It all adds some diversity to Megaslaughter's death metal savagery. Some slower riffs here and there, like the one, which opens “Death Remains” also caught my attention. So, you can see there are some particular fragments, which stand out on the album, some good songs as well... but the whole album is just far in my ranking of favourite Swedish death metal full lengths of that old era.

Then the demos... “Death Remains” demo from 1990 has three songs (two of which were re-recorded for the album), but this demo doesn’t really sound that good. The production is even rawer, a bit muffled and musically everything is sloppy and rather primitive... Very forgettable, if you ask me. “Demo 1991” is much better, except maybe the useless intro. But all three songs sound very good, maybe even better than the album. Such “Face of the Deep” is such an aggressive motherfucker, it’s pretty brutal, sometimes fast, but with a killer slower piece in the middle, which I like a lot. Following songs “Afflicted Flesh” and “Suffer for Nothing” are also pretty damn good (all songs would make a killer 7”EP!!!), what makes me think that Megaslaughter was going in pretty awesome direction with their obscure death metal... but all of a sudden, they split up and “Demo 1991” was their farewell recording. Shame, if you ask me!

I had a laugh, when I've read in "Swedish Death Metal" book by Ekeroth that Megaslaughter was "minor band formed in Gothenburg... (whose) music is a confused blend of Cannibal Corpse and Metallica". Damn, what a nonsense Ekeroth wrote there (his book is full of such crap, so it’s not all such a good reading as it could have been, I’m afraid). Megaslaughter were a small, second rate band, I agree about that, and "Calls from the Beyond" was rather a mediocre album, but not in the vein of bands he mentioned. And after all these years, this album got some charm, which allows me to like it more than I used to in the past.

Standout tracks: "Raise the Dead", "False Paradise"
Verdict: 75/100

Dark dirtnaps in regurgitated graves - 77%

autothrall, September 27th, 2010

Swedish death metal is a fascinating territory to explore, for not only do you have the multitudes of 21st century wannabes riding the train, many of whom are surprisingly adept at aping their idols with the same level of menace and atmosphere, but you've also got the wealth of bands that arrived in the original generation, but never got much attention. There was already an Entombed, a Dismember, a Grave, an Unleashed...so who in their right mind would have needed a Mega Slaughter to boot? Well, as it turns out, there are those of us out there who constantly seek more of what the Swedish bands were giving us, a darker and meatier alternative to much of the early Florida scene that was rapidly giving way to the faceless, brutal tech gore porn hordes of the mid 90s.

From what I've already tossed out there, you can gather what this band Mega Slaughter sounds like. They use the thick, bludgeoning Swedish tones of Carnage, Dismember, and Entombed, not only in the actual distortion but the weight given to the huge chords. After a demo, they were signed by the small time label Thrash Records who released some other, similar groups like Epitaph, and Calls from the Beyond shows this young group peaking often, a worthwhile investment of time and energy for the rabid fan of this particular strain. Perhaps the barking grunts of Jens Johansson don't offer the same personality as a Matti Kärki or L-G Petrov, and perhaps even by 1991 the riffing does not feel so original, drawing more heavily from the US forebears than many of the other obscure Swedish hopefuls like Gorement and not always ripping along like a Left Hand Path or Indecent & Obscene. But in the end, there is a stark and primordial feel to the band's riffs which, coupled with the atmosphere and leads, truly delivers.

"Shreds Left Behind" seems a prime example, a mid-paced shuffle of wretched, rotting flesh guitars that draw on old Death and Carcass to produce morbidity. "Into the Decay" channels the warlike, tank treads of Bolt Thrower into a grinding hostility. "False Paradise" which features a riff eerily similar to one found in Pestilence's godly "Echoes of Death", but also some great intro guitars and scathing before the thrashing finale. "Death Remains" leads off with bells and horror before a series of shambling thick chords and then the festering momentum of an early Entombed/Nihilist track, and "Calls from the Beyond" itself is grisly and warlike, down tuned guitars stomping over double bass before the grooves set in. I doubt any of the band's rhythms took more than a few moments to piece together, but despite their crude barbarity, I would find it hard to stand still in their presence.

Mega Slaughter were of course playing it 'safe', and despite its suitable aural oppression, there is nothing about Calls from the Beyond which eclipses its influences by any stretch. This was simply a band wishing to pool together its influences from both shores of the Atlantic into a palpable, crushing testament. I'm not sure how much appeal the record might have had outside of the European death metal fan, and since the album was barely promoted, it never ended up mattering. Another demo was produced, but the band would not survive much longer, another victim of disinterest and overcrowding. Today, those seeking out obscure Swedish death acts like some I've mentioned here (Gorement, Epitaph, Uncanny, Interment, Crematory to name a few) will find just as much to like about this as most of the 'retro' bands like Rogga's Paganizer or Ribspreader, so let the exhumation begin.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

A lost treasure from the beyond - 89%

Drowned, April 22nd, 2005

Mega Slaughter were an obscure group from Gothenburg who only released a couple of demos and this hard-to-find LP on the French label Thrash Records. As I understand, this album was only released on vinyl and was never promoted very well outside of Sweden. This makes it a very sought after gem from the early Swedish death metal underground.

The music found on this album is dark, mostly mid-paced death metal with the occasional thrash influences. But what makes this album different from other Swedish releases of the time is that these guys don't always sound typically Swedish (i.e. trying to copy Entombed and Carnage). Yes, the guitars are still very down-tuned and there's parts of certain songs that will make you wonder if Matti "Fatti" Karki somehow had his hands involved in this; but for every "typical" Swedish riff on this album there are 3 or more riffs that have a very American death metal sound to them. I hear lots of influences from Autopsy, Obituary and Baphomet in some of the slower, chunky riffs that are accompanied by a rolling double bass beat. You can hear these in just about every song on this LP.

Production-wise, the sound is good for a professional demo or 7" recording, but because this is a full-length it leaves you wishing that these guys could have afforded a better studio. Don't get me wrong, everything is still audible and the guitars and drums are mixed well (for the most part - the double bass does sound a little hollow at times); but occasionally during the fast-paced sections when all of the instruments are at full-blast everything gets a little chaotic and muffled. The vocals are very cool, somewhere between a deep growl and high shriek and produced with a good amount of reverb. They're just a tad high in the mix, but you can understand what the vocalist is singing most of the time. He has a very catchy and aggressive style which never gets boring.

The songs on this LP are fairly lengthy. There are only 8 total tracks, but the album clocks in at around 45:00 minutes. In fact, all of the 8 songs are at least 4:00 minutes long, with 4 of them being close to or above 6:00 minutes in length. The stand-out tracks are the opener "Blood Runs Free" which begins with some very fucking dark riffing (of the Swedish variety), "False Paradise", "Shreds Left Behind" and "Bloodshed". The latter probably being the best track on the entire record. Fast, dark, very catchy from start to finish and filled with some of the most horrifying vocals you'll ever hear.

Overall, "Calls from the Beyond" is a solid piece of Swedish death metal that was sadly drowned in a sea of other similar releases at the time. And although it's no "Like an Ever Flowing Stream" in terms of being an essential purchase, for those of us who worship the early Swedish bands this is definitely worth finding.