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22 months since the release of their full length debut, Svarta Dagar, Swedish/Finnish grinders Afgrund are back with their Willowtip Records debut, Vid Helvetets Grindar.  Like Svarta Dagar, Vid Helvetets Grindar contains 15 tracks of hate-fueled Scandinavian grindcore.  Unlike their previous effort, Afgrund aren’t content with merely being a Nasum clone and have made a conscious effort to separate themselves from the Swedish grindcore legends.

While Svarta Dagar could easily be confused for a Nasum album, Vid Helvetets Grindar is an entirely different beast.  The Human 2.0-melodies and song structures have been toned down significantly, replaced with a more vicious and visceral aural assault, more in the vein of the relentless face-shredding grinding of Helvete and Shift mixed with the chaotic rage of Gadget.

With the departure of guitarist/low vocalist Patrik Howe, the vocal assault on Vid Helvetets Grindar has undergone a massive overhaul. On Svarta Dagar the vocals of Howe and guitarist/high vocalist Andreas Baier could easily be confused with those of Nasum-front man Mieszko Talarczyk, while on the new effort bassist Enrico Marchiori and Baier have a much more personalized vocal approach.  The majority of the material is screamed/shrieked to a questionable degree of effectiveness.  It just sounds like whoever is doing the majority of the screaming wasn’t used to screaming/shrieking so much because there’s a few moments where it sounds like their throat is giving out on them in the studio.  There’s also the inclusion of some hardcore barked vocals on a few tracks.  It doesn’t take too much away from the overall performance, but it is a noticeable difference in the vocal delivery from previous efforts to say the least.

There’s a few tracks, like the opener “A Future Europe In Flames”, that have a strong Nasum Human 2.0 vibe to it, with a melodic grinding approach, but for the most part Vid Helvetets Grindar is a more chaotic grind fused with hardcore and punk sound.  There’s more than a few moments on this album containing some pretty killer high-paced hardcore moments, although the addition of a tambourine in the closing moments of the final track was a little weird.

Overall, it’s obvious Afgrund don’t want to be considered a Nasum clone, and I’m happy to hear them try to be unique and write something of their own.  It’s still obvious Nasum had a big influence on their sound, but they’re slowly breaking away and setting themselves apart.  The music on Vid Helvetets Grindar is pretty killer, lots of high paced grinding with enough variety to keep things interesting, and the album is short enough, clocking in at just over 27 minutes, to make it easy to listen to.

My only issue is the vocals have suffered noticeably with the departure of Patrik Howe, but hopefully with more practice Baier and Marchiori will shred their throats into shape.  Honestly, I didn’t enjoy Vid Helvetets Grindar as much as I did Svarta Dagar, but Vid Helvetets Grindar is a much more individualized effort, so kudos to them for that.  Regardless, I’m definitely eager to hear where Afgrund go from here and urge all fans of Scandinavian grindcore to pick this one up, it’s well worth it!

Review byTeufel