Dödsvisioner

AMG Review of Dödsvisioner

Greg Prato
All Music Guide

Some horror movie buffs would agree that the best movies of the genre are the slow-building ones -- not merely a string of grisly splatter scenes strung together from beginning to end. And some would say the same about death metal/black metal -- variation and slow-building beginnings are better than front-to-back riffing at 100 miles per hour. The Swedish band Bergraven obviously agree with this approach, as 2007's Dödsvisioner is not your average death metal fest -- heck, the first song, "Döende," begins with glacier-paced sound effects, as the track doesn't kick in until nearly three minutes in. Also, Bergraven keep the tempos moderately paced (an oddity in the oft-blazingly fast death metal genre), which only adds to the creepiness of such tracks as "Ondkall" and "Den Svarta Angstens Essens." Dödsvisioner is absolute proof that the death metal/black metal genre is still alive (or rather, undead) and well -- and that there is still ground to be broken in a genre that appeared to be taken to its limit a long time ago.