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IN BATTLE 'Welcome To The Battlefield' Metal Blade (2004)
Since they were originally formed back in 1996, Swedish noisemakers In Battle have been in constant search of their musical identity. The band’s first album "In Battle" was released in 1997 when the line up was Frolen (guitar/bass), Ostlund-Sandin (vocals) and Wiklund (drums).
Recorded in the famous Sunlight Studio in Stockholm, the band’s first product consisted of eleven brutal Black Metal compositions.
The following year brought a change in both the band’s line up and their musical direction. Ostlund-Sandin decided to leave In Battle, and the vocal duties were assigned to Wiklund. The studio that was chosen for the recordings of the band’s second album "The Rage of the Northmen" was Ballerina Audio in Umea and the band ‘baptised’ their new effort as Viking Black Metal.
In the next five years the band once again witnessed changes to their line up and released the MCD "Metamorphosis", a Death/Thrash Metal orientated album. It seems that In Battle have finally decided which musical direction to follow. That same year (2003), the band was offered a contract by Metal Blade, which eventually led to this year’s album "Welcome to the Battlefield".
I have often wondered: "what is it about Death Metal music that makes me like it so much?" The answer is simple: I like this raw energy that derives from fast guitar riffs and double-bass drumming.
Most of these elements were also provided by Thrash Metal of course, but it is not a secret that Death Metal brought this whole feeling one step further. In Battle honours all the above with their third studio album "Welcome to the Battlefield".
Even though they’re of Swedish origin, the members of In Battle have released an album that bares the trademark of the American Death Metal scene.
Compositions like "Soul Metamorphosis" (one of my favourites) and "Serpents" are undoubtedly influenced by the music of Deicide and Hate Eternal, partly because the production of the album was handled in Florida by Eric Rutan (Morbid Angel, Hate Eternal).
There are moments, though, where the influences of the Swedish extreme scene are more visible, and these are in "Shunned by Life" and " Scorched World". In a world full of fast guitar riffs and ruthless drumming, "Blood Divine" is a mid-tempo composition that shows a different side of the band that I really liked.
Want In Battle did was to create an album with the power to ‘seduce’ all the fans of the extreme Death Metal sound. Typically fast guitar riffs, double-bass drumming and brutal vocals is what’s on offer here, all dressed up in a powerful production that only a person who’s as committed to ‘the cause’ as Eric Rutan could have achieved.
I believe though that the band should try to find that extra something that would give their sound a personal touch and that would definitely make their next release attractive to more people than just a specialised audience. I have faith in this band!
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Review by John Stefanis
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