Review by Michael on December 9, 2021.

The filthy, stinking At The Gates brother is back with the second album called Death, Madness, Horror, Decay. One may ask At the Gates brother? Yep, three of the five members of The Lurking Fear work in At The Gates, too (namely Adrian Erlandsson, Jonas Stålhammar and Tomas Lindberg) but instead of playing some melodic death metal with an intellectual painting, The Lurking Fear perform very brutal old school death metal. On the predecessor Out Of The Voiceless Grave lyrical topics dealt with stories by H.P. Lovecraft and if you check the titles, you could think that the major topic are the Great Old Ones again but if you get more into the lyrics, you will find out that it deals more with subliminal and unearthly horror than with the real Lovecraft stories.

The albums starts off with a creeping, gloomy intro with some whispered words and a horrific atmosphere that won't let you expect anything nice while listening to the other 12 tracks. Soon the metal madness ('Abyssal Slime') starts with a merciless riff and powerful drums that will blast you right on the wall. Full speed ahead! Tompa's voice sounds really insane, just like as if he was inside the insane asylum telling some horror stories to his doctor. Simple and fast riffing dominates the first part of the album and you can find some homage to groundbreaking bands like Autopsy (I guess the basic riff in 'Funeral Abyss' is borrowed from “Ridden With Disease”, eh?), Voivod or the early Swedish death metal scene here and there. With the progress of the album the band sometimes decreases the speed within their tracks and builds in some more atmospheric elements like driving, repetitive and hypnotic riffs which try to capture your sanity to let you sink in this maelstrom of madness that the band creates on this album. Nevertheless, the songs appear like a steamroller that is crushing down everything in its path.

I have to state that The Lurking Fear really convinced me with that album while I was a little bit disappointed of the first one because it felt a bit one-dimensional and uninspired. Here they perform straight up old-school death metal without any unnecessary elements or boring parts. Death, Madness, Horror, Decay just creates a dense horrid atmosphere closed with a very disturbing and ass-kicking song called 'Leech Of The Aeons' which is quite a long track for this album (most songs last about 2 – 3 minutes). Some other recommendable songs on this output are 'Death Reborn' (a merciless wrecking ball that lasts only 1:09 (!) but leaves no open questions), 'Architects Of Madness' (a catchy track with brutal riffing and thundering drums) or 'In A Thousand Horrors Crowned' (you can find some more punk / HC influences here).

At the end, I have to mention a slight point of criticism – the production. I have the feeling that the drums are a little bit overproduced. Somehow they sound a little bit strange, sometimes a little rushing noise, I would say. But this will just appear to you if you listen quite intensely to the album.

So, if you feel like taking a trip full of horror and insanity, you should take a risk to listen to Death, Madness, Horror, Decay. My guess is, you won't be disappointed.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 psychotic trips