PARANORM - Empyrean
Redefining Darkness Records
Alright real quick, name a bunch of Swedish thrash bands? Yeah I hit a blank. So I went behind me to the walls of CDs and to the thrash bookcase. OK duh, the CROWN (albeit they're partially melo-deth) and all the way down by the floor there's WITCHERY. I always wanted a t-shirt with the Dead, Hot and Ready album cover on it. Every fuckin time I look at that cover I fuckin smile. Then again their first couple of releases all had cool covers.
But anyways I'm probably missing a few that I should know. Maybe I past over em when they first came out. The bottom line is that Sweden isn't your go to scene for thrash. Maybe that's why this band here is such a shocker and could be an amazing standout. For the record I'm not a technical thrash fan but this band has it's merits.
PARANORM is a four piece act who've been around for a while but this is their debut full length. Maybe they spent all those years, starting in 2010, rehearsing. Well if that's the case then it shows on here. Empyrean is an eight song release. Upon first listening to it the first two cuts didn't thrill me. Then the third cut "Edge of the Horizon" kicked in with it's tranquil opening which proceeded to some killer thrash riff onslaught. The song is a nine plus minute opus with some decent guitar solo shredding.
From that point on I just kicked back and relaxed as this release just pumped out decent sounding thrash with some accessable tech moments. As far as the basics go these guys play some chunky sounding and kinda familiar riffs. The vocals are serpentine blackened in style. The rhythm section does a standard job although the bassist gets a few Cliff Burton lead moments.
But for me I really like guitar work by Fredrik Kjellgren on here. I like how he can elevate a song like "Intelligence Explosion" with some fluid leads which kinda reminds me of some power metal guitarists. Of course he can slice and dice ya as is evident on other cuts. And he's not shy about tossing in an Yngwie tweak here and there. The title cut is fucking amazing with it's MAIDEN-esque galloping solo run.
So I guess the bottom line here is that yes Sweden you have an actual thrash contender that's not death metal related, blackened or has some other shtick. This is good thrash with some tech and proggy moments tossed in to enhance but not overwhelm.
http://www.redefiningdarkness.com/
LISTEN HERE:
https://paranorm-se.bandcamp.com/album/empyrean
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