Artist: Slutet
Title: Bortom Vansinnets Grepp
Release: LP / Digital
Year: 2020
Label: Phobia Records, ByeBye Productions
Bortom Vansinnets Grepp is the fourth full-length album by Swedish crust veterans Slutet (band name means ‘the end’).
For the uninitiated, Slutet features members of the almighty 3-Way Cum, Warcollapse and tons more. The album begins with a somber, whaling interlude that shortly transforms into what will be half an hour of dark, doom-laden and powerful Swedish crust, complete with galloping d-beats, deep gruff vocals, and a throttled frantic pace spiced up with heaps of epic melodies.
Bortom Vansinnets Grepp brings back a lot of memories of the bands I got into while first discovering the style (Wolfbrigade, Disfear, Skitsystem, etc.) The lyrics on the insert are all printed in Swedish so I’m not really sure what they go for. My guess is they come from a more personal place. They also have a song called “Epicus Crustus” which makes me think they don’t really take this band too seriously, but by all means, listen to their music. It is well produced and tight as hell.
It’s the deeper personal aesthetics and touch that I’m lacking on this one, though. The cover artwork didn’t grab me at first, and I’d probably wouldn’t pay attention to the record if not for Phobia Records sending me the LP for review. The video they’ve released for their “Pandemi” track seems a bit goofy to me as well. Overall, it’s a pretty solid release, but not one I would listen to quite often.
