Zombiekrig
Undantagstillstånd
GMR Music

Well, well. What a nasty little nugget of thrash metal we have here. Zombiekrig purvey a sound that's ever so slightly on the wrong side of clean, resulting in an album that's just sonically abrasive enough to stand up to the likes of genre luminaries Destruction and Kreator. While "Undantagstillstånd" is an insanely good debut album, it'll surely come into its own when played in front of an audience. Indeed, you can bet your brains that this stuff will slay in a live environment, with the zombie horde clambering at the stage as the Swedish quartet feed them their dose of head-mashing blackened thrash. This album is like Romero gone mental in the music world and, like most of his movies, it doesn't let up for a second. There are some amazing mid-paced sections and, while the majority of the album is simple enough, every element slots together perfectly to prove that ultra-tech really isn't the final word in extreme music. No riff collections on here, just plain, pure, down and dirty thrash played with the sole intention of accomplishing total head removal. Vocalist Axel Widen is the real attraction on here though. His spine-chilling screams and shrieks adhere to a typical thrash standard but offer so much more: they're both disturbing and awe-inspiring in equal measures and they elevate "Undantagstillstånd" to a pedestal that would have been less attainable given a lesser throat-destroyer. This is almost an essential album and a bit more originality and attention to detail on further releases should find the band achieve their full potential. Besides, with a name like Zombiekrig, how can they really go wrong!?
- John Norby