NOMINON

Sweden's NOMINON have been bouncing around the underground since 1993, releasing material all along the way, including several demos and a couple of full-length albums. Considering the towering giants of vintage Swedish death metal (ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER, GRAVE, UNLEASHED, etc.) around the scene during the same time period, it may come as no surprise that NOMINON got lost in the shuffle. "Terra Necrosis" will raise fan awareness of the quintet, if not make folks forget about the heavyweights.

A mix of (mostly) fast, mid-tempo, and a few slow numbers, coupled with some decent songwriting, make the 10 studio tracks of "Terra Necrosis" time well spent, especially for the Swedish death metal diehards. (Note: a bonus live track of the band performing "Condemned to Die" is also included.) A little bit of variety goes a long way here, and the band has a pretty strong command of the mighty riff and the all-important chunk-gallop, attributes that are captured in fine form by Tore Stjernas' superb engineering job at his Necromorbus studio. There is nothing new under the sun here, but it is easy to tell that the band spent some time writing the riffs and arranging the songs to make those drowning in a Swedish death metal sea raise up above the water line and take notice. Consider the sound of UNLEASHED without quite the same catchy chorus qualities, mixed with the occasional murky GRAVE bludgeon and you'll have a good idea of what to expect. In fact, "Bane Appetite" gets the award for best tempo downshift into bulldozing GRAVE territory, featuring vocalist Daniel Garptoft's sickening shout of "Don't wanna die like this."

The best part about "Terra Narcosis" is that the band utilizes a familiar style without sounding old and tired. It is exactly the kind of thing that makes the aforementioned Swedish legends first-degree murderers of the highest order. On "Terra Necrosis" NOMINON brings a fairly convincing homicidal approach of its own. Not mandatory, but definitely better than average and thoroughly head-bang worthy.