Over the last twenty odd years, Vomitory has become a Swedish death metal institution. They can be relied upon to release quality death metal at a fairly regular rate and Vomitory fans are generally the most passionate band fans in the death metal genre. There’s something about this band that just makes people look forward to them and the fact that the band just continues to release high quality death metal makes them one of the more consistent outfits in the genre.

Carnage Euphoria is no different. In fact I can safely say that this is the band’s best album since my own personal favourite, Revelation Nausea. If the last album Terrorize Brutalize Sodomize failed to keep up with the band’s standards and was merely good and not fucking awesome, then with Carnage Euphoria the band is pretty much at the height of its powers. Relatively new guitarist Peter Östlund absolutely rips it along with main man Urban Gustafsson and Tobias Gustafsson’s drumming is the backbone to this whole album.

What really makes Vomitory stand out from the rest of the death metal scene is the band’s ability to meld classic Swedish death metal with the grind of mid period Napalm Death while all the time focusing on songs that are always heavy as fuck but also memorable. Stand out tracks include the awesome A Lesson in Virulence which just screams Swedish death metal from the moment of that opening riff, Rage of Honor which grinds with a ferocity that we haven’t seen in a while from the band, Rebirth of the Grotesque which channels Napalm Death to startling effect, the Slayer gone death metal of Deadlock and the completely pulverizing Serpents. Honestly though, there really isn’t a bad song here. Its ten songs and thirty six minutes of pure death metal mayhem.

Vomitory really has pushed the levels with Carnage Euphoria. I can’t find anything to really complain about on this album. The songs are well thought out, the riffing is heavy as fuck, the playing is terrific right through with Tobias’s drumming really sounding terrific and the production is just about a perfect fit for the music. Vomitory is now well and truly a veteran of the scene with twenty years of experience to their credit and it really is quite impressive that the band is still releasing albums of such high quality. Carnage Euphoria is highly recommended for fans of death metal.

Label - Metal Blade

Year of Release - 2009