Death Breath

They always come back. Try to escape their roots as most bands/artists/musicians do, they inevitably feel the need to return to their formative years in some sort of redirection or mid-career crisis. Hitting that recall/rewind, former Entombed drummer/current Hellacopters singer/guitarist Nicke Andersson has created Death Breath, a tribute to all of his favourite excesses, recesses and processes known as extreme metal. Bringing in the likes of Grave and Repulsion to assist on vocal and musical duties, this is the closest Andersson has come to his Left Hand Path-era in over a decade. Fun and moderately half-baked, the only way Death Breath works is if taken with the grain of salt most certainly intended. To believe this is of the most minutely serious nature (given the friggin’ name, how could anyone?) is to obliterate the intention: a bunch of dudes get together and hammer out typical, predictable and heartfelt death metal. At that level, Stinking Up the Night is brilliant. It captures mid-’90s extreme music perfectly; without trying to update or alter it in any way. Liken it to a muscle car restoration. Anything more would be… too civilised — at least for this genre.