Album review: The Lurking Fear “Death, Madness, Horror, Decay”
The new album from Sweden’s The Lurking Fear’s is relentless and unapologetic. This is classy freight-train death metal with flair. It’s fast, furious and mental.
The Lurking Fear was founded in 2016 and released its debut album, “Out of the Voiceless Grave”, in 2017. The band members are all seasoned soldiers from the Swedish metal battle frontlines: vocalist Tompa Lindberg (At The Gates, Lock Up, ex-Skitsystem), guitarists Fredrik Wallenberg (Skitsystem) and Jonas Stålhammar (At The Gates, Bombs of Hades), bassist Andreas Axelson (Skitsystem, ex-Marduk, Necronaut) and drummer Adrian Erlandsson (At The Gates, The Haunted, ex-Cradle of Filth, Paradise Lost, Brujeria, Skitsystem). One of the new album’s standout tracks is “Architects of Madness” and that song title nicely sums up what this band and album are all about. There’s chaos and mayhem but it is structured, built by skilled musical architects. A favourite track of mine is “Death Reborn” and this is indeed a rebirth of old-school death metal. This particular song is almost Napalm Death-esque. The Lurking Fear’s music is built around Tompa’s characteristic voice and a full-on, uncompromising take on death metal. It’s mental, in a good way. This band is somewhat of a side project for the busy band members, but it is not an unloved side project. These musicians take The Lurking Fear very seriously. They are simply better at what they do than most others in the death metal genre. It shows on this album – in the songwriting, the performance and the terrific production. “In a Thousand Horrors Crowned” is the album’s zenith in all its glorious and violent heaviness dressed up with melodic guitar riffs. A noteworthy guest, Autopsy’s Chris Reifert, makes a splendid vocal guest appearance on the twisted-yet-epic track “Kaleidoscopic Mutations”. What a terrific album!
The Lurking Fear’s album “Death, Madness, Horror, Decay” will be out on 19th November via Century Media Records.
