Think "Sweden," and images of herring, crisp breads, Vikings, and Dolph Lundgren immediately come to mind. Well, to some, at least. But what about death metal? The genre has long thrived in Sweden, and continues to spawn extreme metallists -- case in point,
Coldworker. Their 2008 release,
Rotting Paradise, sees the quintet following the same musical path the group began forging with its 2006 debut,
The Contaminated Void, which is absolutely loaded with growling, tricky time signatures, and nonstop guitar riffing. Not a lot of stylistic surprises here, but that's the whole point of
Coldworker -- sticking close to the death metal template -- which they certainly succeed at on tracks such as "Citizens of the Cyclopean Maze," "The Black Dog Syndrome," and "The Last Bitter Twist."
Rotting Paradise is sure to appeal to admirers of straight-ahead, slamming death metal. ~ Greg Prato