Review by Michael on May 5, 2022.

Whoa, Swedish Demonical have great plans with their new output Mass Destroyer if you take the opener 'We Conquer The Throne' literally. This track doesn't take any prisoners and is straight in your face Swedish old school HM-2 death metal with some Maidenesque riffing that does not show any compromises. This makes the listener pretty curious what will happen in the following 7 tracks which altogether have a total running time of about 34 minutes. Considering the predecessor World Domination where not everything was top notch ('Slipping Apart' was a pretty huge disappointment) some people may fear that on their 7th full-length another failure might have crept in. But just to put you at ease - there isn't such a track to find here.

The Swedes have composed eight really catchy and powerful tracks with a lot of melodic stuff inside but they never leave the death hand path. Of course they don't reinvent the death metal wheel but to be honest, why should they? Mass Destroyer has all the trademarks that Swedish death metal album needs and combines all the stuff that more popular bands like Dismember, Entombed (and in some cases also more classic influences like Black Sabbath or the already mentioned Iron Maiden) already performed. But don't take this as a point of criticism because it isn't. Demonical are a part of the Swedish scene much too long for us to be able to accuse them of copying any of the bands and they do have their own style and exercise it here with absolute perfection.

Tracks like 'Fallen Mountain' with its ultra-melodic chorus and the mid-tempo arrangements around it or the other quite atmospheric song 'Lifeslave' with its threatening riffing that appears like walls coming closer around you makes the shivers go down the spine. On the other hand there are some faster and more punkish songs like 'Wrathspawn' (the lyrics kinda like rhyme or die, fantastic!) or the fantastic closer 'By Hatred Bound' with galloping drums and a wonderful pace. One of the best tracks to go running I've heard in awhile! If (old) Manowar would have written death metal they would have sounded like this!

The production is as powerful and pressing as we are used to from Demonical and so there are no really big points of criticism about Mass Destroyer. Maybe the running time appears to be a little bit short but on the other hand, if they would have put a weaker track on it to get 40 minute running time, it would have spoiled the album.

Well, done – death metal throne (at least in early 2022) conquered!

Rating: 9.5 out of 10 Thrones

Review by Maverick on March 23, 2024.

Still Remains continues to remain a metalcore beast among the few bands who can actually play metalcore properly. The metalcore genre has continuously been flooded by repetitive emo-core wussies and bands similar to that, it is therefore highly misleading to any listener of music to compare Of Love And Lunacy to most metalcore releases. This is not the same whiney scene shit that most –core bands play, so if you’re a Design the Skyline fan or something like that – consider leaving this band alone.

Of Love And Lunacy offers us a frenzy of metallic intelligence grafted with considerably respectable doses of hardcore, encapsulated with interesting atmospheric sound-effects which converge into a metalcore masterpiece. This album offers us no uninteresting vocal utilization or any other uninteresting instrumental elements, it is brilliant and at times progressive. This album starts off with “To Live And Die By Fire,” which begins with drumming immediately followed by seriously breath-taking guitar riffs that sets off a bad-ass tone, complemented by the interesting psychedelic keyboarding. The lyrics of this song are fairly simplistic, but it offers us an overwhelmingly complex implication heard in the vocalist’s voice, “We've burned this city and it's coming down. Pack your bags, we leave at dawn.” The vocalist drives himself in the frenzy of the complex atmosphere created, with death growling and hardcore groans. This just made me excited, and well I thought to myself “Metalcore? Wow.” The other notable songs include "Bliss" and "Recovery," which are carefully written to form of a very progressive blend of Shadow's Fall and Nightrage, and on some places resemble the instrumentals of Haste the Day. The break-downs don't annoy the crud of you to the point of boredom, but is equally panned out and blends in with the rest of the album's musical content.

“I Can Revive Him with My Own Hands” is in my opinion the highlight of this album, it contains the entire album’s flavour. It opens up with a serious guitar riff, and eventually the vocalist growls some pretty sick lyrics: “if love was a door, I've slammed it in your face, ran out to the balcony, and jumped to the ground, I've sponged the place in gasoline, before igniting the foundation.” Considering the fact that I’ve listened to other metalcore bands such as Killswitch Engage, their lyrics are completely boring compared to this. In fact the maturity presented in this song’s lyrics makes any other metalcore band’s lyrics sound like kiddies rock. The guitars continue to capture your attention. The continuity of the album is filled with some sick and brilliant drumming, with the vocalist continuing to articulate some hardcore metal maturity “if love was a child, then I've scolded him to no end, he's been filled with nothing inside, until the day when bullets filled the emptiness inside him, from his own gun, from his own hands.” Those lyrics sent shivers down my spine, and it set the record straight – whatever was to continue was to capture some serious emotion and it did. “I can revive him with my own two hands” is growled alongside some sick back-up hardcore groans, ending off this song with a notable bang.

This whole album was filled with intense emotion, metallic causticity, and brilliant musicianship. All of the songs on the album flow from each other, each song is not isolated or anything like that. They closely resemble the original flavour of the album, however it plays out with uniqueness in each track, emphatic of the artistic luminosity presented throughout this album. The riffs are carefully grafted in a setting which is governed by time-perfected drumming, and momentous synthesizing of the keyboard. The cleans in this album is within itself very memorable, and definitely mesmerizing. This is recommended for any fan of interesting and brilliant music.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Maverick on March 23, 2024.

Still Remains continues to remain a metalcore beast among the few bands who can actually play metalcore properly. The metalcore genre has continuously been flooded by repetitive emo-core wussies and bands similar to that, it is therefore highly misleading to any listener of music to compare Of Love And Lunacy to most metalcore releases. This is not the same whiney scene shit that most –core bands play, so if you’re a Design the Skyline fan or something like that – consider leaving this band alone.

Of Love And Lunacy offers us a frenzy of metallic intelligence grafted with considerably respectable doses of hardcore, encapsulated with interesting atmospheric sound-effects which converge into a metalcore masterpiece. This album offers us no uninteresting vocal utilization or any other uninteresting instrumental elements, it is brilliant and at times progressive. This album starts off with “To Live And Die By Fire,” which begins with drumming immediately followed by seriously breath-taking guitar riffs that sets off a bad-ass tone, complemented by the interesting psychedelic keyboarding. The lyrics of this song are fairly simplistic, but it offers us an overwhelmingly complex implication heard in the vocalist’s voice, “We've burned this city and it's coming down. Pack your bags, we leave at dawn.” The vocalist drives himself in the frenzy of the complex atmosphere created, with death growling and hardcore groans. This just made me excited, and well I thought to myself “Metalcore? Wow.” The other notable songs include "Bliss" and "Recovery," which are carefully written to form of a very progressive blend of Shadow's Fall and Nightrage, and on some places resemble the instrumentals of Haste the Day. The break-downs don't annoy the crud of you to the point of boredom, but is equally panned out and blends in with the rest of the album's musical content.

“I Can Revive Him with My Own Hands” is in my opinion the highlight of this album, it contains the entire album’s flavour. It opens up with a serious guitar riff, and eventually the vocalist growls some pretty sick lyrics: “if love was a door, I've slammed it in your face, ran out to the balcony, and jumped to the ground, I've sponged the place in gasoline, before igniting the foundation.” Considering the fact that I’ve listened to other metalcore bands such as Killswitch Engage, their lyrics are completely boring compared to this. In fact the maturity presented in this song’s lyrics makes any other metalcore band’s lyrics sound like kiddies rock. The guitars continue to capture your attention. The continuity of the album is filled with some sick and brilliant drumming, with the vocalist continuing to articulate some hardcore metal maturity “if love was a child, then I've scolded him to no end, he's been filled with nothing inside, until the day when bullets filled the emptiness inside him, from his own gun, from his own hands.” Those lyrics sent shivers down my spine, and it set the record straight – whatever was to continue was to capture some serious emotion and it did. “I can revive him with my own two hands” is growled alongside some sick back-up hardcore groans, ending off this song with a notable bang.

This whole album was filled with intense emotion, metallic causticity, and brilliant musicianship. All of the songs on the album flow from each other, each song is not isolated or anything like that. They closely resemble the original flavour of the album, however it plays out with uniqueness in each track, emphatic of the artistic luminosity presented throughout this album. The riffs are carefully grafted in a setting which is governed by time-perfected drumming, and momentous synthesizing of the keyboard. The cleans in this album is within itself very memorable, and definitely mesmerizing. This is recommended for any fan of interesting and brilliant music.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Maverick on March 23, 2024.

Still Remains continues to remain a metalcore beast among the few bands who can actually play metalcore properly. The metalcore genre has continuously been flooded by repetitive emo-core wussies and bands similar to that, it is therefore highly misleading to any listener of music to compare Of Love And Lunacy to most metalcore releases. This is not the same whiney scene shit that most –core bands play, so if you’re a Design the Skyline fan or something like that – consider leaving this band alone.

Of Love And Lunacy offers us a frenzy of metallic intelligence grafted with considerably respectable doses of hardcore, encapsulated with interesting atmospheric sound-effects which converge into a metalcore masterpiece. This album offers us no uninteresting vocal utilization or any other uninteresting instrumental elements, it is brilliant and at times progressive. This album starts off with “To Live And Die By Fire,” which begins with drumming immediately followed by seriously breath-taking guitar riffs that sets off a bad-ass tone, complemented by the interesting psychedelic keyboarding. The lyrics of this song are fairly simplistic, but it offers us an overwhelmingly complex implication heard in the vocalist’s voice, “We've burned this city and it's coming down. Pack your bags, we leave at dawn.” The vocalist drives himself in the frenzy of the complex atmosphere created, with death growling and hardcore groans. This just made me excited, and well I thought to myself “Metalcore? Wow.” The other notable songs include "Bliss" and "Recovery," which are carefully written to form of a very progressive blend of Shadow's Fall and Nightrage, and on some places resemble the instrumentals of Haste the Day. The break-downs don't annoy the crud of you to the point of boredom, but is equally panned out and blends in with the rest of the album's musical content.

“I Can Revive Him with My Own Hands” is in my opinion the highlight of this album, it contains the entire album’s flavour. It opens up with a serious guitar riff, and eventually the vocalist growls some pretty sick lyrics: “if love was a door, I've slammed it in your face, ran out to the balcony, and jumped to the ground, I've sponged the place in gasoline, before igniting the foundation.” Considering the fact that I’ve listened to other metalcore bands such as Killswitch Engage, their lyrics are completely boring compared to this. In fact the maturity presented in this song’s lyrics makes any other metalcore band’s lyrics sound like kiddies rock. The guitars continue to capture your attention. The continuity of the album is filled with some sick and brilliant drumming, with the vocalist continuing to articulate some hardcore metal maturity “if love was a child, then I've scolded him to no end, he's been filled with nothing inside, until the day when bullets filled the emptiness inside him, from his own gun, from his own hands.” Those lyrics sent shivers down my spine, and it set the record straight – whatever was to continue was to capture some serious emotion and it did. “I can revive him with my own two hands” is growled alongside some sick back-up hardcore groans, ending off this song with a notable bang.

This whole album was filled with intense emotion, metallic causticity, and brilliant musicianship. All of the songs on the album flow from each other, each song is not isolated or anything like that. They closely resemble the original flavour of the album, however it plays out with uniqueness in each track, emphatic of the artistic luminosity presented throughout this album. The riffs are carefully grafted in a setting which is governed by time-perfected drumming, and momentous synthesizing of the keyboard. The cleans in this album is within itself very memorable, and definitely mesmerizing. This is recommended for any fan of interesting and brilliant music.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Maverick on March 23, 2024.

Still Remains continues to remain a metalcore beast among the few bands who can actually play metalcore properly. The metalcore genre has continuously been flooded by repetitive emo-core wussies and bands similar to that, it is therefore highly misleading to any listener of music to compare Of Love And Lunacy to most metalcore releases. This is not the same whiney scene shit that most –core bands play, so if you’re a Design the Skyline fan or something like that – consider leaving this band alone.

Of Love And Lunacy offers us a frenzy of metallic intelligence grafted with considerably respectable doses of hardcore, encapsulated with interesting atmospheric sound-effects which converge into a metalcore masterpiece. This album offers us no uninteresting vocal utilization or any other uninteresting instrumental elements, it is brilliant and at times progressive. This album starts off with “To Live And Die By Fire,” which begins with drumming immediately followed by seriously breath-taking guitar riffs that sets off a bad-ass tone, complemented by the interesting psychedelic keyboarding. The lyrics of this song are fairly simplistic, but it offers us an overwhelmingly complex implication heard in the vocalist’s voice, “We've burned this city and it's coming down. Pack your bags, we leave at dawn.” The vocalist drives himself in the frenzy of the complex atmosphere created, with death growling and hardcore groans. This just made me excited, and well I thought to myself “Metalcore? Wow.” The other notable songs include "Bliss" and "Recovery," which are carefully written to form of a very progressive blend of Shadow's Fall and Nightrage, and on some places resemble the instrumentals of Haste the Day. The break-downs don't annoy the crud of you to the point of boredom, but is equally panned out and blends in with the rest of the album's musical content.

“I Can Revive Him with My Own Hands” is in my opinion the highlight of this album, it contains the entire album’s flavour. It opens up with a serious guitar riff, and eventually the vocalist growls some pretty sick lyrics: “if love was a door, I've slammed it in your face, ran out to the balcony, and jumped to the ground, I've sponged the place in gasoline, before igniting the foundation.” Considering the fact that I’ve listened to other metalcore bands such as Killswitch Engage, their lyrics are completely boring compared to this. In fact the maturity presented in this song’s lyrics makes any other metalcore band’s lyrics sound like kiddies rock. The guitars continue to capture your attention. The continuity of the album is filled with some sick and brilliant drumming, with the vocalist continuing to articulate some hardcore metal maturity “if love was a child, then I've scolded him to no end, he's been filled with nothing inside, until the day when bullets filled the emptiness inside him, from his own gun, from his own hands.” Those lyrics sent shivers down my spine, and it set the record straight – whatever was to continue was to capture some serious emotion and it did. “I can revive him with my own two hands” is growled alongside some sick back-up hardcore groans, ending off this song with a notable bang.

This whole album was filled with intense emotion, metallic causticity, and brilliant musicianship. All of the songs on the album flow from each other, each song is not isolated or anything like that. They closely resemble the original flavour of the album, however it plays out with uniqueness in each track, emphatic of the artistic luminosity presented throughout this album. The riffs are carefully grafted in a setting which is governed by time-perfected drumming, and momentous synthesizing of the keyboard. The cleans in this album is within itself very memorable, and definitely mesmerizing. This is recommended for any fan of interesting and brilliant music.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Maverick on March 23, 2024.

Still Remains continues to remain a metalcore beast among the few bands who can actually play metalcore properly. The metalcore genre has continuously been flooded by repetitive emo-core wussies and bands similar to that, it is therefore highly misleading to any listener of music to compare Of Love And Lunacy to most metalcore releases. This is not the same whiney scene shit that most –core bands play, so if you’re a Design the Skyline fan or something like that – consider leaving this band alone.

Of Love And Lunacy offers us a frenzy of metallic intelligence grafted with considerably respectable doses of hardcore, encapsulated with interesting atmospheric sound-effects which converge into a metalcore masterpiece. This album offers us no uninteresting vocal utilization or any other uninteresting instrumental elements, it is brilliant and at times progressive. This album starts off with “To Live And Die By Fire,” which begins with drumming immediately followed by seriously breath-taking guitar riffs that sets off a bad-ass tone, complemented by the interesting psychedelic keyboarding. The lyrics of this song are fairly simplistic, but it offers us an overwhelmingly complex implication heard in the vocalist’s voice, “We've burned this city and it's coming down. Pack your bags, we leave at dawn.” The vocalist drives himself in the frenzy of the complex atmosphere created, with death growling and hardcore groans. This just made me excited, and well I thought to myself “Metalcore? Wow.” The other notable songs include "Bliss" and "Recovery," which are carefully written to form of a very progressive blend of Shadow's Fall and Nightrage, and on some places resemble the instrumentals of Haste the Day. The break-downs don't annoy the crud of you to the point of boredom, but is equally panned out and blends in with the rest of the album's musical content.

“I Can Revive Him with My Own Hands” is in my opinion the highlight of this album, it contains the entire album’s flavour. It opens up with a serious guitar riff, and eventually the vocalist growls some pretty sick lyrics: “if love was a door, I've slammed it in your face, ran out to the balcony, and jumped to the ground, I've sponged the place in gasoline, before igniting the foundation.” Considering the fact that I’ve listened to other metalcore bands such as Killswitch Engage, their lyrics are completely boring compared to this. In fact the maturity presented in this song’s lyrics makes any other metalcore band’s lyrics sound like kiddies rock. The guitars continue to capture your attention. The continuity of the album is filled with some sick and brilliant drumming, with the vocalist continuing to articulate some hardcore metal maturity “if love was a child, then I've scolded him to no end, he's been filled with nothing inside, until the day when bullets filled the emptiness inside him, from his own gun, from his own hands.” Those lyrics sent shivers down my spine, and it set the record straight – whatever was to continue was to capture some serious emotion and it did. “I can revive him with my own two hands” is growled alongside some sick back-up hardcore groans, ending off this song with a notable bang.

This whole album was filled with intense emotion, metallic causticity, and brilliant musicianship. All of the songs on the album flow from each other, each song is not isolated or anything like that. They closely resemble the original flavour of the album, however it plays out with uniqueness in each track, emphatic of the artistic luminosity presented throughout this album. The riffs are carefully grafted in a setting which is governed by time-perfected drumming, and momentous synthesizing of the keyboard. The cleans in this album is within itself very memorable, and definitely mesmerizing. This is recommended for any fan of interesting and brilliant music.

Rating: 9 out of 10