The Shadowland

The massive avalanche of Swedish death metal bands didn't die down even after the blossom of the early 90s, and Inverted is a good example of that. Emerging from the town of Alingsås in the province of Götaland in 1991, by the middle of the decade they had crawled out of the underground outskirts and were able to sign to the tiny Belgian label Shiver Records. From under the furnace of one of the local Flemish studios came the material of their first studio album, "The Shadowland". Its musical fulfillment mostly doesn't overlap with the demo material, by most part it were newest original songs.

When we start to analyze the album, first of all we notice certain associations in the sound created by producer Tomas Liedström - "Breeding the Spawn" by Suffocation and "Stillborn" by Malevolent Creation quickly come to mind - first of all because of the indistinct sound of rhythm guitars (at the same time some riffs were made with the aim to be melodic - a good quirk of an album it could have been in other circumstances). Kristian Hasselhuhn's drums, though less hammering, is another weak link - with ringing and pretty quiet cymbals, the tom and snare sound is boxy. Guitar solos are also shoved far too deep into the backing territory, and though they are performed with due diligence, they wither in the confined space given to them. Apart from the solos, some of the melodic sections already mentioned seem boring - yes, they are integrated fairly well (although the acoustic accompaniment in "Journey into Shadowland" should be thrown away and be forgotten), but they feel fairly nice. The songs are mostly short, but their structure is fragile. There are only a few hooky moments. Some of such, in my opinion, are displaced in "Circle of Candles". Henrik Heed's vocals are weak, a bit hoarse and quiet. Joel Anderson's bass lines are also weak, and the sound barely cuts through even the overly-executed guitar background soundwall. The overall impression is brightened up by some interesting melodies and riffs, but the positive impact is nullified either by misses in certain places that follow, or by the idleness of the neighboring riffs.

In general, "The Shadowland" is not only a bit late to the event, but it's also a bit raw in terms of mastering and sound aspects, as well as the ripeness of songs - you can see it from the way they are sometimes cut off in a disorganized way or whenever you think another movement will start. I don't rate this record any higher than 3/5 and consider it one of the most pale and boring works at that time at the end of the heyday of the death metal genre in the world and in Sweden. "There Can Be Only One..." was released into the wild in 1997, but it doesn't serve to me as great improvement - the soundwork is different, but also not of the best quality, the music is a little less bland, it had earned some personality, but it doesn't satisfy me enough. Compared to the vast majority of their Swedish colleagues, this album has nothing exciting to offer. A "fans only" option.


Originally written for: https://www.darkside.ru/album/55648/