by Justin Gaines
– Sr. Columnist —
It’s pretty well established at this point that Dan Swano is Heavy Metal’s true Renaissance Man, right? The Swedish singer/multi-instrumentalist/producer has been in bands as varied as Progressive/Melodic rocking Nightingale, Melodic Death Metal band Edge of Sanity and now atmospheric/Progressive Death Metal band Witherscape, not to mention producing works by Opeth, Katatonia and Dissection. In the mid 1990s though, Swano tried his hand at heavy, evil, old school Death Metal with the band Infestdead. Infestdead’s catalog is as controversial as it is hard to find, but it has been resurrected by Century Media (and the Divebomb label in the U.S.) with the two-disc set titled Satanic Serenades.
Swano and vocalist Dread (Tormented, ex-Marduk) set out to make American-style old school Death Metal in the vein of Deicide and Morbid Angel, and they succeeded brilliantly. Infestdead played extremely fast, extremely heavy and extremely intense death metal, complete with the requisite blast beats, blackened, thrashing riffs and guttural (but surprisingly varied) vocals. This is not melodic, symphonic, progressive or any other variety of death metal. It’s about as pure and relentless as death metal gets.
The lyrics to these songs are as aggressive and extreme as the music. Like Deicide, Infestdead’s lyrics are anti-Christian and obnoxiously Satanic. There’s not a lot of room for nuance in “Antichristian Song #37” or “The Desecration of Christ.” If you have any religious leanings (and even if you don’t), the lyrics here may prove too offensive to simply enjoy the music. You’ve been warned.
Given how hard it has been to track down the Infestdead catalog recently, a collection like Satanic Serenades is long overdue. It collects all the available Infestdead material – 1996’s Killing Christ EP, 1997’s Hellfuck full-length, 1999’s JesuSatan full-length and two demo tracks from 1993. All of the songs have been newly remastered by Dan Swano himsef, and the liner notes feature lyrics and updated artwork.
If you’re a fan of sinister, blasphemous old school Death Metal like Deicide, Morbid Angel and Vital Remains, Satanic Serenades is a gift from the gates of Hell. Infestdead played this kind of metal extremely well, and this collection is the perfect way to get their entire discography in one shot. You’ll go to Hell for listening to it, but at least the soundtrack will be killer.
Genre: Death Metal
Band:
Dan Swano (g) (b) (d)
Andreas “Dread” Axelsson (v)
Track Listing:
Disc 1
1. Re-Resurrection
2. Christiansanity
3. Born to Burn
4. JesuSatan
5. Undead Screaming Sins
6. The Burning of the Son
7. Sinister
8. Evil2
9. Antichristian Song #37
10. Black Night (Deep Purple cover)
11. Burn Me (Without the Grace of God)
12. Dead Earth
Disc 2
1. Rebirth
2. The Desecration of Christ
3. Infest the Dead
4. The New Empire
5. Mercenary, Merciless
6. Born. Nailed.
7. The Plot to Kill Jesus
8. Blaspheme the Abbess
9. Polterchrist
10. Sacrifice the Saviour
11. Hellfuck
12. Darkness Complete
13. Haunting the Holy
14. Heaven Denied
15. Salvation Incomplete
16. Bewitch the Virgin
17. Angeldemon
18. World Inverted
19. Son of the Darkside
20. Hellborn
21. Satanic
22. Amen
23. Bestial Genocide
24. The Rising
25. I’ll Be Black
26. In the Spell of Satan
27. Save Me From the Hands of Christ
28. Fucked by Satan
29. Burn Me (Without the Grace of God) (1994 Remix)
Label: Divebomb Records
Hardrock Haven rating: 8/10
