In any serious conversation about death metal, the name Vomitory has to come up. Following their inception in 1989, between 1996 and 2011 they dropped eight of the most blistering albums the genre has spewed up, the quartet parting ways in 2013. However, the band's retirement turned out to be short lived, returning to stages in 2019 to celebrate the band's 30th anniversary, and now they drop their first new full-length in twelve years, the monstrous All Heads Are Gonna Roll.
For a preview of the album, a video (directed by Marcus Svensson / dpmarcus.com) for "Raped, Strangled, Sodomized, Dead" can be viewed below:
Boasting the classic Vomitory sound with a few new twists and turns, it is everything their faithful could have hoped for, the band having taken their time before committing to it rather than rushing in. "We weren't feeling any pressure, it was rather about making a decision whether we should continue as a band, i.e. release new material, or simply put the band back in the grave again," explains drummer Tobias Gustafsson. "We wrote a few songs first just for the fun of it, to see if we still 'had it', before we made the final decision to continue and make a new full-length album."
All Heads Are Gonna Roll is best described as "fast, grinding, D-beat, fist-in-your-face death metal", it features fresh aspects that are uncommon to Vomitory records. "One thing in particular we did was to try to build distinct choruses in the songs, which is something we didn't put too much effort into earlier," explains drummer Tobias Gustafsson. "We have also spent a lot more time working with the backing vocal arrangements, which we certainly think paid off very well. It brings something new to our sound. We have also tried to write more straightforward riffs, like we did in the early 2000s."
The instruments for the record were tracked in the band's rehearsal space, on a mobile studio setup engineered by Mats Lindström, and was self-produced. This allowed them to work at their own pace in the hours that worked for them, rather than having this dictated to them as would be the case if they had rented a studio. "Although we had a lot of flexibility to choose our working hours, it was still crucial to keep the recording schedule as strict as possible, because it was so easy to say 'let's do it tomorrow instead'." For vocals, they went to Leon Music Studios and engineer Rikard Löfgren, which was where they recorded their last three albums. They brought in good friend Christian Fredriksson (Vulkan) to play some guitar solos, but otherwise it is entirely their own work. With vivid horror movie-inspired artwork - with a hint of anti-religion thrown in for good measure - All Heads Are Gonna Roll really is the whole package for death metal fans, and a stunning return to form after so many years between releases.
All Heads Are Gonna Roll, out May 26 via Metal Blade, can be pre-ordered here in the following formats:
- Digipak-CD
- 180g black vinyl
- dim gray marbled vinyl (limited to 700 copies)
- crimson red marbled vinyl (limited to 500 copies)
- clear w/ red & white splatter vinyl (limited to 300 copies)
- silver w/ black splatter vinyl (limited to 300 copies)
- red w/ purple splatter vinyl (limited to 300 copies) Sound Pollution exclusive
Cover art by Giannis Nakos.
All Heads Are Gonna Roll tracklisting:
"All Heads Are Gonna Roll"
"Decrowned"
"Ode To The Meat Saw"
"The Deepest Tomb"
"Piece By Stinking Piece"
"Raped, Strangled, Sodomized, Dead"
"Dead Man Stalking"
"Disciples Of The Damned"
"Dead World"
"Beg For Death"
"All Heads Are Gonna Roll" video:
Vomitory lineup:
Erik Rundqvist - vocals/bass
Urban Gustafsson - guitar
Peter Östlund - lead guitar
Tobias Gustafsson - drums
(Photo - Erik Hansen)
